Rangers, Ducks agree to Chris Kreider trade — it’s now all in his hands
By Larry Brooks
Up Next - Knicks must stop trying to poach rival coaches | Morning Take
Access the Rangers beat like never before
Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Mollie Walker about the inside buzz on the Rangers.
tRY IT NOW
The move to Anaheim is now entirely up to Chris Kreider after the Rangers have struck a preliminary agreement with the Ducks to trade their senior player.
We’re told by an informed source that while Anaheim was on his 15-team no-trade list that was submitted last July 1, Chris Drury was told by the winger’s party that he would be amenable to going to the Ducks before the GM entered talks with GM counterpart Pat Verbeek.
As of mid-afternoon Wednesday, Kreider — who learned of this development late Tuesday night — was conducting his due diligence before signing off on the move.
If he does, the divorce after 13 years that has seemed inevitable for months will be done. The Core will be no more.
Chris Kreider
Chris Kreider
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Explore More
An image collage containing 1 images, Image 1 shows New York Rangers left wing Chris Kreider (C) is seen on the ice against the Boston Bruins in the third period at Madison Square Garden in New York, USA, Thursday, January 02, 2025
Rangers in ‘advanced’ trade talks to send Chris Kreider to Ducks
An image collage containing 3 images, Image 1 shows Chris Drury of the New York Rangers attends the NHL Draft at Sphere on June 29, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Image 2 shows Kashawn Aitcheson #77 of CHL makes a pass during the CHL USA Prospects Challenge between USA and CHL at Canada Life Place on November 26, 2024 in London, Ontario, Canada. , Image 3 shows Victor Eklund #18 of Team Sweden skates in the second period against Team Kazakhstan of the Group B match during the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship at The Arena at TD place on December 27, 2024 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Team Sweden defeated Team Kazakhstan 8-1.
Evaluating the Rangers’ draft options if they hold onto the No. 12 pick
An image collage containing 2 images, Image 1 shows New York Rangers player K'Andre Miller (79) leaving the ice after warm-ups, Image 2 shows Chris Drury, president and general manager of the New York Rangers
Rangers moving on from K’Andre Miller seems inevitable — inside Chris Drury’s thinking after NHL combine
Kreider, who joined the Blueshirts for the 2012 playoffs and is the club’s most senior player, has two years remaining on his contract at an annual cap hit of $6.5 million per. At this point it is unclear what would be coming back in the deal.
The separation between the club and its third all-time leading goal scorer (326) has been forecast for months following a public breach last November, when contents of a league-wide memo circulated by Chris Drury in which the GM cited Kreider by name — as well as Jacob Trouba — as being available on the market were leaked.
Plus, there was the healthy scratch in New Jersey on Dec. 23 in which the team went above and beyond to announce this was not injury-related.
Now it appears that Kreider will be joining the former Rangers captain in Orange County.
Kreider, who turned 34 at the end of April, is coming off the worst full season of his career in which he was plagued by multiple injuries. The winger recorded 22 goals and only eight assists in 68 games while scoring only one power play goal after the calendar flipped to 2025.
The Boston College product trails only icons Rod Gilbert (406) and Jean Ratelle (336) on the franchise goal-scoring leaderboard and is 10th in points (582).
Chris Drury
Chris Drury
Robert Sabo for NY Post
He is the all-time leader in Rangers playoff goals (48) and points (76), the goal total of course including No. 20’s 2024, Game 6 third-period hat trick in Carolina that propelled the Blueshirts to the conference finals against Florida. The Rangers went to the conference finals five times in his career, once to the Cup Final in 2014.
If Kreider is indeed moved, his closest friend, Mika Zibanejad, might be more amenable to waiving his full no-move clause if asked. The two men have grown inseparable over the last number of years.
The Blueshirts entered last season with the core that had been in place from 2019-20 that featured Kreider, Zibanejad, Trouba, Igor Shesterkin, Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox, Filip Chytil, Ryan Lindgren and Kaapo Kakko with K’Andre Miller and Alexis Lafreniere joining the band the following season.
When Kreider goes — joining Trouba, Chytil, Lindgren and Kakko, up to now — the core will be no more.
Welcome to Billionaire Club Co LLC, your gateway to a brand-new social media experience! Sign up today and dive into over 10,000 fresh daily articles and videos curated just for your enjoyment. Enjoy the ad free experience, unlimited content interactions, and get that coveted blue check verification—all for just $1 a month!
Account Frozen
Your account is frozen. You can still view content but cannot interact with it.
Please go to your settings to update your account status.
Open Profile Settings