Catching up with former Ranger Chris Kreider, who was traded to Anaheim in June
Rangers left wing Chris Kreider sets before a face-off against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third period of an NHL game at Madison Square Garden on March 9. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
FAIRFIELD, Conn. — The big change for Chris Kreider will come in the fall when, for the first time in his 14-year professional career, he’ll be going to training camp somewhere other than Westchester County.
For now, though, his life hasn’t been that different since he was traded by the Rangers to the Anaheim Ducks in June for 20-year-old prospect Carey Terrance and a swap of draft picks. He’s still living at his home in Connecticut, still working out at Prentiss Hockey Performance in Stamford, still doing all the things he’s always done in the summers.
But Kreider is well aware that the life he’s known since he made his NHL debut with the Rangers in the 2012 playoffs is about to change. Being traded over the summer, as opposed to in-season, has at least given him time to come to grips with that.
“It’s an emotional time, but there are some great people out there who are making it substantially smoother for us,’’ he told Newsday on Friday at halftime of the Premier Lacrosse League game at Fairfield University between the New York Atlas and California Redwoods.
One thing that Kreider said helped him realize he isn’t a New York Ranger anymore was when the Anaheim Ducks shipped him a set of new equipment. The colors are black, gold and orange — not blue. He has found a place to live in Southern California, though he hasn’t seen it in person yet. That will come in September.
In the meantime, Kreider is going about things as he always does in the summer, and going to PLL games at Fairfield every year has become part of his routine. He played lacrosse in high school in Massachusetts and is a fan of the professional outdoor league.
“It’s a fun, fun thing to do,’’ he said in between signing autographs when young fans approached him. “They put on a fantastic event. The Rabils [brothers Paul and Mike Rabil, cofounders of the PLL] are doing an unbelievable job growing the game. They’re grinding super-hard. It’s been cool to get to know them.’’
“He always comes out. He always supports us. And it’s special when he does,’’ Mike Rabil said. “And you know, I’ll be rooting for the Ducks now, now that he’s traded.’’
On Thursday, Kreider will attend another event in Connecticut he always supports, the annual Shoulder Check Showcase, a fundraiser hockey game at the Terry Conners Rink in Stamford that features NHL players playing to raise money for the HT40 Foundation, an organization founded in the memory of a Connecticut high school hockey player Hayden Thorsen, who took his own life at the age of 16 in 2022. The organization’s goal is to promote mental health by encouraging people to check in on their friends.
“I think everyone knows somebody who’s dealt with some mental health issues at one time or another,’’ Kreider said. “And if that game even has impact on one person’s life, I mean, that’s more than enough validation. It’s a fantastic event.’’
Once the summer ends, a new life will begin for Kreider, 34, and his family. Life on the West Coast will be different, and when the NHL schedule came out last week, Kreider was busy studying Anaheim’s schedule, not New York’s.
“We have a nine-game homestand,’’ he said. “There’s 14-day trips where you’re ripping off a bunch of games . . . It’s just different.’’
On the ice, Kreider will be eager to bounce back from last season’s disappointing 22-goal, 30-point season. He battled through a myriad of assorted injuries during the season and showed off a long scar on his left hand from where he had offseason surgery.
“Something that I didn’t think was as bad as it was ended up requiring surgery — metal [inserted],’’ he said. “It was a lot worse than I initially realized . . . I probably should have known, the way it felt playing on it, that clearly something wasn’t right.’’
He also battled back trouble in the first half of the season and said he is working hard to prevent that from returning. He declared himself fully healthy now.
He’ll make his return to the Garden with fellow former Rangers Jacob Trouba, Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano on Dec. 15. It’s a fact he acknowledged but downplayed. But it just may be the first time when leaving the only home he’s known as a professional to start over on the opposite coast becomes truly real for him.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
