Chris Kreider is one of the New York Rangers more senior players and is 26 years old. Is he a part of the rebuild going forward? Or is he too old to be a part of this future window?
The Rangers have themselves a bevy of choices to make in how to pursue this rebuild. Is this a rebuild or a reload? That is the biggest and most important choice the front office and ownership have to make. This summer’s NHL entry draft and free agency period should bring this into focus.
Among those players with an ambiguous status is Chris Kreider. Not that he’s a bad player or shouldn’t be a part of the team, but that he has considerable value and may not stick around long enough to see the rebuild through to the end. The team has the Boston College alumn under contract for two more seasons at $4.625 million per season.
This is a fair contract for the level of production the forward gives the team. The next time Kreider reaches free agency in two years he’ll be 28 years old. At the tail end of his prime and due for an extension, the forward would likely command a raise on the current $4.625 million. The Rangers may not be in the position to give Kreider that extension.
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This is not a matter of not wanting to extend a player, but not being able to. Take the Ryan McDonagh trade, for example, the Rangers traded their captain because they didn’t want to re-sign him at the end of his current contract. As a potential 30 goal scoring winger, Kreider would have immense value on the open market.
The window
The period of time that a team can legitimately contend for a Stanley Cup is called a window. The Rangers window for contention with the current group of players has definitely closed. The Henrik Lundqvist era is on the verge of going out with a whimper and nothing to show for it but heartache.
With the talent on the NHL roster and those players who should be ready to go next season, the Rangers might be a playoff team. Assuming that both Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil are in the opening night lineup the team’s lineup top to bottom will get a real boost.
The biggest indicator as to how the team views its window for the future will be the head coaching job. If Alain Vigneault is still the head coach next season, the front office feels that they have assembled a contender. The team would not keep Vigneault around to develop the core of a new team for a new window.
Now, in either case, the Rangers should keep Kreider going forward. As good a player as the winger is, it still feels as if he has another level that he can reach. The dynamic speed that Kreider has only comes out on occasion now. The area that the forward has made the greatest strides is in front of the net. Kreider is one of the league’s best players at redirecting the puck on goal.
The Market
If Kreider were healthy and a possible trade asset, he arguably would’ve been the best forward on the market. The best deal of any forward at the deadline was the trade the Rangers got for Rick Nash. Using that deal as a baseline wouldn’t work because of how team friendly Kreider’s contract is in comparison to Nash.
Should the Rangers determine that Kreider isn’t part of the team’s long-term plans for some reason, there would be plenty of suitors. The front office would likely have multiple offers to choose from and would have their pick of the litter.
One of the potential teams that desperately need a player with Kreider’s skill set is the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers need a scoring winger that can ride shotgun with Connor McDavid and convert chances better than Milan Lucic. This was speculated as a potential trade on thehockeywriters.com, not as a rumor but an idea: a trade centered around Kreider for defenseman Oskar Kleffbom.
This would fill an immediate need for both teams and not complicate the salary cap situation.
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Of course, if the front office were smart, they’d ride things out next season with Kreider and see what happens. The forward has a unique skillset that is a hot commodity in the NHL and isn’t easily replicated. Keeping Kreider would make a whole lot more sense than moving on.