With the 2025 NHL Draft and the initial free agency frenzy in the books, we now turn to previewing the 2025-26 season for the Vancouver Canucks. Instead of doing report cards, I thought I would change things up and do previews instead. In this ongoing offseason series, I will endeavour to dive into every player that should compete for a roster spot and do a recap of last season, what their expectations are going into this season, and finally, predict what their final stat line could look like.
Related: Canucks’ 2025-26 Season Could Be Boom or Bust
In the most recent edition of the series, I discussed NHL hit leader Kiefer Sherwood. Next up, the Canucks’ latest signing and returning from the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Vitali Kravtsov.
Vitali Kravtsov
- How Acquired: Trade with the New York Rangers on Feb. 25, 2023, for William Lockwood and a 2026 seventh-round pick
- 2024-25 Team: Traktor Chelyabinsk (KHL)
- 2024-25 Stats: 27 goals and 58 points in 66 games
- 2025-26 Contract Status: Signed to a one-year, two-way deal worth $750,000 at the NHL level and $450,000 at the American Hockey League (AHL) level
2024-25 Season Recap
Since deciding not to re-sign with the Canucks as a restricted free agent (RFA) back in the 2023 offseason, Kravtsov has spent his time in the KHL with Traktor Chelyabinsk. He is one of their longest-tenured players, suiting up for 288 games over eight seasons and scoring 81 goals and 160 points. He has also been a solid playoff performer, scoring 25 goals and 40 points in 79 games. Last season, he led the team in goals with a career-high 27 and was second in points with 58, behind only Maxim Shabanov, who has also made the trek over to North America to join the New York Islanders.
Kravtsov’s 16 games with the Canucks at the tail end of the 2022-23 season weren’t anything special. Yes, he scored a goal, but it was a deflection off of Chicago Blackhawks’ defenceman Seth Jones. His only notable highlight was probably the deft pass he sent over to Brock Boeser on the power play against the Minnesota Wild on March 3, 2023. Other than that, his time in Vancouver was mostly uneventful.
2025-26 Season Expectations
But those 16 games were over two years ago, and Kravtsov has seen a lot of growth since then. So much so that general manager Patrik Allvin thought it was a good idea to bring him back into the fold. After all, he was a leader for the first time in his career on a very good KHL team in Traktor that won 38 games in the regular season and made it to the Gagarin Cup Final. He wasn’t just a passenger in that run, either, as he scored six goals – second only to Shabanov, who had 10. According to Dobber Frozen Tools’ NHLe calculator, it is expected that he can produce the same 58 points in the NHL this season, but that comes with a huge caveat: he has to be given the opportunity to do so.
The Canucks don’t have a lot of top-six (or even top-nine) spots to go around, and it’s unlikely – barring a great training camp – that Kravtsov beats out the likes of Evander Kane, Jake DeBrusk, Conor Garland, and Brock Boeser, who are the projected wingers for opening night. If he does start in the NHL, it is most likely going to be on a third or fourth line alongside Teddy Blueger or Aatu Raty. He won’t be getting a lot of ice time on the power play, either, which limits his offensive upside. Overall, the expectations for him are low heading into the season, which could be the perfect storm for the former Rangers top prospect. Every NHL training camp he’s attended in his career, he’s been the focus of attention. This year, he can fly under the radar (as much as you can in a Canadian market), and maybe surprise people and snag a regular spot in the lineup.
Final Stat Prediction
As mentioned, Kravtsov won’t be expected to score 25 goals this season. If he does, that would be a huge surprise and likely the story of the season. I already posted my bold predictions, and I am not going to add that as an addendum here. Having said that, I am still expecting him to make the team out of camp and be more of an impact player than he was in his first go-around in Vancouver. So, a modest 12 goals and 25 points, playing mostly on a line with Raty and Nils Hoglander, is my final prediction.
Other Canucks 2025-26 Player Previews
