Several Offseason Landing Spots Emerge for New York Rangers Longest-Tenured Star
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The New York Rangers are in a tough position this season, fighting for a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. This comes only a year after winning the Presidents Trophy and making their way to the Eastern Conference Finals.
GM Chris Drury has had to change his philosophy for the season on the fly, as he slowly and steadily started to retool the lineup.
That began with sending Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks, and Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken.
The new lineup would slowly take shape, as he would tap into his connections with the Vancouver Canucks to send Filip Chytil to get a fresh start while bringing JT Miller back to Madison Square Garden.
The teardown wouldn't end as he'd send defenseman Ryan Lindgren and forward Jimmy Vesey to Colorado in exchange for Calvin DeHaan and Juuso Parssinen.
But we could expect more from GM Chris Drury who hasn't mentioned whether or not he's finished retooling the lineup just yet.
On March 11, Ryan Baugh of The Athletic indicated the Rangers have less than $11 million in salary-cap space for next season, with restricted free agents K'Andre Miller and Will Cuylle to re-sign.
If he intends on signing his RFAs instead of letting them walk, he will have to consider moving another player.
Could that be Chris Kreider? The Rangers' longest-tenure forward in the organization.
The Athletic's Peter Baugh believes he's next to be shipped as he has a $6.5 million AAV deal that pays him until the 2027 NHL season.
He's an explosive goal scorer when he's hot and has hit the 20+ goal mark nine times during his career.
While an offseason like this could negatively impact the Rangers' return for the veteran, cap space is a premium in this league and GM Chris Drury moved Trouba, Kreider' shouldn't be an issue.
This season Kreider has only found the back of the net 18 times in 55 games this year.
He could find a home with the Minnesota Wild, who will have a generous amount of cap space in 2025, with $20.9 million.
While teams like the Los Angeles Kings would find room for him with $24.3 million available by the end of the season.
Other teams who are fringe playoff contenders like the Red Wings also would have a similar amount of cap space available with $22.2 million and a need for better top-six forwards than what they have now.
While the Utah Hockey Club could help the Rangers replenish their pool of talent with Mattias Macceli who could be moved in return for Kreider, who could find himself on the team's 2nd or 3rd-line.
Previously on NYRangersInsider
| POLL | ||
MARS 21 | 1315 ANSWERS Several Offseason Landing Spots Emerge for New York Rangers Longest-Tenured Star Where do you think GM Chris Drury of the New York Rangers will trade forward Chris Kreider during the summer? | ||
| Minnesota Wild | 259 | 19.7 % |
| Utah Hockey Club | 273 | 20.8 % |
| Detroit Red Wings | 421 | 32 % |
| Los Angeles Kings | 362 | 27.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
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