On Chris Kreider’s Rangers legacy as the best playoff performer in team history

Say what you will about how last season went and how the divorce was finalized, regardless of what positive Chris Kreider’s Rangers legacy should be. Emotions will run high tonight Kreider makes his MSG return tonight in an Anaheim Ducks uniform. Kreider and the Rangers came to a necessary end this summer when Kreider was traded for pennies on the dollar after an ugly season. One season should not and will not ruin the legacy of Kreider Rangers, a season full of playoff goals.

Kreider’s Rangers legacy goes far beyond just the numbers, but the numbers do matter. Kreider is in the top ten in most Rangers stats of all time:

• Matches played: 883 (8th)
• Goals: 326 (3rd)
• Plus/minus: 121 (6th)
• Even strength goals: 197 (4th)
• Power Play Goals: 116 (T-1st)
• Short Goals: 13 (4th)
• Game-winning goals: 50 (2nd)
• Shots: 2160 (5th)
• Hat tricks: 6 (4th)
• Plus many others that are not “traditional metrics”.

In Kreider’s 12 full seasons with the Rangers, Kreider finished with fewer than 20 goals only twice: his first full season in 2013-2014 (17 goals in 66 games) and an injury-shortened 2017-2018 season (16 goals in 58 games). But both seasons still consist of twenty goals in 82 games.

Kreider’s Rangers legacy is cemented by goals and play-off performances

In the summer of 2018, after the Rangers era ended, I played a top game of that era. The premise was simple: 32 of the best plays/moments from that era were voted on. Of those 32 moments, no less than six came from Kreider’s appearances in the playoffs. Only one (Kreider and Carey Price) wasn’t a tie or game-winning goal during their run.

Kreider captained the Rangers in the playoffs. When Rangers needed a big goal to turn the tide, he was the one to do it. Derek Stepan doesn’t happen without Chris Kreider’s tying goal in Game 5, his drive to the net and the screen of Ryan McDonagh’s winner in Game 5, or his two goals in Game 6. Before Mika Zibanejad could score his OT winner against Montreal in 2017, it was a tying goal by Kreider.

Suffice to say, Kreider’s Rangers legacy was cemented with clutch performances and goals during that run. But none of that compares to him single-handedly putting the Rangers on his back in Game 6 against Carolina in 2024.

With the Rangers trailing 3-1 heading into the third period, on the verge of completely erasing a 3-0 series lead and giving all the momentum to Carolina, Kreider delivered. A natural third-period hat trick sent the Rangers to the Eastern Conference finals, and Kreider’s Rangers legacy added another clutch game. This defined Kreider’s Rangers legacy, his Messier moment as a Ranger, and one that will last forever.

Kreider’s Rangers legacy may be the tightest Ranger of all time in the playoffs. His playing style was unparalleled, blending a rare blend of speed, skill, strength and intelligence to become the best net presence in the NHL and a premier player in more than a decade.

Kreider’s Rangers legacy may be tainted in the short term because of the way things ended. An injury-plagued season capped by a stupid memo and a falling out with his general manager, Kreider still scored 22 goals in 68 games in his final year with the Rangers, a pace of 27 goals over 82 games. It was time for both sides to move on. It’s a crime that Kreider couldn’t finish his career with the Rangers.

Thanks, Chris Kreider, for all the memories.