Vancouver Canucks Unexpectedly Terminate Former Top-10 Pick's Contract

Back in 2018, the New York Rangers used the No. 9 overall pick on Vitali Kravtsov, a forward out of Russia, and early in his NHL career, he showed promise as a long-term NHLer.

Since then however, he's struggled to find his consistency in the National Hockey League, spending the last two full seasons back in Russia dominating with Chelyabinsk Traktor, tallying an impressive 58 points in 66 games a season ago, showing he has taken his game to a new level.

This summer, he drew plenty of interest following that success, returning to the Vancouver Canucks, the last team he played with in the NHL, but after passing through waivers, he began the season with the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL.

In 10 games for the Canucks, Kravtsov tallied 1 goal and 4 points, and now, the organization have made a shocking move, officially placing him on waivers for the purpose of contract termination.

Unfortunately, the success in the KHL seemingly hasn't helped Kravtsov yet, as he's struggled to dominate at the AHL level, and as a result, the team clearly don't see the 25-year old in their long-term plans.

As of right now, it's unclear what the future holds for Kravtsov, and while he can likely go back to the KHL and dominate whenever he wants, he wanted to be a big time NHLer after the 2018 Draft, but following the Canucks latest decision, there's a good chance that we've seen him play his last game in the NHL.