The Anaheim Ducks acquired New York Rangers legend Chris Kreider along with a 2025 fourth-round pick in exchange for Carey Terrance and a 2025 third-round pick.

Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek spoke with the media shortly after the trade was made official. Below is a full transcript of the conference:

Questions and answers may have been slightly edited for clarity

Chris Kreider Speaks Following Trade to Anaheim Ducks

Trade: Anaheim Ducks Acquire Chris Kreider from New York Rangers

What attracted you to Chris Kreider, and why did you think he was a good addition to this team at this point in time?

Well, there’s a whole host of things that attracted Chris Kreider for our organization. I think we can start with the skating ability, we can start with his size, we can start with the strength that he has. He’s 203 pounds; he’s a force in front of the net. His goal-scoring ability, even though he had a tough year last year, I fully believe he’s going to bounce back and have a great season for us.

I think that he’s going to be a real example for all our young guys on how to score goals in tough situations, be that in the playoffs, scoring in tight to the net, deflections, and rebound goals. I just think that he’s going to be a shining example for all our young guys in that area.

There’s also the power play. Our power play needed a boost, and I believe he’s going to be a difficult person to defend in front of the net. He seems to have a really good ability to be able to get a loose stick, get his body in the right position to score rebounds.

He’s also a very good penalty killer. That’s another area that I wanted to improve upon for our group, and I think that he’s going to be a threat to score shorthanded. Obviously, the size and the reach that he has and his skating ability to be able to get to loose pucks and get them out of the zone, be able to work within our system, and how we’re going to want to kill aggressively. So I think that there are so many positives to acquiring Chris Kreider.

How did you get him to accept the deal to come here, to want to waive a no-trade clause, to sell him on the team?

There are a few intriguing things. Obviously, we took a big jump in the standings last year, and I think there’s a realization that the group is ready to take another step. You can look at the history of teams that are ready to do that, and I think that we fall into that category. I think it’s intriguing for a player with Chris Kredier’s ability to come and play with really good young players that we have, and to not only lead them but to be a part of their growth.

We actually had a call yesterday with Chris, and I think the one thing that I mentioned to him was that I think he’s going to be a really good complementary player in the sense that he’s going to be able to do a lot of things for our young centermen. Our young centermen are going to be able to do a lot of things for him as well. So I think that there’s a mutual benefit for each of these players to help each other.

I think that was a deciding factor for him, as some of the things that we communicated. I think the ability of having a young team to take the next step to push for a playoff spot is exciting.

Whether it’s real or completely perceived, there’s been a narrative that Anaheim has popped up or pops up often on players’ no-trade lists. With Jacob (Trouba) last winter and with Chris now, do you think waiving those clauses and wanting to come to Anaheim changes that narrative?

No doubt it helps. The one thing that happened in my era was that players didn’t talk. Players talk a lot more amongst each other now, more than ever. There’s a lot of communication amongst players.

Within our group, I think that certainly helped sway Chris Kreider. The other thing, the exciting thing, is that we’re a team that’s got a chance to keep pushing forward to win. And so, that’s exciting. I think other players see that. Everything in this league is about winning, and that excites players.

Today was a big move for you, but is this the start of an active summer?

Well, I’m going to keep going. I’m looking to improve the team in just about every area. Free agency’s approaching, and there are other opportunities to make improvements through trades. So, as I’ve said many times, I’m going to explore all of them and see how it all shakes out.

You still have (Mason) McTavish and (Lukas) Dostal who need deals, but based on projections, you still have quite a bit of flexibility come July 1. Do you anticipate being a player in the free agent market, or are you maybe looking more toward trades and opportunities where there’s no competition and price premiums?

I’m going to go through it all. I want to see. Obviously, there are a lot of good free agents out there. I want to participate in that to see where it can lead. Certainly, we’re going to explore trades as well. I’m going to look at everything. I think that we’re in a unique spot. We’ve got players taking steps, and I want to make sure that everybody is supported, from the top down, to be better, to have more production, and to be better on our special teams. If that gets attained, I think that will go a long way to making us a playoff team.

You touched on the on-ice personnel. What about behind the bench? Are there staff that you’re looking to fill out, and where are you at there?

We’re nearing the end of our coaching searches for assistant coaches with Joel Quenneville, whether that’s going to be a forward coach/power play guy, and a penalty kill guy who will oversee the defense. Same thing with San Diego. So we’re about ready to tie a lot of ends, and we’ll be close to announcing those additions soon.

In your evaluation of Chris’ season last year, you talked about him having a dip and being confident that he can rebound. The situational stuff in New York and his health may have contributed to that. I just wanted to get a little more insight on your evaluation about him bouncing back.

With Chris, he had a bunch of nagging injuries, some were more serious than others. I think when you try to push through them, even though your mind’s telling you to push through, it’s always in the back of your mind, it’s nagging, so you never seem right in any game.

That’s not an excuse, but that’s reality. In the background, I know how hard he trains as an individual on and off the ice, and I feel really comfortable knowing that he’s completely healthy now, and he has another two and a half months of training to be 100% coming into our camp. He’s highly motivated. Any time you’ve had a tough season, you’re always motivated to come back and do well, and I think that’s why I feel comfortable in acquiring him.

This is the fourth guy you’ve acquired from those 2022 Rangers; three of them wore letters. Is that a coincidence?

I think that’s coincidence, most of it. It’s just kind of how things worked out. When you look at (Ryan) Strome, he was a free agent. Same with Frank (Vatrano). It wouldn’t have mattered what team they were playing for; I would have gone after them. Jacob Trouba was a scenario where I needed, I wanted, a right-handed defenseman. We had too many lefts, so that was a need, and it was an opportunity. This was no different to be able to add to our group. It just so happened to be from the Rangers. To me, it’s more coincidence than purposeful.

We’ve talked a lot about the need for goal scoring, in particular on the power play. With his proficiency on the power play, how much did that play into trying to target a player like him?

There are certain elements that you need on the power play. A net front presence, when you look at all successful power plays, they have a very intense, very capable net front presence guy. For me, that was something we were lacking, and we needed someone with a proven track record to do that. And actually show the way for our younger players, how beneficial it is for them to hang out there, to stay in front. If you look in the playoffs, everybody’s trying to get there. It’s a hard area to get to, but Chris Kredier is outstanding at it. Sometimes you have to have leaders by example, and I believe he’ll be able to do that.

With getting a player like Chris into this system with Coach Quenneville, how much does he exemplify the type of hockey you guys want to play going forward with this group?

If you talk to Joel, we want to play fast and we want to play heavy. Kreider provides two of those elements right off the bat. We want to be a fast team, and we want to hunt pucks. Chris has the ability to be able to put incredible pressure down ice on with his forecheck and also on the PK. There are just a lot of assets that Chris has that are going to fit how Joel Quenneville wants to play.

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