Chris Kreider has waived his no-trade clause, and his trade to Anaheim will be finalized shortly. The trade has been confirmed to be Kreider to Anaheim for prospect Carey Terrance and a swap of mid round picks, but we don’t yet know the details about the pick swap just yet. The Rangers currently have a pair of 4th rounders, so it’s assumed they are swapping a 4th for a 3rd, or something similar. Anaheim will absorb the entire contract.
Update: The Rangers are sending Anaheim’s 4th rounder and receiving Toronto’s 3rd rounder. So they move up 15 spots.
The return is incredibly underwhelming for the best net front presence in the league. But at 34 years old coming off hand surgery, vertigo, and back spasms, with two years left at $6.5 million, there’s significant risk in acquiring Kreider, which muted the return. The value is in the cap space, but as always it matters what Chris Drury does with the cap space now that Chris Kreider’s contract is off the books.
As a reminder, we will probably see Kreider traded at the deadline if Anaheim doesn’t improve next season. If Kreider rebounds, Anaheim will get more for him than the Rangers will get in this trade. The injury timing was brutal, though a lot of this is also self-inflicted by Drury.
Kreider should have retired a Ranger and broken many records. Instead, his exit came at the end of a bitter season and dispute with his GM, one that also led to diminished play on the ice. Even with his perceived quitting, he put up 22 goals in 68 games, which is a 26 goal pace over 82 games. Such a shame to see Chris Kreider’s career with the Rangers end in such fashion.
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