When the Orange County media–all three of us–got the chance to encircle Chris Kreider at Anaheim Ducks practice ahead of the team’s trip to New York City and his first game against the Rangers in Madison Square Garden–the team and building that were his home for 13 years–he opened the session in typical Kreider fashion.
“You mean the Pittsburgh, Islanders, Devils, Rangers, Columbus trip? That one?” Kreider deadpanned. “10 points on the line? You want to talk about which game?”
Kreider is always quick with a dry disarming joke while trying to keep the focus on the here and now and off himself. When the Ducks practiced on Long Island last week, all he said to local media ahead of the team’s three New York-area games was that it was a “business trip.”
Playing in the nation’s No. 1 media market with a press corps that will certainly form a double-stacked wall around him at Monday’s morning skate ahead of the Ducks-Rangers clash that night, the savvy 34-year-old certainly learned all the tricks to keep hockey journalists on their toes in a world of “playing our game” and “pucks in deep.”
“Gives me a good opportunity to get some more clothing,” Kreider continued, delaying the inevitable questions. “Definitely didn’t bring enough warm, cold weather stuff. The Chicago and St. Louis trip was freezing, so I needed them. I need a down jacket.”
Despite his sly protesting, Kreider admitted that Monday’s Rangers reunion was something he’s been looking forward to since the start of the season.
“I grew up in that city,” Kreider said. “Came in, drafted at 18 years old, and hoping to one day play there, and then to spend my entire 20s and early 30s there, and start a family of my own. It became home, right? That’s hard to put into words. That means everything.”
“That experience, so incredibly grateful for everything that the organization gave me, the relationships I made within the organization, and outside the organization.”
Because of the when and how Kreider’s trade from New York occurred in June following a tumultuous season of general manager memos, injuries and losses, there was no tearful goodbye to the MSG faithful for the third all-time goalscorer in Rangers history.
After 883 games in a Blueshirts sweater, seventh-most all-time, it was hard for anyone to imagine Kreider wearing any other colors on that Madison Square Garden ice. However, come Monday night, that unexpected moment will come to pass, even if the man himself never saw it happening.
“I think it’d be arrogant to try to predict what’s gonna happen next year, next month, next week, next day, like you don’t know,” Kreider said.” So you just take it all in stride. Obviously, things happen for a reason, and happy in the situation I’m in currently. Hopefully, going there gives me an opportunity to see some people that obviously can’t see on the West Coast, right? Some friends, some family, some former teammates, and big two points on the line, too.”
“Honestly, I hope going back is more about Chris and his time there,” Trouba said. “He was there a lot longer than I was. He’s up high on a lot of lists for franchise records, and I honestly do hope this is more about Chris and everything he did, being drafted there, how long he played there, and hope gets an extremely warm welcome for everything he did for the Rangers.”
No, he’s not Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Mike Richter or Rod Gilbert. He’s not an Original 6-era stalwart, and he’s not a 1994 Stanley Cup Champion.
However, to a certain generation, the New York Rangers are, firstly, Henrik Lundqvist and, right beside him, Chris Kreider.
“If you talk about like icons of New York sports, he’s one of them for sure,” former Rangers teammate and current Duck Ryan Strome said. “Just because the big goals, the playoff goals, the big moments, and he hasn’t changed, which is the best thing about him.”
In Kreider’s 13 years in New York, the Rangers went to four Eastern Conference Finals and advanced to the 2014 Stanley Cup Final, where the Kings won in five games.
Kreider is the team’s all-time leader in playoff games and playoff goals, including a dramatic third-period hat trick to eliminate Carolina in 2024 and advance to the Eastern Final.
“He meant everything to the organization,” former Rangers teammate and current Duck Frank Vatrano said. “I think if you look at his performances in the playoffs, I think he’s up there. He might be one of the best performers in the history of that franchise in the playoffs, the way he’s scored big time goals for them. You think New York Rangers, you would think Chris Kreider. We’re just fortunate enough to have him.”
On the Rangers’ all-time franchise lists, Kreider is tied for first in regular-season power play goals (first in playoff power play goals), second in game-winning goals, fourth in shorthanded goals and 10th in points. This is a franchise that began play in 1926 and is currently celebrating its centennial year.
“He deserves to be celebrated,” Strome said. “He had a great career there, and I was surprised that they wanted to move on because of what he’s doing here right now. I think he could still be doing it on any team in the league. Really happy for him, and happy to have him here.”
‘Most Interesting Human Being in the League’
For all of his on-ice accolades, there is so much beyond the goals and points that made Chris Kreider an endearing figure to fans and teammates alike in New York.
“Kreids, I’d say, is one of the most interesting human beings, probably, in the league. Maybe in the world,” Vatrano said. “He’s got a great sense of humor, pretty dry. Very intelligent guy, but I think he’s a little bit too smart for himself at times, but overall he’s fun to be around.”
