Don't Mess With The Metro

Love him or hate him, Chris Kreider has quietly become the most important player on the Rangers roster, and yes that is a scorching hot take. Here we go again, yes I do think the Rangers 26 year old Power Forward is more important than Ryan Mcdonagh, Kevin Shattenkirk or dare I say it Henrik Lundqvist. Kreider’s natural ability paired with his unique combination of speed, size and strength make him a dynamic threat any time he touches the ice. My personal favorite way to describe Kreider is “he’s the type of player where on any given play the Rangers can be in their own zone and one pass later you’ll see Kreider off on a breakaway”. His speed changes games instantly and his strength lets him power past defenders (yes sometimes multiple) right to the front of the net (How ya doin Carey Price?).

Now, allow me to quiet down #Numbers twitter. Stating the Basics, Kreider’s 28 total goals led the Rangers along with his 6 Power Play Goals, also first among Rangers. His 25 assists were good for 2nd among Rangers wingers, while his 53 Points finished 4th on the team. Kreider missed 7 games due to back injury preventing him from hitting the 30 goal plateau (his 82 game pace was 31). Now to satisfy #GRIT Twitter: Kreids was 4th in the team in hits and led the team with 58 penalty minutes (Don’t worry a decent chunk were fighting, he went 3-0 in my book and 2-0-1 on the official scorecard/Hockey fights.com). And Lastly for those #FancyStats lovers: Kreider’s Corsi and Fenwick both ranked 1st last season among returning Rangers.

Leaving the past in favor of the present, Kreider will need to produce big time this season while expectations rise. While everyone is asking which Center will replace Derek Stepan’s void, while I believe the player to replace Stepan is Winger Chris Kreider. Now I’m not saying we should move Kreider to center; Kreids should play this whole season with Pavel Buchnevich and Mika Zibanejad. I would love to see the “KZB” line we drooled over reunited. Zibanejad, a natural playmaker could easily put up 23-42-65 with these linemates; while Buchnevich a true offensive talent could easily have a 45-50 point sophomore season. Now my Stepan replacement, Chris Kreider, his 28 goal 53 point season last year is just the beginning for him. A realistic 82 game projection would be 32-27-59 for Chris Kreider but I’m not here to be normal. With these linemates I think 35-30-65 is where Kreider ends this season, possibly higher (CC: Gianni and Palmeri, Kreider’s gonna blow you out of the water). With those 3 KZB players solid jumps in production Stepan’s void is almost completely filled, leaving Kevin Hayes or JT Miller much more rope to work with. In addition, this leaves the 3rd line center position to Lias Andersson, who should get a chance to produce right away, but not pressured to replace a top 6 center right off the bat.

Is Kreider an Undervalued Star or just another power forward? Well I say he’s an all around star, but we might just have to watch to find out. (Sidenote: Hello to everyone retweeting this in April when Kreider has either put up 80 points or failed to score 20 goals).