Examining alternatives if Rangers don’t trade Chris Kreider this offseason
It feels like there’s a better than 50-50 chance the New York Rangers move on from Chris Kreider and trade the 34-year-old forward this offseason. But there’s certainly a world where the longest-tenured current Rangers player remains on the roster next season.
It would seem prudent for the Rangers to take the least-sentimental approach and trade Kreider this summer. This is especially so after general manager Chris Drury included Kreider’s name in the infamous trade memo to the other 31 GMs in November.
You can review the reasons why the Rangers should trade Kreider in an article published last week here at Forever Blueshirts.
But here, let’s focus on what happens if the Rangers don’t cut ties with Kreider. In that scenario, the Rangers retain his $6.5 million AAV, which runs through 2026-27 and have roughly $8.42 million in available salary-cap space to work with this offseason. Much — all? — of that is needed to re-sign restricted free agents K’Andre Miller, Will Cuylle, Matt Rempe and Adam Edstrom.
Zac Jones and Arthur Kaliyev are also RFAs, but not sure how they can be re-signed, even at modest deals, with so little cap space and others in line ahead of them.
You may have heard that the NHL salary cap increases significantly next season to $95.5 million, a jump of $7.5 million. So, where is all that extra space for the Rangers? Well, it’s been pretty much eaten up with extensions for Igor Shesterkin, Alexis Lafreniere, Will Borgen, Urho Vaakanainen and Juuso Parssinen, each of which kick in next season.
So, with all that said, what are the Rangers options if Kreider returns for the 2025-26 season?
Related: Resurrecting Mika Zibanejad’s game is major Mike Sullivan challenge with Rangers
Alternative options if Rangers don’t trade Chris Kreider this offseason
Run it back
Does Drury believe he’s tweaked the core enough by trading away some players and adding the likes of J.T. Miller and Borgen last season? Is that the level of change he sought?
Likely not. It’s hard to imagine Drury has the stomach to run it back with the same cast that closed out this past season six points out of a playoff spot and woefully underperformed throughout 2024-25.
But if Kreider isn’t traded, one of the Rangers options is to stay the course and trust that new coach Mike Sullivan can help guide this current group back into the postseason. Remember, this core, by and large, did win the Presidents’ Trophy two seasons ago.
The Rangers could run it back, likely with better results than this past season, and focus on the 2025-26 offseason, when they currently project to have $38 million in available space to do their serious retooling. A lot can change between now and then, but as of today Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Kirill Kaprizov, Kyle Connor and Artemi Panarin project to be free agents in 2026.
Back to the task at hand here.
In this “run-it-back” scenario, Kreider likely lands on the third line, and remains on the penalty kill and one of the power-play units. To keep it simple, let’s assume for this project that the Panarin – Vincent Trocheck – Lafreniere line remains intact, and Mika Zibanejad plays right wing on a line with J.T. Miller and Cuylle.
Assuming the fourth line will be Sam Carrick centering for the Twin Towers of Rempe and Edstrom, that leaves Kreider on the third line with Parssinen or Jonny Bordzinski in the middle and one of Gabe Perreault, Brennan Othmann, Brett Berard or Parssinen on the other wing. Perhaps Noah Laba could work his way into the mix as third-line center.
If Zibanejad lines up at center, he and Kreider could be reunited on that third line and a top-six role opens up for the skilled prospect Perreault, or perhaps Othmann, Parssinen or Berard. Or in this case, Kreider could move back up into a top-six role if healthy and productive.
If this has the look and feel and of same-old, same-old, well, that’s because it is.
Trade Mika Zibanejad or Artemi Panarin
This option is possible, if unlikely. Not to mention it would be very, very difficult, considering both Zibanejad and Panarin have full no-move clauses. Moving either would be the ultimate shake-up to this core, though the Rangers would then need to replace quite a bit of lost production in the lineup.
Again, moving either veteran is highly unlikely. But just for information purposes, the Rangers would save $11.64 million against the cap by trading Panarin, who has one season remaining on his mega-deal. Zibanejad makes $8.5 million annually through 2029-30.
Trade Alexis Lafreniere
Again, an unlikely option, but a possibility nonetheless. The Rangers committed to a long-term extension with Lafreniere last season, and despite a poor showing in 2024-25, he’s the type of player you build around and give more responsibility to moving forward. Lafreniere will be 24 next season and did score 28 goals two years ago, not to mention how he didn’t wilt in the 2024 postseason.
Trading Lafreniere is somewhat appealing because it frees up $7.45 million under the cap and you’d assume the Rangers could get a sizeable return for the former No. 1 overall pick. Still, that feels like a panic move and short-sighted.
Trade K’Andre Miller
K’Andre Miller is obviously not a forward, but the Rangers have an important decision to make on the 25-year-old defenseman’s long-term future. He’s a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, due a sizeable raise, and can be a UFA in 2027. But his wonky inconsistent play the past two seasons doesn’t necessarily have him on a linear path to someone you can trust and invest in long term.
Signing him this summer likely means $6 million-plus added to the budget, and is probably the way the Rangers go, especially if they view Miller as Adam Fox’s long-term partner. They could trade him, receive a solid return, but then be in the position of investing in a replacement.
Again, this feels unlikely, unless Drury and Sullivan don’t believe in Miller and would rather cut ties. Again, any potential cap savings there would be would go into paying his replacement.
Trade Carson Soucy
It’s hard to tell how much the Rangers value Carson Soucy. In the minds of the hierarchy, Soucy might be a partner for Fox, a second-pair staple with Borgen, on the third pairing, or be a swing 6th-7th defenseman. Really, who knows? He was so-so after being acquired from the Vancouver Canucks ahead of the trade deadline.
If he’s not a keeper, the Rangers could free up $3.25 million by trading him. Soucy does have a 12-team no-trade clause, but that shouldn’t stand in the way of a deal. That would give the Rangers some wiggle room financially, though another defenseman would be needed on the roster and could mean Jones is back in the mix as an affordable and familiar option.
