Everyone had high expectations of the New York Rangers in 2022-23 and that included veteran forward Chris Kreider, who still isn’t over his team’s early playoff exit.
In a recent interview with Dan Rosen of NHL.com, Kreider revealed how hard the summer has been and how it will be a motivating force for the upcoming season.
“Like every guy on the team, I’ve got a pit in my stomach still and I expect that to turn into a bit of a chip on everyone’s shoulders,” Kreider said.
“We thought we had a good group. I still think we had a good group and we should have done better. We all know that.”
The Rangers had a strong 2-0 series start against the New Jersey Devils in the first round, but lost four of the next five to their Metropolitan Division rivals.
New York had also gambled hard to go deep into the postseason, acquiring Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko in separate trades ahead of the March deadline.
The early exit led to some departures in free agency, but also brought on Blake Wheeler, Nick Bonino, Erik Gustafsson, and Jonathan Quick on one-year deals in free agency. It also led to the firing of head coach Gerard Gallant, who was replaced by Peter Laviolette.
Kreider believes the new bench boss will lead the heartbroken clan in the right decision as soon as the 2023-24 season kicks off in October.
“My impression is that his teams have always been very hard to play against,” Kreider said. “I recently remember the Washington team, but even with some of those Nashville teams, incredibly hard to play against.”
Let’s hope Laviolette and that aforementioned chip on their shoulders will lead the Rangers to a better outcome in 2024.
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