After weeks of silence, Chris Kreider finally speaks on shocking trade out of New York

General manager Chris Drury has been dismantling the core of the New York Rangers since the beginning of last season, and back in June, he sent the longest tenured player on the team, Chris Kreider, to the Anaheim Ducks in a salary dump trade. This ended a successful 13-year marriage between the Blue Shirts and Kreider.

As soon as the announcement was made, fans could only imagine how the trade affected Kreider, who left his city and his closest friend in Mika Zibanejad to move to a rebuilding club at the other end of the country. Finally on Tuesday, fans got to hear how Kreider really feels about the move, admitting that he has yet to go to Anaheim for a preview of his new life. He’s planning to take a trip there soon.

“I’ve gotta get the lay of the land,” he said.

When Peter Baugh of the Athletic sat down with him one on one to get Kreider’s comments, the veteran forward still didn’t know how to react to the trade when asked how he is feeling about everything.

“Good,” he said before laughing. “Bit of a loaded question.”

Kreider is still training in New York with now former teammates like Adam Fox and Brett Berard. However, his Ducks jersey and gear have come in, and he knows this is getting real.

“There are brush points where it’s kind of like ‘this is happening, for sure.’ (After Anaheim) shipped out my new equipment, jumping on the ice with Ducks stuff on, and people coming up to me and being like ‘you look weird.’”

At least in Anaheim, Kreider will be able to reconnect with his former Rangers teammate, captain in fact, Jacob Trouba is of course a member of the Ducks. Kreider was very outspoken in the wake of Trouba’s trade to the Ducks this past season and the pair are known to be close on the ice and off the ice.

Kreider however revealed that Connecticut and the New York area will remain home for his offseasons.

As for injury issues, an obstacle that reportedly came up as the Rangers were working on his trade, Kreider knows that his back spasms and hand injury did not help his production the past season, in which the Rangers missed the playoffs. The veteran posted only 22 goals in 2024-25, his lowest mark in a full season since 2017-18, and had only eight assists in 68 games. However, after undergoing surgery that put metal in his hand, Kreider still has a lot of game left.

“I’ve been doing a ton of stuff in here (in the gym), just doing what I can to be in good shape,” he said.

A move to the Ducks could help rejuvenate Kreider, who will wear a different jersey for the first time since he was selected 19th overall by the Rangers in 2009.