Chris Kreider had a memorable 2012. He won a second straight national championship with Boston College and had a sizzling Broadway debut during last year’s run to the Conference Finals. The former ’09 first round pick scored five goals in the postseason before ever playing a regular season game.

He found instant chemistry with USA linemates Derek Stepan and Ryan Callahan. The trio was a big part of the team’s first trip past the second round since ’97. They were easily the best line at getting pucks in and forechecking. Kreider’s speed, size and muscle was a perfect fit. His early success made him an instant sensation with fans and media who loved the story.

Much was expected of Kreider in his rookie season. Unfortunately, an ugly lockout prevented him from starting ’12-13 with the Rangers. Instead, he spent significant time with the Connecticut Whale. It didn’t boost his confidence. He only scored five goals in 30-plus games under Ken Gernander. Many wondered if perhaps a lack of talent contributed. As it turned out, he was playing through an ankle injury, which eventually sidelined him when the NHL returned.

The Rangers’ mishandling of Kreider’s injury should’ve raised a red flag. Despite recent success, they haven’t always done the best job developing players. Evgeny Grachev is probably the easiest case of a butchering. After being dealt to St. Louis, he hasn’t recovered. There are other glaring examples (Baranka, Dawes, Jessiman, Kundratek, Lundmark, Montoya, Sanguinetti, Weise). Of course, some can be chalked up as busts while others are having success elsewhere.

It’s too early to draw any conclusions on Kreider. Obviously, he hasn’t impressed John Tortorella, who may or may not be part of the problem. The demanding style is a lot for a first-year player to handle. Kreider’s only scored one goal, beating Martin Brodeur in a loss at New Jersey. He also assisted on J.T. Miller’s first NHL goal.

While seven games is hardly ideal to judge him on, it seems they’d rather have Brian Boyle over a talented player like Kreider who can help offensively. I’ve been a staunch supporter of Boyle, who’s nowhere near as skilled but is a capable penalty killer who can take key draws. It’s absolutely ridiculous for Tortorella to put Boyle ahead of Kreider. This is a different team. They don’t rely on team defense. Rather the goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist.

You don’t acquire Rick Nash to play low scoring games. If Tortorella wanted that, he should’ve told Sather not to trade Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky. Now that Nash has settled in with Stepan and Carl Hagelin, it’s the coach’s job to get more out of Brad Richards. If that means replacing Taylor Pyatt with Kreider, then do it and stop jerking him around.

A day after being sent back to AHL Siberia, Kreider finds himself back up due to an odd injury to Nash. What if it magically heals by tomorrow? Then Kreider sits? What the Rangers are doing with him is wrong.