If the New York Rangers decide to move Chris Kreider, the market for his services seems to be robust.
The speedy winger, who is a pending unrestricted free agent, has been named as a trade target for some time now. That hasn’t stopped New York from trying to sign him to a contract extension, but in the event it doesn’t get done, one has to think the Rangers will move him. That is, unless they buy into the 2018-19 Columbus Blue Jackets method of saying “to hell with trading UFAs just because we’re outside the playoff picture, let’s go for it.”
But New York is seven points out of the second wild card spot, so it really would be gambling on a big turnaround if it employed that approach.
That said, in his latest “31 Thoughts Column” published Tuesday, SportsNet’s Elliotte Friedman shared the latest on Kreider, including naming four teams he believes are interested.
From Friedman’s column:
“This is good news for the Rangers, who continue to both negotiate with and generate the market for Chris Kreider. Teams I think are interested: Boston, Colorado, New York Islanders and St. Louis (there could be more, obviously).
“I think Washington GM Brian MacLellan made a stealth move to see if he could get in on Kreider, but the Dillon trade probably takes him out of it.”
The Bruins adding Kreider would be a massive addition that certainly would elevate an already stellar team. You could say the same for all the other teams named as well, however.
The NHL Trade Deadline is this Monday.
