New York Rangers: Time for Chris Kreider to Put His Tools Together

Since Kreider joined the Rangers in his rookie season in 2012, he has arguably been the strongest player in recent years to come out of the Rangers’ farm system.

After four seasons, the New York Rangers signed Kreider to a contract extension in July, just hours before he was scheduled to sit for an arbitration hearing. The four-year $18.5 million deal was the right move for the New York Rangers as it allows Kreider to step into a veteran position on the team while they transition through a change in their offensive direction. Despite his streaky play this season, he still managed to be among the top Rangers goal scorers during the 2015-2016 season.

2015-2016 Traditional Stats

Games Played: 79

Goals: 21

Assists: 22

Points: 43

+/-: +10

PPG: 5

ATOI: 15:57

Season in Review

There is only one New York Rangers to score 20 goals in each of the last two seasons; Chris Kreider. In fact, he scored the same number of goals this season as he did the previous season.

On top of this, he was one of six NHL players to record least 20 goals, 40 points, a plus-10 rating and 50 penalty minutes this seasons – the other five being Alex Ovechkin, Jonathan Toews, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand and James Neal – and has shown strength in his playoff appearances. He is tied for eighth in the league and leads the Rangers in playoff goals since the start of the 2012 Playoffs (20).

However, both Kreider and his coaches know that he is capable of more.

Kreider said that he is putting more pressure on himself to find his game than anyone else. He tried to determine the cause of his inconsistent play in an interview in July.

“I think there was a lot that probably got into my head that shouldn’t have when things might not be going your way and you have those expectations to produce,” Kreider said. “You can be playing well with the puck not going in, and the next thing you know, you’re not playing well and the puck’s not going in.”

2016-2017 Projected Stats

Age Entering Season: 25

Games Played: 79

Goals: 24

Assists: 26

Points: 50

+/-: +15

PPG: 8

ATOI: 17:39

Expected Role: First Line Winger

Reasoning: The line combination of Kreider, Stepan, and Zuccarello last year was one of the most efficient lines on the team when they were together. With the trade of Derek Brassard and Rick Nash’s struggle to score last season, it is most likely that this line will be bumped up in the wake of change.

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Leftwinglock.com shows that the Kreider, Stepan, Zuccarello line was rolled out most frequently when compared to Kreider’s other pairings – this combination came in at 22% when compared to the second highest pairing (Kreider, Stepan, Fast) at 15%.

Beyond this, the Kreider, Stepan, Zuccarello line had the second highest number of shot attempts last season (241) after the first line combination of Nash, Brassard, and Zuccarello (324). Kreider, Stepan and Zuccarello’s 16 goals for and seven goals against their 69.6 GF% (goals for percentage) was higher than the first line’s GF% of 55.6 (20 GF, 16 GA).

With his focus on improving his consistency this offseason and getting back to “his game,” Kreider will be more effective this season. The prospect that he will likely play with Zuccarello and Stepan only means that he will be comfortable and Kreider can focus on working further towards that goal.

Kreider is capable of having a 50-point season – no question. He has shown his strength as a power forward in his last four seasons with the Rangers. He is flexible enough to play with anyone, he is arguably the Rangers strongest presence in front of the net and he helps make things happen on the ice.

As long as Kreider truly gets back to his game and becomes more consistent during regular season play, there is no reason he cannot hit or even surpass the 50 point mark and step into a role where he becomes an even more valuable asset to the New York Rangers offense.