One of the more shocking bits of news to come out of the tail end of the offseason is that the Anaheim Ducks are moving on from veteran winger Chris Kreider.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Anaheim is expected to place the 35-year-old on waivers for the purpose of mutually terminating his contract, a move that requires Kreider’s approval and will make him an unrestricted free agent.
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The decision stems from a cap crunch in Anaheim after the Ducks matched Philadelphia’s five-year, $90 million offer sheet for center Leo Carlsson, leaving them roughly $9 million in space while still needing to lock up restricted free agent Cutter Gauthier, who scored 41 goals last season.
Kreider is coming off a 50-point season and has shown he still has plenty left in the tank, even if his overall numbers have trended down from his peak years with the New York Rangers. It begs the question of whether the Detroit Red Wings should consider making a run at him, given how much the team could use his production, the veteran presence he’d bring to a young locker room, and the boost he could provide to a club still trying to end the NHL’s longest active playoff drought.
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There is a real caveat here is Detroit doesn’t currently have a general manager, and by the time the search wraps up, Kreider may already be off the board. There’s also the matter of what Kreider himself wants.
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He’s never won a Stanley Cup, and after leaving a playoff-caliber roster in Anaheim, he may prefer to chase a ring with a more established contender rather than help rebuild one. Friedman has reported that Kreider, a Boxford, Massachusetts, native who spent his first 13 NHL seasons with the Rangers, wants to head back East to be closer to family, and he won’t report to training camp if claimed by a team he doesn’t want to play for.
The Boston Bruins have emerged as the perceived frontrunner given his ties to the area and his time at Boston College, with the Rangers and a handful of other Eastern Conference clubs also mentioned as possibilities.
Still, if Detroit can move quickly once a GM is in place, adding a former 50-goal scorer like Kreider could be a worthwhile swing for a team looking for difference-makers, potentially even slotting him into a top-six role.
It’s an unlikely outcome given his stated preference to stay East, but the NHL has a way of producing surprises, and with Anaheim’s cap crunch forcing its hand, a proven goal-scorer like Kreider landing in Detroit’s lap isn’t entirely out of the question.
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