In what amounted to a salary dump, the Rangers officially moved on from Chris Kreider. As was reported on Tuesday, Kreider was traded to the Ducks in exchange for prospect Carey Terrance. The teams also agreed to a mid-round pick swap in the upcoming 2025 NHL Draft. The Ducks sent a third round pick to the Rangers in exchange for a fourth round pick.

After taking a day to think about it, Kreider decided to waive his modified no-trade clause. The Ducks had been on his 15-team no-trade list. My guess is that he realized that moving on was the best outcome for him and the Rangers. Especially after how he was treated by Rangers team president and general manager Chris Drury. Once Drury leaked the memo to the rest of the league that made Kreider available last November, his days were numbered. It was like walking on eggshells. He didn’t speak to the media after games the rest of the season.

Kreider decided to follow Jacob Trouba to Anaheim. It was last Dec. 6 that Drury forced Trouba to accept a deal to the Ducks for Urho Vaakanainen and conditional 2025 fourth round pick. He was threatened with being placed on waivers by the narcissistic Drury. Had that happened, Trouba would’ve been designated for assignment to the Hartford Wolf Pack.

That’s how Drury operates. He doesn’t care how bad it looks. After screwing up last summer with both Trouba and Barclay Goodrow, Drury was desperate to get out of those contracts. It’s his way or the highway. It didn’t matter that the 2023-24 New York Rangers had plenty of success by winning a Presidents’ Trophy before losing to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final. Drury completely sabotaged the 2024-25 season due to his inflated ego. It created unnecessary distractions off the ice which affected the team’s performance.

In dealing away Kreider, Drury was able to get the Ducks to absorb the entire $6.5 million cap hit that has two years remaining. He cared more about freeing up necessary cap space than getting a better return. Had the Rangers retained 20 percent of Kreider’s remaining salary, they actually could’ve gotten better value back. Not in Drury’s world. It’s all about July 1. I don’t know what they have planned. But it better not involve using the money on a veteran who’ll enter their 30s over the long-term. That’s exactly what they’ve been trying to escape. See Zibanejad, Mika. Kreider’s close personal friend has a full no-movement clause on a contract that doesn’t expire until 2030. Good luck convincing him to waive it.

If they’re going to improve, it’ll involve drafting and developing better players. They still don’t know what Brennan Othmann is. He remains without a goal in 25 career games. The 2021 first round pick is essential to the team’s future. Unless they’re going to package him for a restricted free agent (J.J. Peterka, Marco Rossi, Gabe Vilardi, Morgan Geekie), which would mean further weakening a weak farm system, it’s hard to envision the Blueshirts without both Othmann and Gabriel Perreault as part of the new core moving forward.

In adding the 20-year-old Terrance, the Rangers are hoping that he can become part of the team’s future. Terrance is viewed as a two-way center who projects as a third line player that can kill penalties. His offense stagnated for the Eerie Otters in 2024-25. He went from scoring 29 goals and adding 23 assists in 2023-24 to putting up 20 goals and 19 assists in 2024-25. Terrance didn’t play as many games. He scored twice for Team USA in their run to the gold medal at the 2025 World Junior Championships.

Considering that they lack centers in the system, let’s hope that Terrance pans out. He signed his entry-level contract with the Ducks in April. He’s ready for the next chapter in his career. Selected by Anaheim with the 59th pick in 2023, Terrance is listed at six-foot-one, 186 pounds. He’s most effective in a North/South style. That sounds like most USA Hockey players. They emphasize getting pucks deep and generating scoring chances off the forecheck. That’s the direction the Rangers should go. They must become harder to play against. There was too many one and done last season.

Emotional Kreider Says Goodbye

On a conference call with reporters, an emotional Kreider said goodbye to the only organization he’s known.

“I think I’ve kind of gone through the spectrum of emotions: anger, sadness, grief. Whatever you want to call it. But I keep on arriving at gratitude for how I was treated, the opportunities I was given, for the connections I was able to make, the relationships, the friendships, the experiences I was able to have: playing in front of that fanbase, at that arena, playing in some of the games I was able to play in. Stuff that is so memorable and means so much and stuff that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life.”

Kreider also appreciated how it was handled. “There was a lot of communication from Rangers’ management, Chris Drury in particular, about where they stood.”

“It was done in a really respectful fashion by the New York Rangers.”

End Of An Era

When he scored his 326th goal and picked up his 256th assist against the Lightning on Apr. 17, Kreider likely knew that was it as a Blueshirt. It was a fitting conclusion to his final game as a New York Ranger.

He finished his Rangers career with the third most goals (326) in franchise history. He’s tied with Camille Henry for the most power-play goals (116). His 50 game-winning goals place second behind Rod Gilbert. He finished with 13 shorthanded goals to rank fourth on the franchise list. Zibanejad to Kreider became a theme on the penalty kill. Even in a down year in which he only had 22 goals and eight assists, Kreider finished with four shorthanded goals, trailing team leader Vincent Trocheck (6).

