Frank Vatrano knew Chris Kreider before he even joined the Rangers as a trade deadline acquisition in March 2022.<\/p>\n
Vatrano\u2019s cousin, Barry Almeida, played with Kreider at Boston College.<\/p>\n
And after coming two wins away from a Stanley Cup Final berth with Kreider and the Rangers three years ago now, Vatrano \u2014 who left New York for Anaheim as a free agent that following summer \u2014 knows better than most what the Ducks are getting in the 13-year veteran.<\/p>\n
He is now the one welcoming Kreider into a new organization.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got to New York, he texted me right away and said I could live at his place in the city,\u201d Vatrano said of Kreider and their time together as Rangers teammates before the two participated in the Shoulder Check Showcase at Terry Conners Rink in Stamford, Conn., on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was so nice of him to do that. Didn\u2019t make me pay a dime or anything. I was living large in Tribeca. It was great. I\u2019ll forever be grateful for that. Now, to play with him again, it\u2019s going to be awesome. I know, for him, you play on one team for a long time, change isn\u2019t the easiest thing. But he\u2019s going to come to a place where he\u2019s good buddies with me, [Jacob Trouba] and [Ryan Strome]. I think it\u2019s more laid back in California, where you can kind of fly under the radar. Great place to raise a family, in the sunshine every day, so he\u2019s going to love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Primarily skating on a line with Kreider and Mika Zibanejad for the 42 total games he played for the Blueshirts, Vatrano likes to say he was just \u201calong for the ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he had a front-row seat to watch Kreider reach 52 goals during the 2021-22 season.<\/p>\n
Chris Kreider, now with the Ducks, participates in the third annual Shoulder Check hockey showcase game at Terry Conners Rink on July 24, 2025, in Stamford, Conn. Corey Sipkin for New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cHis jersey is going to be hanging up at MSG some day,\u201d Vatrano quipped.<\/p>\n
Kreider looked content and at ease at Thursday\u2019s charity event, which he has gotten several Rangers involved in to promote mental health awareness in memory of the late hockey player Hayden Thorsen.<\/p>\n
Fans lined up against the fencing to the players\u2019 entrance as early as 2:30 p.m. despite a 4 p.m. start time. There were several Rangers fans in attendance who were specifically looking to see Kreider, who held the title as the longest-tenured player for quite some time.<\/p>\n
Frank Vatrano talks to the media at the third annual Shoulder Check hockey showcase game with more than 25 NHL hockey players at Terry Conners Rink on July 24, 2025, in Stamford, Conn. Corey Sipkin for New York Post<\/p>\n
Asked if he felt weird, or if his June 12 trade to Anaheim had really set in yet, Kreider said yes and no. Some days yes, he said, some days no.<\/p>\n
When it came to the fans, however, the exchanges were completely mutual.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of kindness, a lot of appreciation, a lot of gratitude \u2014 and that goes both ways,\u201d Kreider said. \u201cSuper lucky to have experienced what I experienced, something that\u2019s always going to be near and dear to me and a massive part of that is obviously the fan base. That\u2019s what makes the Rangers so special, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
Chris Kreider participates in the third annual Shoulder Check hockey showcase game at Terry Conners Rink on July 24, 2025 Corey Sipkin for New York Post<\/p>\n
Sporting a scar on his hand from the surgery he underwent after the season, Kreider seems ready to endear himself to a new franchise.<\/p>\n
While he\u2019s continued to work out in the area, with his former Rangers teammates still in his vicinity, the next chapter in Kreider\u2019s career is steadily approaching.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead the expert take on the Blueshirts\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Larry Brooks’ Inside the Rangers, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
On Thursday at a small rink in Connecticut, however, the fans got to say goodbye.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just his work ethic, the way he goes about his business every single day,\u201d Vatrano said of what Kreider will bring. \u201cHe\u2019s an absolute animal in the gym, and works hard every single shift. I think, for us, we have such a young team, we have such a balance. \u2026 Probably eight guys over the age of 23 and we have another seven or eight guys who are over the age of 30. There\u2019s a good balance and we all get along.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always including each other in everything, going to dinners and stuff. He\u2019s going to be a big part of that with our group going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frank Vatrano knew Chris Kreider before he even joined the Rangers as a trade deadline acquisition in March…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[6517,29683,4823,385,99],"class_list":["post-36196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-chris-kreider","tag-frank-vatrano","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}