(Observe! This is my first article, so it's eligible for double payout)


‘’Would you say that hotdogs counts as a sandwich?’’
Vital looked at the man sitting in front of him with squinting eyes. That’s a peculiar question, he thought. Is this a canadian riddle of some sort? Because if you really think about it, a hotdog wouldn’t count as a sandwich more than a hamburger would. But that brings up another question, does a hamburger count as a sandwich? It is these dilemmas that will keep Vital up during those dark and lonely winter nights, when he’s tired after a hard day of practice.

Vital answered after way too many seconds of thought.
‘’Ajj don’t know, not really?’’’ Wow, smart answer ya dummy. Kravtsov blamed himself for the slow thinking. There is not much time to make these people like you and he probably just blew it.
The GM of the Whalers realised he had a nervous czech on his hands and tried to lighten up the mood a little bit.

‘’Tell me a joke!’’

Is this guy for real? First hotdogs and now he is backing me into a corner like this? Well, gotta make the best of it! Kravtsov had heard back home that Canadians liked puns, but he had no idea whether the GM was canadian or not, nor if the saying was true. After a fraction of a second he proudly opened his mouth and uttered the words:

‘’I’ll win you some VITAL faceoffs when you need it!’’

The joke managed to get the GM chuckling a little bit (or was it a cough?). Anyway, he wrote down some notes and thanked Kravtsov for taking his time. From this moment on he predicted that he wasn’t going to Vancouver at least and boy was he right.


The following interviews went better and all seemed happy with the answers they got. A couple even said that he could be a future 1st line center on the team with the right work ethic! Kravtsovs english is not quite up to pair with what you would call perfect, but it’s far better than most of his classmates back home and he knows especially what a first line center means.

The draft is coming up and Kravstov can't realise that the day is finally here, he only hopes that he doesn't get picked last, or picked at all.

DRAFT DAY

With the twentieth pick in the SMJHL Draft, the Montreal Militia are proud to select:

Vital Kravtsov - C

It was the most beautiful sentence a man could say at that moment in time. Twentieth pick might sound late for some people and it might sound early for others, but for Vital it could’ve been number one. He picked up his Iphone X (that he is going to pay for in the next 21 months) and googled ‘’Montreal Militias’’


The first pictures were of men in uniforms, but after some unintentional history learning he finally got to the ''real'' Montreal Militias.



What an arena! It sure does look like something from Star Trek!


Look at those jerseys! Actually a little bit of Star Trek in them, but not as much as the arena.


”I can’t wait to get to Montreal!” Kravtsov said eagerly to himself.


Soon enough he was on a plane to the Militias hometown with all of the other prospects that got picked by the same organization.


The locker room of the Montreal Militias truly was something else. He couldn’t believe how chatty some of these guys were.
The vets were talking about everything and nothing. Kravtsov said hello and everyone greeted him welcome. As soon as the rookie dust had settled everyone was back to talking again. Inside jokes were more common than not and he couldn't keep up, but he’s trying his best to laugh at the right moments with varying degrees of success. One thing he notices is that everyone has a nickname with the word ''bae'' in it. Is that not some part of the sea? Kravtsov was really confused, but couldn't build up the courage to ask about this weird norm in the locker room.


After they had spent some time talking with each other Kravtsov inspected the room a little bit more. There was this door in the corner of the locker room which he hadn't noticed on his way in... It was old and rusty, and the lamp above was flickering. He walked up to it and saw what the door was marked with. ''NSFW''.
Kravtsov didn’t know what could be in there, as he hadn’t learned all the english slang words yet, but he’s curious to check it out sometime!


The day is over, Vital just came home and is laying in his bed watching his phone. He was in for a nasty surprise.
‘’He’s overrated af’’ - ArmchairGMRep
‘’I can’t believe they’ve done this’’ - Britishboy05
It was to be expected when being a bit of a reach to get these reactions from fans. Vital almost responded to one of the tweets, but came to his senses in the last second. He couldn’t act like a child if he’s gonna go pro!


But here and there there were some nice messages, especially from the more respected writers. The Atlethic had even wrote that Kravtsov had quite some upside and was a good addition in this ”killer draft” by Montreal.


Another reporter wrote about all the czech prospects in the S43 draft and Vital was seen as a logical pick despite the early round he was picked in. Vital felt a weird sense of accomplishment, even though he was sure it’s purely a guess from the writers. Nonetheless, it made his day that much better!


‘’Critics may say that Montreal reached for me or that I was a steal, but I’m gonna show them what I’m made of!’’ Kravtsov told himself before he went asleep. It had been a long day and his career has just begun…


The following morning…

The whole yesterday was so extreme that I haven’t even realised what’s been happening. It feels like I’ve seen myself in third person the whole day, experiencing it all from above. I can finally wrap my head around it, focus on the task at hand and become the player that I’ve always wanted.

I’m sitting with a couple of rookies in the locker room discussing the curvature of our new GM. One of them, ''Dave'' I'll call him, especially likes what he sees and makes sure that every rookie knows how he feels.

”Kravtsov, can I have a word with you?”

I could see the envy in ''Daves'' eyes as I accepted, I hope that he doesn’t dislike me after that.

”Kid, I’ve taken a risk with you. One of the scouts pushed real hard for you so I hope that you don’t disappoint us. Go get em’ tiger!”
Our GM is beautiful, it’s hard to focus on the conversation. Long blonde hair, that white shirt. Am I blushing?

”Yää, Ajj’ll do majj best. No win without work yes?”
My english only gets worse when I’m aroused, sigh. Confusing to say the least!


Almost a week has gone and the first pre-season games have been played. I think I did alright, I lead the team in +- at least, only putting up 2 points over 17 games though, which is way too low to be honest. My FOW% felt pretty good, but I can’t really find it among all the other stat lines. Got to ask my coach about it! No penalty minutes either, which is to be expected from me. I feel pretty disciplined. I mean look at my twitter behaviour, totally calm!

Now that the pre-season is over, I'm thinking to myself about the situation I'm in. I’ve been drafted by one of the best teams there are in the juniors and all I have to do is deliver at the most important times. How hard can that be?

(Word count: 1316) 

 Vital Kravtsov - C

  

Very well written man, make us GMs look good

Very well written man, make us GMs look good

Thank you! It was my goal to make ya'll look good

 Vital Kravtsov - C