After he’d finished Monday’s morning skate at Madison Square Garden with the Anaheim Ducks, someone asked Chris Kreider if, after all those games, the five conference finals appearances, and one Stanley Cup Final, there was a single moment that stood out for him in his 13 years in a Rangers jersey.
He grinned, in a way that implied, “Are you kidding me?’’
“That’s a hard one,’’ he said. “I don’t know.’’
Kreider, the Rangers’ all-time leader in playoff goals and power play goals, and the third-leading goal-scorer in franchise history, returned to the Garden Monday for the first time since he was traded to the Ducks over the summer. He said entering the building as a visitor was strange, and he was “just trying to get my bearings.’’ He had never been inside the visitor’s locker room before.
But he wasn’t alone, at least. With him were fellow former Rangers Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano, and former Rangers captain Jacob Trouba, who was also visiting the Garden for the first time since he’d been traded last season.
“The only thing I can really compare it to is going back to Winnipeg for the first time,’’ said Trouba, who played five-plus seasons for the Rangers after coming over in a trade from Winnipeg in the summer of 2019. “But I think it’s a little bit different going back here, with just being the captain of the team. And all the memories and stories and everything that went into the last five, six years, means a lot to me. … This place will always be special.’’
For Kreider, this was not only his first time back at the Garden; it was the first time he’d faced his old team. A first-round pick by the Rangers in 2009 who joined the team in the spring of 2012 after three seasons – and two NCAA championships – with Boston College, the ever stoic Kreider insisted he’d not had time to reflect on his time with the Rangers, given that his focus now is on playing for the Ducks.
“I don’t think it completely settled in over the offseason,’’ he said of his leaving the team that drafted him. “It didn’t feel real until I got on the plane to California, and then it was kind of about getting my bearings there.’’
Ultimately, Trouba and Kreider were both traded because the Rangers needed to find a way to keep themselves under the NHL’s $95.5 million salary cap this season. But general manager Chris Drury clearly also wanted to refresh a roster that had probably run its course after conference finals appearances in 2022 and 2024.
Both players are off to good starts this season. Entering Monday, Kreider, 34, had 13 goals (more than anyone on the Rangers) and eight assists in 28 games, and Trouba, 31, had five goals, nine assists and a plus/minus rating of +14 in 32 games. Kreider, though, dodged the question when asked if he wished the Rangers had found some creative way of keeping him.
“I try not to live in the past,’’ he said. “You don’t necessarily know if [change] is gonna be a good thing or a bad thing. So just take everything in stride.
“And playing in the National Hockey League, it doesn’t matter where you’re playing, is a tremendous, tremendous honor. Obviously, playing here is incredibly special, but the Anaheim experience has been fantastic. It’s just kind of been positive on all fronts.”
Trouba, who kept his apartment in Manhattan, said though he’s from Michigan and started his NHL career in Winnipeg, he had come to think of New York, where his son was born, as home. And he said he and his wife most likely will return to the area, if not the city itself, when he is done playing. He added that the way his time with the Rangers ended — he was traded Dec. 6, 2024, for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional fourth-round pick – wouldn’t affect the fondness he felt for his time in New York.
“The way it ended is how it ended,’’ he said. “At the end of the day, you’re a hockey player, and this is the job I signed up for. So yeah, I think it’s unfortunate, I guess I’ll say, and I didn’t enjoy it in the moment. But I think it’s kind of just a small piece of what was a very, very memorable and impactful five-and-a-half years for me.’’
Both players went to visit former teammate Mika Zibanejad over the weekend, Kreider said. Zibanejad ended up not playing Monday night, as he was suspended by coach Mike Sullivan for missing a team meeting.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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