2019-20 New York Rangers Report Card: Chris Kreider

Time to prove to the New York Rangers that he deserves that big contract

We continue our series of New York Rangers report cards.  Today we continue our look at the forwards.  We’ll look back at last season and provide some expectations for the coming season. 

Chris Kreider: Grade B

When you talk about Chris Kreider you know what you are getting, it just depends on what day of the week it is.  One day you are getting one of the best power forwards in the NHL with speed and size that rivals the elite.  He can drive to the net and score and he can park in front of the crease and cause havoc in front of opposition goalies.  He can be the guy that drives other teams and their coaches crazy.  In other words, he can be a game changer.

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The next day you are getting an underachieving forward who can disappear for long periods in games, who doesn’t drive to the net and plays a peripheral game.

The one Chris Kreider who is there every game is a veteran team leader and mentor who is willing to talk to the media after games and take responsibility when he is at fault.

Now, sitting on a seven year, $45.5 million contract, we need to see the first  Chris Kreider in every game because as much as any player on the team, when he plays well the Rangers do well.

His season

Kreider’s season was a good one.  If he hadn’t broken his foot right after signing the contract and if the season had played out, he would have established career highs in goals and points.   He finished third in goals with 24 and fifth in points with 45.  He was second on the team with nine power play goals

Along with Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich his line was a threat whenever on the ice and gave the team a formidable one-two punch with the Panarin line.    While he was a power play threat, he only had four assists with the man advantage, eighth on the team.  It makes sense when you consider that his role was to park in front of the net for a deflection, but considering that he had the third most ice time on the power play on the entire team, four assists is not good.

He was physical, finishing fourth on the team with 116 hits while averaging 17:15 minutes of ice time per game, fourth most among forwards.

In the advanced stars department,  Kreider had a  Corsi For percentage of 48.66%.  fifth best among forwards  at even strength.    It was his worst Corsi percentage since his rookie year and only the second time in eight seasons that he has been below 50%.

But the advanced statistics don’t tell the story.  The truth is that Kreider had a lousy start to the season.  In his first 32 games he scored seven goals and added 10 assists for 17 points. That’s an 18 goal, 44 point season.

On December 15 he turned his season around and earned the big contract.  Between that date and the trade deadline, Kreider had 17 goals and 11 assists in 26 games.   That’s a 54 goal, 88 point season.

In all honesty, in mid-December there was little doubt that Kreider would be dealt at the deadline as one of the team’s most valuable trade chips.  He was headed to his worst season as a Ranger.  It is startling to look at those numbers and you begin to realize how close Kreider was to becoming an ex-Ranger.

So, what did the recipient of that $6.5 million annual paycheck do after he signed?  He played two regular season and three postseason games and registered one goal and one assist. His one goal was one of the only highlights for the Rangers in the Carolina series.

Breaking his foot blocking a shot was just bad luck and the pandemic came shortly after that, but Kreider disappointed in the Stanley Cup Qualifier just like Panarin and Mika Zibanejad.

The numbers

Games:  63
Goals: 24 (3rd on the team)
Power play goals:  9 (2nd on the team)
Assists: 21
Points: 45
Plus/Minus:  +13
PIMs: 58
Blocked shots: 42
Hits:  116  (4th on the team)
Takeaways: 22
Giveaways: 61 (5th most on the team)
ATOI: 17:15 (4th among forwards on the team)
Corsi–for: 48.2%

Postseason:  Kreider played in all three games of the Stanley Cup Qualifier, notching a goal and an assist to tie for the team lead in scoring.  His only goal was a spectacular rush that at the start of the second period of Game Three and it gave the Rangers their only lead in the series.  Of course, that lead lasted all of two minutes six seconds and the Blueshirts folded like a tent in the third period.

Why the grade?

It’s a good question.  The first half of the season he deserved a C-, but after that he was worthy of an A+.  Then came the Stanley Cup Qualifier.  It works out to a B.

Expectations

With the salary comes great expectations.  The Rangers gave up on the opportunity for a huge deadline haul (think about what they got for Rick Nash) and when they lucked into Alexis Lafrenière, there were even more doubts about Kreider’s contract.

Lafrenière does present a problem for Kreider.  if he lives up to his billing, he should be challenging for a two six role on the left wing before the season is over.  He’s not displacing Artemi Panarin and that leaves Kreider.  There’s been talk about Kreider moving to the right side where he played some games last season with little success.

If the rookie gets off to a great start and Kreider doesn’t, look out, the talk will start.   At the same time, if Kreider plays as he has in the past, it will give Lafrenière time to get his feet wet in the NHL without the pressure of a top six role.

The bottom line for Kreider, is once he signed that contract, he ceded the ability to be the “bad” Kreider.  He has to be the Chris Kreider who scored 17 goals in 26 games and was a spiritual leader for his teammates.  If he does that, the Rangers will win, a lot.

Earlier we said that when Kreider scores the Rangers do well.  If you look at the numbers, when he scores, there is definitely a  “Kreider effect.” Here’s how the Bllueshirts did in the regular season over the last the five years from the 2015-16 season through 2019-20.

• Kreider with at least a point:    104 wins,  50 losses, 20 OT losses,  .655 points percentage
• Krieder scoreless:    75 wins,  85 losses, 20 OT losses,  ,472 points percentage

Kreider is not  kid anymore.  As hard as it is to believe, he will be 30 in April. With the departures of Henrik Lundqvist, Marc Staal and Jesper Fast,  Kreider is the most senior Ranger on the team (by four years over Pavel Buchnevich and Zibanejad)  and the only player left from the team that went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014.

It’s entirely possible that David Quinn will make him the captain, considering the esteem his young teammates hold him in along with the simple fact that he is guaranteed to be around a long time. If it spurs the forward to be at his best all of the time, it may not be a bad move.