Chris Kreider was traded to the Anaheim Ducks last week and I am still not okay with it. Chris Kreider is arguably the greatest non-goalie New York Ranger of all time as he is the all-time leader is playoff goals scored, tied for #1 all time in power play goals and #3 all time in total goals scored.
He was 80 away from the top of the list and if the remainder of his two-year deal played out, he had a legitimate chance to get that and a near certainty to hold second place by a mile. Mika Zibanejad now has a clear path to this milestone as he is 156 goals short of Rod Gilbert, who holds the top spot with 406 goals. A 30-goal season would propel Mika from 8th place into 4th place behind Kreider.
Back to Kreider. He was the unofficial captain of the team for years and his ferociously quick-paced play, breakaway speed, deking skills, and uncanny shot deflecting ability has left fans of the Rangers with their jaws on the ground countless times.
He was unbelievably clutch in playoff games and almost carried the team by himself in their last two playoff appearances in 2023 and 2024. He was on the Rangers team that made it to the Stanley Cup in 2014 and he played in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2012, 2015, 2022 and 2024. The Rangers made the playoffs in 10 of the 14 seasons he played on the team, and yes, I am including 2011-12 because you must be another breed to make your NHL debut IN THE PLAYOFFS. He was born to be a playoff legend.
He has two years left on his deal and will get paid $6.5 million each of those years by the Ducks. I understand business is business and I know that hockey (and all sports) is a business, but this is wrong. My preamble to this statement tells it all on how I feel about Chris Kreider and how the fans feel about him too. He was consistently a part of the team for 13 years and watching him grow into a leader was very fun. Watching him turn into a prolific goal scorer, while topping out at 52 in 2021-22 was even better.
Trading him frees up cap space, but I am so sick and tired of the cycle we are in with this team. Acquire and develop stars, extend them, go on deep playoff runs, fire the coach when they fall short of that previous deep playoff run, trade off superstars and justify a quick rebuild with a new core, watch them succeed early, change the coach again, make a deep run in the playoffs again, go back to being mediocre, trade that core and blah blah blah.
My point is this. Freeing up that Kreider cap space helps the Rangers from a business standpoint, but what is the plan? It must be big to justify the departure of a franchise legend who has done nothing but treat all team personnel, players, and fans with the utmost level of respect. While it helps from a cap space standpoint, it KILLS them from a fan’s perspective. Why you may ask? Kreider was the kind of player you beg to have on your side as he was drafted by them, called up by them and successful with them for a long time. To diehard fans, Kreider was everything. To the front office, he was just another number. Another contract. Another puzzle piece in the insolvable maze that is this front office.
Ranger fans have dealt with fan favorites being traded or released for quite some time as Ryan McDonagh, Ryan Callahan, Mats Zuccarello, Carl Hagelin, Derek Stepan, Henrik Lundqvist, Jacob Trouba, and Kaapo Kakko all ended their tenures on sour or semi-sour notes. And in nearly all these cases, you would likely hear from any Ranger fan that these were all bad days for us, and none were received too fondly. The Callahan trade netted them Martin St. Louis but also cost them their captain.
They have clearly not yet turned any of those “business moves” into a Stanley Cup win. All the more reason why I am frustrated as a Ranger fan and confused as to why they decided to make the face of our team a scapegoat.
I am always going to be a Chris Kreider guy. No matter where he plays, he will always have a fan in me, and I think that is a growing sentiment amongst the fanbase. We will see him again. Even if he never laces up for them again, we will almost surely see his number in the rafters one day, unless the Rangers fumble that too.
Thank you for everything Kreids. I have nothing but great memories about your tenure here and could not have asked for a better player or person to root for in my teenage years and young adulthood. Best of luck in Anaheim.
To the front office of my beloved Rangers, please be better. Stop mismanaging young talent. Stop wasting great players. Stop trading our favorite players. Fix the team and find a way to put a winning roster back out on the ice because the complacency is numbing. And for the love of God, please do everything in your power to protect Igor with a somewhat respectable defense while the contention window is still open.