After an injury slowed him down throughout November, the New York Rangers mammoth winger is back to where he was to start the season; on pace for a breakout year.
For a few years now, the New York Rangers and their fans have been waiting for Chris Kreider to finally break out. Well, ladies and gentleman, the time for that is now.
Kreider, who’s flashed potential throughout his entire career has never been able to find consistency before this year. He would have stretches where he would be completely invisible out there on the ice and didn’t use his unique blend of size and speed to get to the net and bully defenders.
Well, it seems those days, for the most part, are behind us.
After scoring nine points in his first six games of the season, Kreider sustained what was said to be an upper-body injury, which slowed him down a bit. After rejoining the lineup for good, it took him a little while to get back to his game. Over the course of November, Kreider’s numbers had dipped. He only tallied 4 points from November 3rd through November 29th.
Once December hit, Kreider took his game back to where it was in October. Kreider has notched 17 points in his 18 games since December 1st. This stretch of consistency has brought his numbers back on pace to shatter all of his past career highs.
As we stand right now in the Rangers’ league-mandated bye week, Kreider has 16 goals and 14 assists which ranks third on the team, despite playing in eight less games than Derek Stepan and Kevin Hayes, who each have one more point than him.
Kreider is on pace to hit 63 points this year, breaking his current career high by 17. He is only five goals shy of his current career high in that category with 21. He’s also 11 assists shy of his career high in that stat as well.
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Kreider is not only tallying more points this year due to his re-dedication to an aggressive style of play, but he is making those around him better, too.
Although he doesn’t have a goal in 10 games now, Mats Zuccarello has played noticeably better for the Rangers since being placed on a line with Kreider. Same with Derek Stepan. In fact, the three of them have combined for 12 goals and 18 assists in their past 9 games!
Kreider, who has always been one of the Rangers’ better possessors of the puck in his days on Broadway, is putting up career high numbers in that department, too. Kreider has the highest CF% of any Ranger who has played 20 or more games this season. In fact, his 54% CF rating is 4% higher than it was last year. For a team that struggles to maintain possession, that is incredibly impressive.
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A lot of fans complain that, while the Rangers are uber deep at forward, they don’t have that one guy that can take over a game. Well, I got news for you folks, Kreider is becoming that guy and it’s happening fast.