The move by the New York Rangers to trade Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks comes with great emotion.
For 13 seasons Kreider wore the Blueshirts jersey with pride and honor and cemented himself as one of the greatest Rangers players in franchise history.
There was a great deal of talk regarding how Kreider’s tenure with the Rangers came to an end.
Of course, Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury specifically mentioned Kreider's name in players he was looking to trade early on in the 2024-25 season in a league-wide memo.
Kreider had an off year for his standards and dealt with a multitude of injuries as he didn’t exactly make a grand exit.
Despite everything that has transpired over the past year, Kreider remains grateful for his time with the Rangers and how he was treated.
“I think I’ve gone through the spectrum: Anger, sadness, grief,” Kreider said. “Whatever you want to call it. But I keep on arriving at gratitude for how I was treated, the opportunities I was given, for the connection I was able to make, the relationships, the friendships, the experiences I was able to have.
“Playing in front of that fan base, at that arena, playing in some of the games I was able to play in. Stuff that is so memorable and means so much to me and stuff that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life.”
It was speculated for months that Kreider could be moved, and by the end of the 2024-25 campaign, it was inevitable.
A big topic of conversation during the season was the supposed fractured relationship between the 34-year-old forward and the Rangers organization and specifically with Drury.
There Were Reportedly Three Reasons Why Chris Kreider Waived His No-Trade Clause To Go To The Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks swooped in and traded for Chris Kreider from the New York <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers" target="_blank">Rangers</a> on Thursday.
However, Kreider cleared the air after getting traded to the Ducks stating that Drury kept him in the loop on what his plans were throughout the entire process.
“There was a lot of communication from Rangers management and from Chris Drury, in particular, about where they stood and kind of what the next steps in the process were going to look like,” Kreider said. “Around the year-end meetings, we had some good conversations and I understood that this was a very real possibility.”
This tracks with the report that Drury and Kreider's camp have been in constant communication through the offseason according to Larry Brooks of The New York Post.
It seems as if Kreider and the Rangers have split on relatively good terms with this past year not defining over a decade of incredible memories.