Top-10 Pick Returns to the NHL With Canadian Team After Leaving for Russia

The Vancouver Canucks have been a busy team this off-season, adding several intriguing players while extending even more, all after trading J.T. Miller and losing Head Coach Rick Tocchet to the Philadelphia Flyers.

However, there's plenty of optimism for this team heading into 2025/26, as they've got the chance to be one of the Pacific Division's best teams while looking to bounce back from a season where everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

Now, the Canucks have made another very intriguing move, bringing back former winger Vitali Kravstov on a one-year deal, a player who was originally the No. 9 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft by the New York Rangers.

Unfortunately for Kravstov, he struggled early in his NHL career, playing just 64 games in the NHL, 16 of those coming with Vancouver back in 2022/23 before he officially return to the KHL.

In two years away, Kravstov found his groove again, ending last season with 27 goals and 58 points scored in 66 games with Chelyabinsk Traktor, giving him a total of 92 points in the two seasons he's played since returning to the KHL.

Now at 25-years of age, he finally appears ready to make an impact at the NHL level, and for Vancouver it's a fairly low-risk deal, signing him to a one-year, two-way deal, and if he continues the momentum he built this season in Russia, this could turn out to be a steal if he can contribute in the bottom-six for Vancouver this season.