Business in the NHL picked up in a big way on Wednesday when the Anaheim Ducks placed Chris Kreider on waivers for contract termination. The Ducks need to get RFA Cutter Gauthier re-signed, and ending Kreider’s contract frees up $6.5 million in cap space to make that happen.
Kreider potentially gets the chance to sign somewhere new (if he isn’t claimed on waivers, that is), and he put up 22 goals and 28 assists last season in 75 games, plus another seven points in 12 playoff games. At 35 years old, he’s older, but he’s still got game, and teams in need of a guy who menaces goalies with his presence around the net and ability to score on the power play will be in demand.
There are enough teams that could use a player with Kreider’s skill set, but as Elliotte Friedman shared, he would like to go back East to be closer to family. We’ve picked out a handful of teams that could be players for the former 50-goal scorer and the reasons why they’d be in the hunt.