Yesterday, Dan Rosen of NHL.com reported on Chris Kreider’s situation. Speaking to both Rangers President, John Davidson and GM, Jeff Gorton they gave some insights that confirm the reporting Forever Blueshirts has done on the situation in recent months.
JD and JG on Kreider
“I totally expect him to be in camp…He’s got one year left, and that should be a whole lot of importance to him to come in and have a great camp and a great year, and we’ll just see where it all goes.”
JD via NHL.com
This was followed by another revealing quote from Jeff Gorton.
“He’s a good player. He’s obviously a top-six forward and he’s somebody that when he’s producing takes the edge off young players too. There’s not so much pressure to produce if you have other guys leading the way. For a lot of reasons, Chris is an important player.”
JG via NHL.com
The above statements confirm what I reported way back on July 3rd titled “Rangers Hoping to Keep Chris Kreider” and August 4th with “Kreider’s Rangers Career Likely Coming to an End”.
To sum it all up in a nice package, here’s the original tweet and key quote from the July 3rd article:
John Davidson and Jeff Gorton know just how valuable Kreider can be on the 2nd line. Especially, if they are going to give Vitali Kravtsov a chance to center it. Even if they roll with Filip Chytil there, a veteran presence would be beneficial. Should the Rangers and their rookies gel and catch fire, they could opt to hold onto Kreider at the deadline and hope to extend him next summer. If not, and the playoffs are in doubt, they can be a seller and move Kreider for a coveted 1st round pick as a rental. It’s just good asset management all around.
Forever Blueshirts 7/3/19
You can read into this situation anyway you like, but from everything I could learn the conclusion seems obvious. The Rangers want to go into the season with him and allow their young stars to develop. If they are in a playoff spot at the deadline, they will roll the dice and keep Kreider and possibly lose him for nothing in the summer. Is there a chance that Kreider could be re-signed during the season? Absolutely, but I wouldn’t count on it unless it is a very team friendly deal.