It truly is the end of an era. When he joined the team straight out of college after winning a national championship for Boston College, Kreider scored five goals during the Rangers’ run to their first Eastern Conference Final since 1997. He showed a lot of poise and maturity during that run in 2012.

Two years later, Kreider was front and center in a six-game triumph over the Canadiens in the Conference Finals. He led all Rangers forwards with three goals and five assists for eight points in helping them reach the Stanley Cup Finals.

A year later, with things looking bleak against the Capitals, Kreider delivered one of his biggest goals. With the Caps protecting a 1-0 lead, Kreider buried a Derek Stepan feed to tie the score in Game 5 of the second round. At the time, the Rangers were staring elimination in the face with less than two minutes left in their season. That all changed when Kreider scored with 1:46 remaining. A Stepan drop pass led to Ryan McDonagh scoring in overtime to save the Rangers season. They rallied from a 3-1 deficit to come back and take the series in seven games. Stepan notched the winner in overtime of Game 7.

When I think of Chris Kreider, I’m reminded of that night. There were a lot of emotions in the building on May 8, 2015. It felt like they needed a miracle. Stepan to Kreider provided it. It’s still fondly remembered by many diehard fans.

Kreider provided us with his memorable natural hat trick against the Hurricanes on May 16, 2024. It looked like the Rangers were in trouble. After grabbing the first three games of the second round series, they couldn’t put the pesky Hurricanes away. Carolina was a period away from forcing a deciding seventh game. But Kreider had other ideas. With the Rangers trailing the Hurricanes 3-1, he sparked a four-goal third period.

The turnaround started innocently enough when Kreider was able to stuff in a rebound past Frederik Andersen that cut it to 3-2. On the power play, he was parked in front when he tipped in an Artemi Panarin shot to tie the score with 8:06 left. A few minutes later, with the game on the line, Kreider put away a rebound of a Ryan Lindgren wrap-around to get the series clincher with 4:19 remaining. A Goodrow empty netter sealed the stunning victory with less than a minute left.

Ironically, none of these players are left. Goodrow was unceremoniously dumped by Drury in an underhanded waiver deal to the Sharks, who were on Goodrow’s no-trade list last year. Lindgren was traded to the Avalanche in a five-player deal on Mar. 1.

Now, Kreider is off to the Ducks to try to help them return to the playoffs, alongside former teammates Trouba, Ryan Strome, and Frank Vatrano. All of which were members of the 2021-22 roster that also went to the Conference Finals. In that one, the Rangers blew a 2-0 series lead to the two-time defending champion Lightning in an excruciating six-game defeat. There’ll be a reunion in Southern California this fall.

Kreider A Duck

The next time Kreider plays, it’ll be as a Duck. He’ll wear the familiar No. 20 in those cool bright orange jerseys with the original Ducks logo. It’ll definitely be strange.

In an interview with Ducks host Alexis Downie, he said he was excited about the direction of the team. That will include playing for new Ducks coach Joel Quenneville. The less said about that, the better. I am not exactly thrilled that Quenneville is back behind the bench. But he was reinstated by the NHL.

I’m curious to see who Kreider will play with. The Ducks boast some really good centers. That includes Leo Carlsson, Strome, and Trevor Zegras. Kreider and Strome didn’t play together on Broadway. I’m not sure they will in Anaheim. I kind of like the idea of Kreider with Zegras on a second line. We’ll see what Queeneville decides.

Good Luck, Kreids

It goes without saying that Kreider was my favorite player on the recent Rangers teams. I followed him since he teamed up with Stepan to win a gold medal for USA at the World Juniors in 2010. During that run, he scored six goals. USA defeated Canada 6-5 in overtime on John Carlson’s winner.

Kreider has been part of all five Rangers’ Conference Final appearances. He’s the only player who can say that. That included three with Rangers legend Henrik Lundqvist and two with Igor Shesterkin. He’ll bring that big game experience with him to the Ducks.

Anaheim finished with five less points (80) than the Rangers (85) last season. They’re an up-and-coming team headed in the right direction. Unlike the Rangers, who need to get younger and faster, the Ducks boast a lot of promising talent. It wouldn’t be surprising to see them make the playoffs next season.

A lot has been made of Kreider’s dramatic drop-off. He went from scoring 39 goals and 75 points to 22 goals and eight assists. He didn’t forget how to play. Injuries limited his effectiveness in the 68 games he played. If he returns healthy, there’s no reason why he can’t return to scoring 30. He won’t have the luxury of having Panarin or Adam Fox set him up on the power play. But the Ducks should be a good fit due to the speed and skill they possess.

Best of luck, Kreids. You handled yourself with class. See you soon.