This is simply terrible news.
Forget about the hockey aspect of it. It's a serious ailment that could end up affecting Chris Kreider for the rest of his playing days and on into his post NHL career.
The 26 year old power forward has been disgnosed with a blood clot in his right arm. Effective immediately, Kreider will be off the ice indefinietely for his NY Rangers.
This news means that Kreider will not be playing in the Winter Classic on New Years Day when the Buffalo Sabres host the NY Rangers at Citi Field in The Big Apple.
In six NHL seasons, all with the Rangers, Kreider has scored 100 goals and 104 assists in 360 career games. Kreider's bump and grind style has earned him a few enemies along the way (See: Carey Price). Kreider plays in the areas where angels fear to tread and has collected 311 PIMs along the way.
In 77 playoff games, Krieder has scored 23 goals and 14 assists.
As a bandage on the Kreider wound, Blue Shirts GM Jeff Gorton has called up forward Vinni Lettieri from the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Lettieri, 22, has skated in 31 games with the Wolf Pack this season, registering 12 goals and nine assists for 21 points.
Lettieri is a nice prospect. He is nowhere ner the type of impact player that Krieder is to the Rangers. Letteieri played four seasons at the University of Minnesota. However, he has only 40 combined games of pro hockey experience in The A. In other words, Letteri is a space holder for Kreider, who likely will miss a minimum of two months of playing time.
That's a minimum time frame.
Rangers fans should be concerned.
The Kreider injury comes at a time when the Rangers find themselves mired in a slump. They are 5-3-2 in their past ten games.
The Rangers are currently tied for seventh place with cross town rivals the Brooklyn Islanders in the Eastern standings. Both teams have 44 points. The Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins have 41 points while the Philadelphia Flyers have 38 points.
Any prolonged losing skid due to inconsistent play as a result of imbalanced lines could force the Rangers further down the standings.
One wonders if Gorton will be smiling and dialing his NHL GM counterparts on his iPhone today.
For the past couple of months, Gorton and his AGM Chris Drury have been scouting eastern opponents.
I've seen Rangers scouts in Buffalo on many a night.
Perhaps the Rangers have been scouting pending UFA Evander Kane.
Kreider has xscored 7 even strength goals this season.
Kane has 35 even strength goals since December 3, 2016. In fact, Kane has 43 goals since 12/3/16, 35 of which have come at even strength.
Last season, Kane scored 25 goals at 5v5. In 37 games this season, Kane has 15 goals and 19 assists this season. Kane has 13 even strength goals this season.
Kane is a pending unrestricted free agent. All due respect to Kreider, but Kane is the perfect blend of power and finesse. Kane's scoring, speed, playmaking, physicality, and special teams prowess makes him the premiere power left winger in today's NHL. Kane has never played in an NHL playogff game in his NHL career in Atlanta, Winnipeg and Buffalo. To speak with Kane about the playoffs is to see and hear an intense desire to compete for Lord Stanley's Cup.
Kreider is 26. Kane is 26.
While Kreider is on the IR, Kane can fill his skates and keep the Rangers in the race.
Kane is a $5.25M AAV this season on a $6 million contract. Can the Rangers afford Kane today? Yes, they can. The Rangers currently have $3.6 million in salary cap slush funds. What's more, Sabres GM Jason Botterill can absorb up to 50% of the remaining funds on Kane's 2017-18 salary.
At what cost would it take to get Evander Kane to the bright lights and the bigger city?
I can't see Jeff Gorton trading away talented young prospects Lias Anderrson (Sweden) and Filip Chytil (Czech), who are starring for their respective home counties in Buffalo right now at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. Andersson and Chytil, both 2017 first rounders, are straight up hockey studs. Andresson scored two goals in Sweden's bombing of Beleraus. Chytil scored a goal and an assist in the Czech upset win over the Russians on Tuesday.
Unlike his predecessor Glen Sather, Gorton won't trade young stud prospects for a veteran player who can scratch a chronic itch now.
Gorton and Drury are building their prospects base and are doing it through the NHL Draft. I see them staying their course.
However, Gorton and Drury may be be thinkin about a long term strategy that is predicated on trading for a 26 year old power forward and then elevating a top LW propect from their AHL club un Hartford. Kane and Chytil would add immediate scoring pop and speed to the Rangers' lineup pon a nightly basis. Watching Chytil skate live at the WJCs on Tuesday, I say he is NHL ready. Chtyil had a goal and an assist. He left the game with what appeared to be a broken nose after colliding face first into the bucket of a Russian D-man. It didn't matter. After a brief stay in the quite room, Chytil returned to the game, with cotton batting hanging from each nostril to drink up the blood, and proceeded to popped in a goal and an assist. Muy macho! The kid has turbo boosters on his skates and hand a sick set of hands and feet. In 15 games played with the Wolf Pack this season, Chytil has 5 goals and 12 assists. Chytil is the top trio left winger for the Czechs at the WJC's in Buffalo. I give him A+ scores.
Playing his sophomore season for Frölunda HC, Andresson has 7 goals and 7 assists in 22 games played. Andresson is Sweden's #1 center at the WJC's. I give Andersson A+ scores.
Here's how I see a Kane to Rangers idea manifesting itself:
It's a three-pronged fork:
1. Jimmy Vesey
2. Rangers first rounder in 2018
3.. Rick Nash
Vesey is a very close personal friend of Jack Eichel. Their relationship dates back to youth hockey in suburban Boston. Vesey is a left winger who is more than capable of filling Kane's skates on Buffalo's top line trio. In 117 career games, Vesey has scored 24 and 17 assists. He scored 16 goals and 11 assists during his rookie season in the Big Apple. Vesey has scored 8 goals and 6 assists in 37 games this season. The Rangers were the hand-chosen team of Vesey. Two summers ago, Vesey selected the Blue Shirts over the Sabres while he was an in-demand, unsigned unrestricted free agent. Vesey played four seasons at Harvard and opted to not play for the Nashville Predators, the NHL team that drafted him.
Why would Botterill do a Kane for Vesey trade?
He wouldn't.
Botterill would likely need the 2018 first round draft choice of the Rangers. Botterill could also sweeten the deal by taking the contract of Rick Nash off Gorton's hands. Nash, 33, is an unrestricted free agent. Nash owns a $7.8M AAV which the Sabres can absorb into their salary cap. Nash would become UFA on July. The Sabres could opt to sign the Brampton native to a 2-3 year contract extension at fewer dollars than his current $7.8M AAV. Nash could add a positive, mature voice to Buffalo's leadership group that includes Eichel, Ryan O'Reilly, Kyle Okposo, Rasmus Ristolainen, Zach Bogosian and Jake McCabe.
The Rangers would be wise to scoop up Evander Kane before their hated Metro rivals Pittsburgh, Columbus, NY Islanders, Carolina do.
Kane is the player you hate to play against.
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