Trade Incoming: Reason behind Rangers veteran being healthy scratched sparks speculation

In an extremely unexpected move, the New York Rangers have announced Chris Kreider would be healthy scratch, which has generated a ton of trade speculation.

Despite a few precautionary scratches in 2017 and 2022 this will be the first time since Kreider's rookie year in 2013-14 that he will a fully healthy scratch.

Just recently the New York Rangers made former forward Kaapo Kakko a healthy scratch before trading him just a few days later, which is now creating speculation as many believe this might be for the same reason.

Back in November 25, NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported on that the Rangers were shopping Kreider and former captain Jacob Trouba in trade talks.

However there is one important factor to consider, as of right now the NHL has a roster freeze that stops all teams from making moves/trades until December 28th so scratching Kreider now instead of the Rangers next game on the 28th doesn't really indicate that this is trade related.

This scratch is probably due to Kreider's rough start of the 2024-25 as he hasn't really been productive, as he only has 11 goals and one assist for a total of 12 points in 30 games this season giving home his first negative mark since 2020-21

Along with getting an average of 17:26 of ice time per game, the usage is the lowest it has been since the 2020-21 campaign as well.

It remains unclear whether Kreider sits solely for performance or as a pre-trade injury precaution, but only time will tell as the Rangers next game won't be until the Dec.28th, the same day the freeze ends.