Chris Kreider has meant a lot to the Rangers’ franchise
Tuesday night saw Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli drop big news that the New York Rangers are currently working on a deal with the Anaheim Ducks that would see Chris Kreider move out west. Kreider has been a long-time Ranger and made a legacy for himself, so while New York will be free of his $6.5 million AAV for the remaining two years, they are losing a franchise icon.
Seravalli talked about Kreider’s time with the Rangers, and what he’d mean to the Ducks, on Daily Faceoff Live.
Frank Seravalli: It’s a definite turnover, and I think it’s the end of an era. This is a guy in Chris Kreider who is an all-time New York Ranger. He has certainly put himself in the conversation to ultimately have his number retired, that’s how good he’s been for the 98-year-old New York Rangers. He’s third all-time in goals. He’s only 10 back of Jean Ratelle, who’s in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and a very similar number of games played. He’s first all-time in playoff goals, first all-time in power play goals.
This is a guy who is a gifted goal scorer that fell on hard times last season for a variety of reasons. The memo being one, the vertigo that he dealt with, he had a mangled hand at one point. And he still got 20 goals. I view Chris Kreider as a guy who is a very solid bounce-back candidate.
And if you’re the Ducks, and you’ve got piles of cash here, you’ve got tons of cap space that you otherwise wouldn’t be spending. You’re getting Chris Kreider essentially for free, or $3.99 depending on how you think about it, and plugging him into your lineup for the next two years as that bounce-back candidate who isn’t going to be taking away long-term cap space or roster spots from guys that you want to see continue to progress. He’s going to provide the support that you need if you’re Anaheim. Plus he has a nice bit of “ef you” that he has in his game. He’s got the dawg in him that I think that Anaheim team needs to be a tougher team to play against.
You can watch the full episode here…