After ‘iconic' Rangers tenure, Chris Kreider opens up about New York departure: One-on-one

New York Times

22-07-2025

STAMFORD, Conn. — Chris Kreider arrived a few minutes early for his Monday workout at Prentiss Hockey Performance, where he's spent summers training for more than a decade. An array of jerseys from the gym's current and former clients line the walls, and Kreider's is featured prominently right across from the entrance.
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With time to burn, the 34-year-old winger plopped into a chair at the front desk, turned toward the computer and pretended to do administrative work. As an earlier workout group of NHLers shuffled past, Kreider said hello to Adam Fox and Brett Berard, his now-former New York Rangers teammates. Much to Kreider's delight, Berard was wearing a shirt from Boston College, where his brother, Brady Berard, currently plays and where Kreider starred for three years. They chatted for a moment about the Golden Eagles' upcoming season.
Relaxing behind the desk, Kreider was home. Comfortable. In a familiar place before a massive change.
Last month, the Rangers sent Kreider — their longest-tenured player — to Anaheim for a third-round pick and prospect Carey Terrance, ending one of the most storied careers in franchise history. New York drafted Kreider with the No. 19 pick in 2009, and he became one of the faces of the team after his splashy debut in the 2012 playoffs. He was the constant from the 2014 team that made the Stanley Cup Final through the rebuilding teams of the 2010s to the return to contention in the 2020s. He's third in franchise history in goals, tied for first in power play goals and first in playoff goals.
Now, for the first time, he won't be tipping in pucks for the Rangers. He's part of another NHL organization, one nearly 3,000 miles away from the only region he's ever called home. Kreider grew up in the Boston area, played for Boston College and then went to the Rangers. He's never lived outside of the Northeast.
So how, in this time of transition, is he feeling about everything?
'Good,' he told The Athletic, before laughing. 'Bit of a loaded question.'
He's at least had a bit of time to settle into an answer. Plenty of his former teammates have been dealt in-season. That, Kreider knows, can be a bit of a shock. Since his exit happened over the summer, he's been able to process the move at his own pace.
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'For me it's been kind of gradual, which I think is nice,' he said. 'I don't know; I have nothing to compare it to.
'There are brush points where it's kind of like 'this is happening, for sure.' (After Anaheim) shipped out my new equipment, jumping on the ice with Ducks stuff on, and people coming up to me and being like 'you look weird.''
The Rangers informed Kreider early in the offseason that they intended to move him, then worked with his camp to find a destination that suited him. Kreider had listed the Ducks on his partial no-trade list but agreed to sign off on the deal after taking a day to talk through the situation with his family. Anaheim's roster features several of Kreider's old Rangers teammates and friends, including former captain Jacob Trouba, Frank Vatrano and Ryan Strome, who joked that he urged Kreider to 'hurry up and sign the papers' while making the decision.
'He's a very proud Ranger and one of the most accomplished Rangers in history,' said Strome, who played with Kreider in New York from 2018-22. 'As much as I feel like he needed a bit of a fresh start and a new challenge, I also think it was probably not the easiest thing to go. … When you're dealing with a player of that pedigree and I think (with) the way some of the other exits of the Rangers' veterans in the previous years have gone, they wanted to let Chris handle it the way he wanted to handle it. I think he kind of steered the ship a little bit.'
The Ducks' recent hiring of coach Joel Quenneville also intrigued Kreider, and he liked their young core, especially up the middle. He referred to 20-year-old center Leo Carlsson as a 'unicorn' Monday and called Mason McTavish a 'bull.' Kreider added that new teammates Radko Gudas, Troy Terry and Cutter Gauthier all welcomed him after the deal was finalized on June 12, and that Strome has been 'super helpful throughout the whole process.'
Kreider is coming off a trying season in which the Rangers missed the playoffs. He had scored at least 36 goals in each of the prior three seasons but managed only 22 in 2024-25, his lowest mark in a full season since 2017-18, and had only eight assists in 68 games. In November, team president and general manager Chris Drury sent a memo to other general managers saying he was open to trading roster players and mentioned Kreider and Trouba by name. That came two games into a 4-15-0 skid and foreshadowed both veteran players' departures.
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Along with the trade rumors, Kreider battled multiple injuries over the year. He dealt with back spasms in the first part of the season, then an illness that resulted in vertigo coming out of Christmas break. When he started to feel healthy again, he hurt his left hand in a February game against Buffalo. He sat for six games, then tried to play through the injury with lots of tape on his hand, hoping to help the Rangers into a playoff spot. That wasn't particularly effective.
'One little push in the game and it was just back to square one,' he said.
After the season, Kreider had surgery that put metal in his hand to hold it together, leaving him with a three-inch scar. 'Now I've got a Wolverine hand,' he said, mimicking the superhero unleashing one of his retractable claws. The doctor gave Kreider a six-to-eight week recovery timeline, but Kreider recalled receiving medical clearance to return in four.
'I've been doing a ton of stuff in here (in the gym), just doing what I can to be in good shape,' he said.
As he talked through the surgery, Kreider detoured to reflect on several other hand and wrist issues he dealt with in his Rangers tenure: a scaphoid injury that ended his 2014 regular season and sidelined him until the second round of the playoffs; an ECU tendon tear he played through in 2017; a wrist injury in the 2022 playoffs. Some were more prohibitive than others, and his hand injury in 2025 was one that likely affected his performance.
'I think he's got a ton of game left,' Strome added. 'I think Kreids is a very humble guy. Last year he wouldn't tell many people but he was probably playing through some tough injuries. You topple on that with some team disappointment and some personal disappointment and I think things kind of just snowball there in a bad direction.'
Strome also believes joining the Ducks could help rejuvenate Kreider, even if the initial sight of him wearing their jersey might be jarring.
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'That'll definitely take some getting used to,' Strome said. 'The last two decades, you think of iconic New York Rangers and you have Henrik Lundqvist, then Chris Kreider is — if not second — third or fourth on that list.'
Since the trade to Anaheim, Kreider said plenty of people in the community have approached him and expressed their gratitude, which seemed fitting. 'That's how I feel, too,' he said. As for whether a change of scenery will help bring out extra motivation, Kreider said with a laugh, 'This is my first time experiencing it. Hopefully.'
Kreider has yet to visit Anaheim since the deal, but he's figured out a place to live close to other players. He's planning to take a trip there soon. 'I've gotta get the lay of the land,' he said.
But just because he's no longer a Ranger does not mean he's bidding a permanent farewell to the Northeast. Asked if Connecticut and the New York area will remain home for his offseasons, Kreider answered before the question was over.
'Yes.'
He has roots here — and a whole lot of history, too.
(Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)