The breakout star of the NBA playoffs now has a new foe: Scrutiny
Yes, for the Indiana Pacers to scrounge up three more miracles, Tyrese Haliburton must play better.
No, he doesn't need to conform to your shot-chucking expectations.
The NBA Finals stage is such compelling theater for burgeoning stars because it presents these annoying mind games. Until a standout player leads his team to a championship, he wages simultaneous battles against foe and perception. The competition is tough, but it pales in comparison to the scrutiny of whether his game is up to snuff.
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New York Times
an hour ago
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Why did the Ducks trade for Chris Kreider, and what might come next?
General manager Pat Verbeek is taking a peculiar path when it comes from shifting the Anaheim Ducks from a long and painful rebuild into a win-now mode — and moving toward playoffs-or-bust mode. With his trade for the proven and, well, aging goal-scorer Chris Kreider expected to become official on Thursday — for forward prospect Carey Terrance, plus a draft-pick swap — Verbeek apparently is trying to reconstruct the 2022 Eastern Conference finalist New York Rangers to help guide his team toward ending a seven-year postseason drought. Advertisement We're not expecting the Ducks to acquire Mika Zibanejad, Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox or Alexis Lafrenière to make Kreider feel completely at home after spending the last 14 years of his hockey life in New York, but the 34-year-old winger should feel more at ease with former teammates Jacob Trouba, Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano already in Anaheim. But Verbeek turning part of the Ducks' roster into Rangers West, at a crucial point in their evolution, is indeed a choice. There is some pressure on Verbeek as he enters his fourth year on the job. Ducks fans have had their patience tested by poor seasons, trade deadline sell-offs, the slow-moving development of high draft picks and best prospects, and a general lack of material progress. He's on his second head coaching hire, so turfing Greg Cronin for Joel Quenneville, despite a 21-point year-over-year improvement in the standings, must be followed by results. Also, usually media-shy owner Henry Samueli all but led the charge into 2025-26 at Quenneville's introductory news conference. The Ducks are armed with what PuckPedia estimates is nearly $39 million of salary-cap space, and Samueli is willing to flex some financial muscle to improve the team. 'We're not going to write stupid checks,' Samueli said last month. 'But I told (Pat), you do what it takes to make this a really steady perennial playoff contender and Stanley Cup contender down the road. And if it means signing big-name free agents, go for it. We told him, going forward, you will not be constrained by the budget.' Which makes their first big move of the summer a curious one. Kreider can still skate well enough to be a threat off the rush, and will give the Ducks a short-handed threat on a penalty-kill unit that needed an upgrade. His biggest presence will come at the net and on the power play, since he's long been effective at screening goalies and finding rebounds. He also has excelled at tipping pucks and redirecting shots, two skills that the Ducks' 30th-ranked offense and dead-last power play can desperately use. Advertisement The red flag here is whether Kreider's 22-goal season — a bad year by his standards, after his 127 goals in his previous three, including his massive 52-goal blowout in 2021-22 — was just one ugly part of the Rangers' team-wide failure, or a bellwether of a dramatic personal decline. Sure, the cap is spiking upward, but the Ducks taking the remaining two seasons of Kreider's deal, at a $6.5 million cap number, won't look good if the winger doesn't put at least 20 to 25 pucks in the net, or if he provides only a negligible impact at five-on-five play or on special teams. The Ducks will like the fact that Kreider's actual salary is lower: $5 million in each season. Samueli has always valued that, more than the AAV, when taking on a contract. While the trade return — Terrance (a second-round pick in 2023) and a third-round draft pick — is hardly a major cost for a big winger with 326 career goals, the Ducks do, in a certain view, come out looking like a contract-dumping ground for Rangers GM Chris Drury, who also sent Trouba and his $8 million contract to Anaheim last December. Of the Ducks' ex-Rangers, Vatrano is the only one who has been highly productive — and Verbeek rewarded the edgy winger with a three-year extension. Kreider must produce, before that Ducks-Rangers connection becomes a damaging narrative. But what really matters for the Ducks in this offseason is this trade being the first in a series of moves to show they are serious about becoming relevant. Kreider's $6.5 million puts only a small dent in the Ducks' available cap space. Each team is gaining an additional $7.5 million for next season, putting the cap ceiling at $95.5 million, and it is expected to rise further, to $104 million in 2026-27 and $113.5 million in 2027-28. But the Ducks must pay core young players in those coming seasons, starting with center Mason McTavish and No. 1 goalie Lukáš Dostál. As pending restricted free agents, McTavish and Dostál need new contracts now. Both are set to get significant raises. McTavish's entry-level deal contained attainable $2.5 million performance bonuses in addition to his $832,500 base salary. Dostál just finished a two-year second contract worth $1.625 million ($812,500 AAV). They also must extend RFA Drew Helleson, and potential new deals for Trevor Zegras, Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger are on the horizon. Advertisement Even with expected pay hikes for McTavish and Dostál, the Ducks are in position to flex their financial might. They have no notable unrestricted free agents this summer. There have been rumblings of a planned entrance into the Mitch Marner sweepstakes, with the contracts for Trouba and team captain Radko Gudas set to end next summer. The Ducks may want to hang onto John Gibson and play him with Dostál in a strong 1A/1B tandem, but trading Gibson and his $6.5 cap number could provide more flexibility if they avoided retaining salary. The roster fit with Kreider may be trickier. A natural left wing, Kreider joins a club with Gauthier, Vatrano and Zegras all playing a lot (or exclusively) there last season. The Ducks have Carlsson and McTavish atop their depth chart down the middle, and they played Strome at center last season. If they're able to somehow land Marner on a massive deal, that would put him with Troy Terry and Alex Killorn on right wing. With or without Marner, the Ducks would surely want Kreider in their top-nine and would consider him for the top-six. Gauthier is on the rise after scoring 20 goalies as a rookie and finishing fifth in Calder Trophy voting. Vatrano has 80 goals in his three Anaheim seasons. Kreider's arrival could put Zegras, who has dealt with injuries the last two seasons and has long been floated in trade rumors, in an uncertain position. (It should be noted that New York native Zegras and Kreider are good friends and offseason training partners, so the Ducks still could try to tap into Zegras's vast upside, particularly with Quenneville now on board.) Verbeek has turned over the Ducks since his hiring in February 2022. Gibson, the last link to their playoff seasons, is just one of five — with Zegras, Terry, Dostál and Isac Lundestrom — to remain with the team since the GM change from Bob Murray. This is Verbeek's team. He's had time now to execute his vision for how Anaheim will be successful. That vision remains incomplete after the trade for Kreider. This should only be the beginning of what promises to be an active summer for the Ducks. The hard part of building a consistent contender remains for Verbeek, but full judgment should be reserved until he has played more of his cards. Kreider might not work, but the Ducks are back in the game. It's about time.
