Kreider on Rangers: 'I think it’s pretty obvious there’s frustration, angst, tension’
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New York Rangers veteran forward Chris Kreider spoke Wednesday after multiple reports surfaced this week that he and team captain Jacob Trouba are available on the trade market.
Kreider, who will not play Wednesday against the Carolina Hurricanes due to an injury he revealed as back spasms, told Mollie Walker of the New York Post he remains fully committed to the franchise.
“I think it’s pretty obvious there’s frustration, angst, tension,” Kreider said of the feeling in the Rangers’ locker room right now. “Good. We’re 20 games in. Let’s go through this s–t now and figure out who we are. We had the best regular season in the history of an Original Six franchise last year, won a Presidents’ Trophy and didn’t go as far as we would’ve liked. We’re getting exposed right now. Our warts are out there and teams are picking on the things we don’t do well and we’ve gotten away from the things we do do well.
“We don’t necessarily know what this is right now, right? This could just be part of the story and we look back at this and say, ‘This made us better.’”
TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston reported Tuesday that Rangers general manager Chris Drury "is open for business (and) he's let that be known to other GMs around the league. Specifically he's mentioned Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider as veteran Rangers players that he'd be willing to move on from under the right circumstances."
Kreider has nine goals in 19 games this season and is signed through the 2026-27 season at a cap hit of $6.5 million.
The 33-year-old winger said he is keeping his focus on the ice despite the storm that has been stirred by Drury.
“Shouldn’t trivialize someone’s feelings, but how you feel doesn’t affect your ability to do something that you’ve done for the entirety of your life – unless you let it,” Kreider said. “There’s guys in here who will say there are games where they come in and they feel great and they don’t play well. There’s games where they’re under the weather, they’re sick, maybe they’re a little banged up and all of sudden the puck is following them around. Body knows what to do, just got to do it your own way and let it do it.”
The Rangers are currently stuck in a three-game losing skid and have been outscored 11-4 over their past two games. The team is 12-7-1 on the season, currently sitting in the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Led by a leadership group that includes Kreider and Trouba, the Rangers have made the playoffs in each of the past three seasons, reaching the Eastern Conference Final twice.
The team rebounded from a first-round exit in 2023 to make the conference final again last year in their first season under Peter Laviolette.
Selected 19th overall by the Rangers in the 2009 draft, Kreider has spent his entire career with the Rangers. He has 313 goals and 561 points in 834 career games.
Both Kreider and Trouba have 15-team no-trade clauses and Johnston was asked Tuesday if publicizing their availability was a move made by the Rangers to help convince the players to waive them.
"It could be viewed that way," Johnston told host Gino Reda on Early Trading. "I think generally when you send a memo around to all the other teams there's at least some level of expectation that it's not likely to be kept entirely confidential. 'Hockey is a small town' I like to say...
"Let's face it, as much as it creates a headline for a couple days, in terms of making actual tangible results on the ice, you've got to make a move at some point in time. It could be in part to maybe catch the attention of everyone in the short term but in the long term it's only going to be moves that change the dynamic around that team."