Tick tock.

While the New York Rangers remain in negotiation to keep winger Chris Kreider, but the Colorado Avalanche and Boston Bruins appear to have emerged as front-runners for his services on the trade market.

Kreider, 28, has been No. 1 on the TSN Trade Bait Board since December.

The Avalanche were in on Kreider well before right wing Mikko Rantanen went down with a reported collarbone injury in Monday night’s game against Tampa Bay. That injury may have only heightened the urgency to make it happen.

The Bruins have been in on the Boston College and Boxford, Mass., kid all along, as the team atop the NHL standings attempts to avenge last year’s crushing Game 7 loss to St. Louis on home ice in the Stanley Cup Final. 

The Blues and, to a lesser extent, the Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals, are all believed to have inquired about Kreider’s availability. But the Blues’ focus may have shifted to defence with Jay Bouwmeester’s future up in the air following a scary cardiac episode in Anaheim last week.

Both the spoked-B and the Avs are well positioned to land Kreider. Colorado has the ability to offer the complete package between their deeper prospect pool and ample salary cap space. They’re also currently missing another top-six centre in Nazem Kadri.

Kreider would be a tougher salary squeeze in Beantown, but GM Don Sweeney had the magic touch last year around the deadline, acquiring another hometown forward in Charlie Coyle from the Wild for Ryan Donato. Coyle had nine goals and 16 points in 24 playoff games, finding instant chemistry with Marcus Johansson – who was scooped up from New Jersey for second- and fourth-round picks – while Donato is back on our trade board today.

Kreider will have a choice to make. He's expressed his interest in remaining a Ranger. Over the next handful of days, he’ll have to decide whether New York's best offer is enough to be a Blueshirt, or whether he'll be skating on. The clock is ticking.

Six days to go. There are 50 names in play.

Here is TSN Hockey’s latest Trade Bait board, which always seeks to blend a player’s prominence with his likelihood of a deal (For stats and more go to TSN.ca):


1. Chris Kreider, NYR
2. Sami Vatanen, NJD
3. Jean-Gabriel Pageau, OTT
4. Brenden Dillon, SJS
5. Alec Martinez, LAK
6. Carolina's 1st Round Pick
7. Ilya Kovalchuk, MTL
8. Andreas Athanasiou, DET
9. Kyle Palmieri, NJD
10. Erik Gustafsson, CHI
11. Vladislav Namestnikov, OTT
12. Patrick Marleau, SJS
13. Joe Thornton, SJS
14. Derek Grant, ANA
15. Mike Hoffman, FLA
16. Barclay Goodrow, SJS
17. Detroit's Cap Space
18. Conor Sheary, BUF
19. Alex Kerfoot, TOR
20. Kasperi Kapanen, TOR
21. Matt Dumba, MIN
22. Jonas Brodin, MIN
23. Wayne Simmonds, NJD
24. Josh Anderson, CBJ
25. Pavel Buchnevich, NYR
26. Anthony DeAngelo, NYR
27. Shayne Gostisbehere, PHI
28. Ondrej Kase, ANA
29. Rasmus Ristolainen, BUF
30. Mike Green, DET
31. Robin Lehner, CHI
32. Ron Hainsey, OTT
33. Chris Tierney, OTT
34. Ryan Donato, MIN
35. Craig Smith, NSH
36. Valtteri Filppula, DET
37. Marco Scandella, MTL
38. Mikael Granlund, NSH
39. Sam Bennett, CGY
40. Michael Del Zotto, ANA
41. Nate Thompson, MTL
42. Trevor Lewis, LAK
43. Devin Shore, ANA
44. Rocco Grimaldi, NSH
45. Evgeni Dadonov, FLA
46. Zach Bogosian, BUF
47. Josh Manson, ANA
48. Kyle Turris, NSH
49. Jeff Petry, MTL
50. Jesse Puljujarvi, EDM*