Winners and Losers of the Chris Kreider Rangers-Ducks Trade

The New York Rangers found a way to free up cap space to use this summer in one of the hardest ways for their fan base when they traded team leader Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks.

The speculation about dealing Kreider has been around for some time now and with the offseason rapidly approaching, general manager Chris Drury sent Kreider to the Ducks along with a fourth-round pick for prospect Carey Terrance and a third-round pick.

Anaheim gets a veteran goal scorer and leader for their young group that’s poised to be a playoff contender next season. The Rangers, meanwhile, free up $6.5 million in cap space the next two seasons and give themselves nearly $15 million of breathing room to make moves this summer.

We won’t know how it’ll look on the ice until October, but just like with any trade, we’ve got winners and losers to crown. Did the Rangers just pull a fast one, or did the Ducks come out on top? Let’s find out.

Winner: Chris Kreider

Joshua Sarner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

To say the situation in New York was getting a bit unraveled would be kind. The Rangers' mercurial play this season, a year after winning the Presidents’ Trophy, and missing the playoffs only heightened the angst around the team. The stress built up a year ago when they tried to trade captain Jacob Trouba, only to see it not happen and turn into an awkward public mess.

This time around, Kreider had the chance to say no to the trade thanks to having the Ducks on his no-trade list but, perhaps with some help from Trouba, agreed to the move and now becomes one of the de facto leaders on a team that looks a lot meaner

Now 34 years old, Kreider started to look more like his age this season. Although he was still scoring goals (22, third most on the Rangers), he was much more of a threat on the power play (six goals) and wasn’t doing a lot of playmaking (eight assists). With the Ducks, however, he’ll get to play his game being a menace around the net while the host of young forwards around him can pepper away shots while he creates havoc down low.

Loser: Pat Verbeek

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

It’s somewhat baffling the price the Ducks paid to add Kreider.

Anaheim had a lot of what the Rangers needed to make the trade happen (cap space) and New York was eager to free up cap space for themselves for the offseason. The Rangers needed Anaheim (or another team with oodles of salary space) to make a deal and hope that the other team wouldn’t ask for an arm and a leg to make it happen.

Instead, the Rangers got a gift from Verbeek. The Ducks took on all of Kreider’s contract, which makes sense given they had the room to do it, but they gave up prospect forward Carey Terrance and a third-round pick while they received Kreider and a fourth-round pick.

That Anaheim didn’t get a better pick than a fourth is odd, but what’s even stranger is that the pick was their own that they gave to the Rangers in the Jacob Trouba trade in December. If you want to pull it out on the whole and view it as the Ducks getting Trouba and Kreider for Urho Vaakanainen and a third, you can do that, but that’s a lot of money to take on and they didn’t get any draft pick sweeteners out of it. What gives?

Kreider should help the Ducks and that's the bottom line, but the specifics of the trade leave us wanting.

Winner: Chris Drury

Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images

After how things went last summer for the Rangers and Jacob Trouba and the alleged trade they had in place with the Detroit Red Wings that Trouba supposedly nixed and the angst that created, Chris Drury had to close this deal without any drama.

It could’ve gone sideways again as Kreider had no-trade protection and Anaheim on his list, but Kreider agreed to the move and with it, Drury was able to free up $6.5 million in cap space the next two years thanks to Anaheim agreeing to take on Kreider’s full contract.

Drury’s had to make some difficult decisions the past couple of years and moving a beloved player like Kreider was far from simple. That he was able to do that, not have to eat money on the trade and got a third-round pick from the deal ends up being a win…just so long as he’s able to add players to get the Rangers right back to the postseason.

Loser: Mika Zibanejad

Rich Graessle/NHLI via Getty Images

The past year or so has seen the brightest of lights shined on Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider in New York and when things went sour early in the season, it was those two players who (fairly or unfairly) were the center of attention for the team’s ills. They’re both gone now and Mika Zibanejad is suddenly the veteran who will be front and center for everything.

Zibanejad wasn’t immune to trade speculation either, as he was rumored to be headed to Vancouver before the Rangers later acquired J.T. Miller and even though he weathered that talk well, having a lifelong Ranger like Kreider there to take the heat helped.

Without Kreider, it’ll be up to Zibanejad, Miller, Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin to lead and younger guys like Adam Fox and Alexis Lafreniere will have to take steps forward themselves to do the same. Make no mistake, though, Zibanejad will be the guy taking a lot of the heat if/when things go poorly.

Winner: Young Ducks Forwards

Leila Devlin/Getty Images

When we think of what Anaheim is building and what new coach Joel Quenneville will look to push ahead into the playoffs, it’s a group oozing with talent. From Trevor Zegras to Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier, those are guys who will thrive having a veteran like Chris Kreider in the lineup next to them.

Zegras and Carlsson will have a guy who will crash the net and help create offense down low, as well as a winger who can keep up with them up and down the ice. Gauthier gets to have a teammate to learn all the tricks of the trade from and help him grow into a similar brand of player.

Kreider’s experience goes well with Alex Killorn and Radko Gudas and what they’ve been able to accomplish in the NHL. Having another veteran like that to surround the young core of the team is never a bad thing and that kind of experience can help take them to another level and perhaps to the playoffs next season.