Rangers’ Kreider Making Contract Look Like a Bargain

Kreider scored two goals in the Blueshirts’ season-opening 5-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 12, tipping in a power-play tally on a shot from Adam Fox and also notching a short-handed goal. He added an assist, giving him points with the man advantage, on the penalty kill and even strength. He scored again on the power play in the Rangers’ 5-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 14, and had an even-strength tally to open the scoring in the first period of a 2-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes two days later.

Kreider’s hot start evoked memories of 2022-23, when he scored twice in the Rangers’ second game of the season after recording an assist in the opener, and 2021-22, when he scored in each of the first three games.

Kreider Off to Third Straight Fast Start to Season

Those bursts out of the gate proved prescient. Kreider piled up 52 goals in 2021-22 in a stunning career season after never reaching the 30-goal mark in his first eight years. Last season, Kreider’s 36 goals proved to be a worthy encore to the 2021-22 breakout, and served notice that the seemingly-out-of-nowhere 50-goal effort wasn’t a fluke.

Much has been made of Kreider’s newfound approach to the game, one in which he’s learned to get out of his own way after admittedly overthinking everything throughout his career. A perhaps overlooked reason for his sudden rise during the past two seasons-plus, however, might be the fact that Kreider’s game has grown in sophistication and versatility, blunting the potential for a decline in productivity – and, in fact, increasing it.

Always one of the few Rangers willing to stand in front of the net throughout his time on Broadway, Kreider has turned that quality into a multifaceted skill that opponents seem unable to defend. It’s fair to say no one in the NHL is better than him at deftly redirecting pucks into the net, just as he effortlessly did in the win over the Sabres – something he’s done over and over during the past two seasons.

“He’s one of the best, not only in the league, just that I have ever seen,” former teammate Patrick Kane said during last season’s playoffs. “He’s able to get his stick on everything. In practice, we do a lot of drills where shots are coming from the point and he just tips everything.”

However, it’s not just the tipping in of shots from the point, or simply screening the goaltender. The 19th overall pick in the 2009 draft employs near-perfect positioning around the goalmouth, putting himself in the right spots to bang in rebounds or receive cross-ice, close-in passes from teammates while stationed at the far post, often easing the puck into the net. That’s what he did against Columbus, camping out on the right side and banging home a rebound in the third period.

It seems that Kreider’s intuitive and thoughtful personality, perhaps detrimental to him seasons ago, has become a major asset as he deftly avoids defenders and finds his way into prime position to finish off scoring chances.

That, of course, isn’t the only area of his game that has blossomed. Having developed into an outstanding 200-foot player, Kreider is a regular on the penalty kill now, and his instincts and speed make him a threat to deliver offense in those situations. After not scoring a short-handed goal over his first 611 career games, Kreider has scored eight in his last 125. His four last season tied for third in the NHL.

While Kreider has evolved, it’s not because he’s had to adapt to the loss of the premium traits – elite speed and power – that make him such a commodity. The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder can still barrel down the left wing and finish with a powerful shot, something he does as well now as he did in the 2012 playoffs when, having just arrived from Boston College, he gave the Rangers an added dimension with his ability to take stretch passes and outskate defenders. The Blueshirts reached the Eastern Conference Final that season, with Kreider recording five goals and two assists in 18 games.

Rather Than Aging Poorly, Kreider’s Contract Delivering More Bang for the Buck

All of that has cast Kreider’s contract in a new light. When the Rangers, just hours before the Feb. 24, 2020 trade deadline, inked him to a seven-year, $45.5 million extension, it was seen as a compromise: As an impending unrestricted free agent, Kreider was willing to accept the lower average annual value of $6.5 million in exchange for a longer term than the Rangers would have liked.

While the team figured Kreider’s unparalleled work ethic would provide some insurance against the contract going bad quickly, the front office certainly didn’t expect 88 goals in Years 2 and 3 of the deal. It seemed likely that the Rangers were just doing what teams throughout major professional sports do when signing a big-name free agent or soon-to-be-free-agent long-term: Buy the player’s prime years by also paying for the lesser ones at the end of the pact.

The belief, an entirely reasonable one at the time, was that Kreider’s heavy game would take a toll on his effectiveness as he and the contract aged. Instead, Kreider’s mature, more nuanced on-ice presence has brought the Rangers what’s looking like a bargain. Having received $19 million in signing bonuses in the first three years of the deal – nearly 42 percent of the entire value – the Blueshirts are paying Kreider only $5 million between base salary and signing bonus this season. What would he cost on the open market now?

For that, the Rangers are getting the version of Kreider that so many believed he could at some point develop into – and perhaps more than they ever thought possible. A prolific scorer who can finish in a myriad of ways, an outstanding penalty killer, a leader and selfless teammate focused on the good of the group, a player whose work habits set the tone for the rest of the Rangers.

Kreider’s transformation into a different kind of power forward took a decade, but his more effectively complex game is perhaps a measure of the man himself – someone who finally figured out how to use his astuteness and intelligence to reach another level, rather than have those traits hold him back any longer. As Kreider moves toward his mid-30s, it seems as if he’s actually in his prime now – which makes his contract look that much better.

Perhaps Father Time will indeed eventually takes its toll on Kreider’s production in the three seasons remaining on the deal after this one, the Benjamin Button metaphor no longer applying. Kreider can still have efforts when he seems to disappear and is completely ineffective, as he was in Game 7 against the New Jersey Devils in last season’s playoffs.

Those stretches of unimpactful play that had been characteristic of his career until two-plus seasons ago, however, seem to occur much less frequently now. It’s more likely that the Rangers will look back on former general manager Jeff Gorton’s decision to blink and re-up Kreider, rather than moving him out as a pending UFA, will prove to be one of the more savvy personnel moves in team history – and that trading him would have been one of the franchise’s worst moves.

This version of Kreider would have cost quite a bit more than what Gorton, who figured the Rangers would spend years trying to find a player just like Kreider if they cut bait with him, paid three-plus years ago. Unbeknownst to the Blueshirts, they got Kreider on the upswing – a fortuitous choice that’s turned his contract into one that seems to get more cost-effective all the time.