Chris Kreider’s struggles with the Whale could be cause for concern for Garden Faithful.

In a lockout season, many young players have gone down to the AHL to play hockey. While there have been plenty of success stories including Islander prospect Nino Niederreiter averaging a point-per-game (34 points), some have struggled.

Unfortunately, making the Who’s Not list is former Ranger No.1 pick Chris Kreider. In 33 games for the Connecticut Whale, he’s scored only five times with seven assists and 55 penalty minutes. It’s been an uphill climb for one of the biggest highlights of the Rangers’ run to the Conference Finals. The 21-year old Boston College standout showed how effective he could be, scoring some big goals to help our team make its first Final Four appearance since ’97.

Perhaps too much was expected of Kreider, who had quite a 2012 also winning another NCAA championship with BC. His early success with the Blueshirts came without even an introduction. He’s yet to play in a regular season game. It didn’t stop him from tying for third in goals with five during an exciting postseason. That included a big one on future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur highlighting a Game One win in the Eastern Conference Final. He was one of our best forwards in the series, not looking out of place with American linemates Derek Stepan and captain Ryan Callahan.

Like all young players, he’s gone through a slump. The question is what’s wrong. Is it just playing with not as much talent in Hartford? I don’t like making excuses. The Whale haven’t been a good team. They’re 15-7-3 with 33 points in the AHL’s Northeast Division. They’re tied for fourth with another struggling outfit the Albany Devils but have played four more games.

Connecticut’s hoping consecutive shutouts from starter Cam Talbot and backup Jason Missiaen will help turn it around. The club has struggled offensively with 95 goals. Rookies Christian Thomas, Kyle Jean and J.T. Miller have also had ups and downs. However, Thomas has eight goals and Jean ended a drought with two in a 2-0 shutout of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, giving the undrafted center seven markers and 17 points for the season- ranking fourth in team scoring.

Two of Kreider’s goals have come on the power play where he should benefit if he’s with a more talented Ranger roster that features Brad Richards, Marian Gaborik, Rick Nash, Callahan and Stepan. Considering their lack of depth, it’d seem ideal for the club to give Kreider the benefit of the doubt and start him on the USA Line. If he’s not up with our club, suddenly they become much weaker. Opponents could focus on shutting down the top line unless John Tortorella breaks it up.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Kreider. Training camp is likely to open this Sunday.