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Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers celebrates after a goal during the third period against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Six of the Second Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs (Photo by Josh Lavallee/NHLI via Getty Images)

Pros & Cons of the Rangers Trading Chris Kreider

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Lucas Standel | Last updated May 6, 2025 9:15 AM ET

The New York Rangers are coming off an embarrassing and disappointing season. They went from winning the Presidents’ Trophy and making it to the Eastern Conference Final to missing the playoffs completely. This team wasn’t good enough to win a Stanley Cup last season, and this season proved even more that changes need to be made for them to become a legitimate contender in this league. General manager Chris Drury is going to have to make a lot of decisions this offseason that could impact the team for years to come, and it could mean we have seen the last game of the current longest-tenured Ranger.

Chris Kreider was in trade rumors all season long. It started in late November when Drury sent out the memo to all the other teams saying he was open for business, and specifically named Kreider and former captain Jacob Trouba by name in the memo. Then, his name started to reappear in rumors around the 2025 Trade Deadline, but nothing happened due to him having a down season and being injured. Now, with Drury looking to make changes to the roster, Kreider is likely to be a big-name moved this offseason, and in this piece, we will look at some pros and cons of a potential trade.

Pro: Creates Much Needed Cap Space

According to PuckPedia, the Rangers are projected to have a little over $8.4 million in cap space this summer. While it seems like a decent amount to start with, they have two players to sign who are likely to take up a majority of that space: Will Cuylle and K’Andre Miller. Both of these players will be restricted free agents, and with Cuylle having a breakout season and Miller likely wanting a longer-term deal worth more than the $3.872 million he is currently making, this could see the Rangers having to use most of the cap space for these two players. They are going to have to clear up some space to make other moves, and the only player on the team who is making a significant amount of money and doesn’t have full trade protection is Kreider.

The other four highest-paid forwards on the team, Artemi Panarin ($11.6 million), Mika Zibanejad ($8.5 million), J.T. Miller ($8.0 million), and Vincent Trocheck ($5.6 million) all have full no-trade clauses going into next season. Kreider, who makes $6.5 million for the next two seasons, only has a 15-team no-trade list. The Rangers can trade him to 16 other teams without having to ask him first and this is likely the route they will go this offseason. They need to clear up cap space with both Alexis Lafreniere and Igor Shesterkin’s new deals kicking in; with the aforementioned Cuylle and Miller needing new deals, they simply won’t have the space unless the move out a player and Kreider looks to be that player.

Con: Drury Would be Selling Low

One of the main reasons why Kreider wasn’t moved during the season was that he was dealing with multiple injuries and was having a down season production-wise. After scoring at least 35 goals in the past three seasons, he only had 22 goals and 30 total points in 68 games played this season. This was a massive drop off, and with him just turning 34 years old, he doesn’t have much time left in his career and teams might see him as a risk to acquire. Nobody expected him to have the best seasons of his career after turning 30, but now that he is getting older and was plagued with injuries this season, Drury would be selling low on him if he were to trade him.

At best, maybe Drury could get a couple mid-round picks or a low-end prospect for him, but it won’t be a haul like they could have gotten if they traded him back at the 2020 Trade Deadline when he was the top player on the market. Maybe the trade could still be seen as a win because they would be clearing up cap space to make other moves, but with a player like Kreider, you would still want to see a decent return given what he has done in his career. He is a proven playoff performer and maybe a team will see that and pay more to get him, but it seems unlikely at this moment that the Rangers are going to get anything of value for the 34 year old who is going to have to recover this offseason from the multiple injuries.

Pro: Would be a Major Locker Room Shakeup

Kreider has been a Ranger for 13 seasons and has been with the team through many ups and downs. He was there when they went to the Stanley Cup Final and multiple Eastern Conference Finals during his early years. He was kept here to be a leader through the rebuild and got the extension in 2020 to be part of the next group that contended for a Stanley Cup. While he was never named captain, fans always assumed he was a locker-room leader. Now, after this season, it became clear that maybe he wasn’t a true leader after all and even though he was injured, he along with some of the other “leaders” on this team seemed to be checked out for a majority of the season. It’s clear now that the Rangers don’t have a true leader and that a locker room shakeup is necessary.

Mike Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck, Chris Kreider, and Artemi Panarin celebrate after Trocheck’s first period goal during game four of the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals (Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

As mentioned earlier, all of the other top-paid players are going to be here unless they ask to be traded. Kreider is the only one who doesn’t have control over whether Drury trades him or not. Trading him would be the massive locker-room shakeup this team desperately needs. It would send the message to the other players that if Drury could trade the longest-tenured player, one of them could be next if they don’t start performing the way they should be. Maybe trading him makes space for Drury to bring in another player who could potentially be a leader going forward. Either way, a locker-room shakeup to is needed going into next season, and trading Kreider would be that shakeup.

If the Rangers do end up moving Kreider this summer, it will be hard to see him go because of how long he has been with the Rangers and all of the memories he has provided. His number could very well end up being retired when his career is over, but it now seems that this offseason is the time they finally move on from him. They need to clear cap space and get younger going forward. Moving Kreider allows them to do that, but if it does happen, it will truly be the end of an era for the Rangers.