After a long, winding, tumultuous journey with the New York Rangers organization, Vitali Kravtsov has found a new home. The Vancouver Canucks took a flier on the 23-year-old winger, acquiring him for a seventh-round pick and Will Lockwood ahead of last Friday's trade deadline.

Now Kravtsov gets a second chance with a team intent on providing those opportunities to young, once-promising players who fell out of favour with their first NHL organization.

At one time a ninth overall pick by the Rangers back in 2018, Kravtsov has faced significant adversity over the past four years. New York's considerable forward depth, tensions over the possibility of AHL assignments, and periodic loans back to the KHL have all limited the Russian winger's ability to find durable NHL success.

With those obstacles now firmly in his rearview mirror, the Vladivostok-born forward has a real opportunity to become an everyday contributor with a retooling Canukcs team loaded with fellow Russian talents like Andrey Kuzmenko, Ilya Mikheyev, and Vasili Podkolzin. The comfortability factor is present.

With prime spots in the top-nine available in Vancouver, so too is opportunity. The stage is set for this once highly regarded scoring winger to leverage his game in a more favourable environment.