Kreider can reportedly speak Russian and Spanish fluently with sprinklings of other languages, plus some musical proficiency with a guitar among other things.“We were talking last night. We knew that in prep school, he spoke Russian,” Vatrano said. “So, I go, ‘Can you have a conversation?’ So he goes, ‘Yeah, if it was a five-year-old.’”
Vatrano only spent all of 22 regular season games with the Rangers in 2022, plus another 20 playoff games. It was long enough for Kreider’s open doors to make an impression.
“He’s nice enough to let me stay in his apartment, so that was great,” Vatrano said. “That was awesome for him to open up his doors. He wasn’t using his apartment in the city, so he let me stay there with my wife and our two dogs at the time. That was great. You didn’t have to do that, and that just shows what kind of guy he is.”
Strome spent parts of four seasons with the Rangers with “a year or two” spent as Kreider’s carpool partner from Manhattan to the team’s practice facility in Tarrytown, New York, which is roughly 25 miles outside of the city. Strome said he and Kreider became close on the hour drives up and back.
“We had some crazy conversations,” Strome said. “He’s a very cerebral person, very thoughtful, very smart. So for me, it was just great to hash it up with somebody all the time in the car about hockey or whatever it may be and hear his impact. Obviously, we see the world a little bit differently, but it was good to see what he thinks about things.”
“He’s been around and had a lot of success. We had a lot of good times and some good laughs, and nice to see it carry over now. I don’t think some of the stuff he went through was warranted and deserved, and he handled it with class and like he always has. Nice to see him on the other side of it here and playing great for us.”
The final season in New York was rough for the Rangers and for Chris Kreider.
There was plenty of off-ice drama that plagued the team, which sent then-captain Jacob Trouba to Anaheim one year ago last week, which spilled over into on-ice play, but the most affecting for Kreider was the injuries.
Kredier dealt with back issues, an illness that reportedly led to vertigo and a broken hand that needed surgery in the offseason. All in all, Kreider hit four-year lows in goals (22) and points (30) while battling through 68 games.
In just 28 games in Anaheim, the 34-year-old looks primed to breeze past those totals back to his regular form. Kreider has 13 goals and 24 points and matched last season’s power-play goals total with six.
“Best ability is availability,” Kreider said. “I think less energy is spent on trying to get yourself into a position where you feel like you can play and not hurt the team and just focus on helping the team and putting your best foot forward every day.”
Kreider has reinvigorated the Ducks power play unit, which has spent years in a malaise, and he’s becoming a rallying point for younger players. He’s helped spark a star-making season on Leo Carlsson’s wing, and Beckett Sennecke has seemingly absorbed some of Kreider’s netfront abilities.
When Kreider speaks, Anaheim’s young core clearly listens, and he’s been a teachable example of getting to the front of the net and being rewarded for it, just as general manager Pat Verbeek said he would be when he was acquired.
“I always make the joke that he says he’s good at, like, five things,” Strome said, “and he tries to be really good at them and he’s always been like that. He scores, he goes to the net. He works hard, he skates. Keeps it really simple.”
“I kind of mentioned in the summer, I think there was no doubt that he would just continue that here and be rejuvenated… It’s been as advertised.”
With a healthy body, healthy mind and plenty of on-ice production, it’s clear that Kreider has fit the Ducks like a glove. As Strome alluded to earlier, it’s possible Kreider could have done this anywhere in the league–maybe even New York–but there has been a special synergy early in Anaheim.
“I just think the group has made it super easy for me,” Kreider said. “Being able to live close to Troy Terry and Jacob (Trouba), and obviously I already know Frank (Vatrano) and Ryan (Strome), but everyone here, it’s just a really fantastic group of guys. It’s just fun to come to the rink every single day. Everyone gets along super well. Everyone’s going in the same direction. Everyone has made–not just the players, the coaches, but the whole staff, Gilly (Ducks communications director Alex Gilchrist, who observed last week’s interview) in particular.”
“Everyone’s just made it incredibly, incredibly… It’s not easy, but easier for sure.”
That fun and levity for Kreider this year is most evident to the teammate that would know best–Trouba, who rode that Rangers rollercoaster for parts of six seasons and three as captain until his Dec. 6 trade last season.
“This isn’t like a slight on anybody, but I think we’re having a lot more fun,” Trouba said. “We spend a lot of time together. Live close to each other, drive to games, drive to practice together, and having fun on the ice, smiling. I don’t know. I just think we’re maybe a little more relaxed and out of that, you call pressure, whatever you want to call it, but I think we’re just having a lot more fun.”
Now that road leads back to Madison Square Garden, where after a frankly miraculous win to open the road trip back-to-back frustrating losses in the tri-state area have made Monday’s clash with the Rangers an important two points for the Ducks, just as Kreider laid them out to be.
Everyone expects a rousing reunion for Kreider. As each of his former and current teammates have said, it will be a well-deserved reception, and far from the last time No. 20 is hailed in New York City.
“It’s a pretty massive, passionate fan base. Pretty incredible fanbase, especially when things are going well,” Kreider said. “It’ll be interesting.”