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Ducks Acquire Chris Kreider From Rangers

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June 12: Both teams have made the trade official. The Ducks receive Kreider and their own 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 104), which they sent to the Rangers in the Trouba deal, while the Rangers receive the Maple Leafs’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 89), which the Ducks had acquired in last season’s Ilya Lyubushkin trade.

June 11: While the deal is agreed to in principle, Anaheim is on Kreider’s no-trade list, according to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The trade will remain in limbo until the Rangers gain clarity on whether he’s willing to waive his trade protection to facilitate the deal.

June 10: The Ducks and Rangers are in “advanced discussions” on a trade that would send winger Chris Kreider to Anaheim, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports Tuesday. New York is slated to receive a prospect and a pick in return, according to Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA TODAY Sports. The Rangers are not retaining salary on Kreider, who is signed through 2026-27 at a $6.5MM cap hit, if the deal gets across the finish line. Center Carey Terrance will be the prospect heading to New York if the deal formalizes, which isn’t expected to happen until Wednesday morning at the earliest, Seravalli later added.

Kreider, 34, has spent the entirety of his 13-year NHL career in New York. They nabbed him 19th overall in the 2009 draft – a solid piece of work considering he’d be a unanimous top-10 choice in a redraft – and has hit the 20-goal mark in 10 of his 12 full seasons with the club.

The 6’3″, 230-lb lefty had been incredibly effective, especially in recent years, as the Rangers exited their accelerated retool during the late 2010s. While always a consistent scoring threat, he erupted for a career-high 52 snipes and 77 points in 81 games in the 2021-22 campaign, leading them in scoring as the Blueshirts had their first 50-win season in seven years and firmly restablished themselves as contenders atop the Eastern Conference.

Kreider hasn’t hit 50 again, nor did anyone expect him to. However, he’s still been incredibly effective as New York’s second-line left-winger behind Artemi Panarin, scoring 75 goals and 129 points in 161 regular-season games across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, the latter of which resulted in a Presidents’ Trophy for the Rangers. He’s also been downright dominant in the club’s last three playoff appearances, scoring 24 goals in 43 games in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 postseasons.

This season was an obviously disastrous campaign for the Rangers, who missed the playoffs entirely and saw a 29-point drop in the standings. That included Kreider, who had his most injury-plagued season since pre-pandemic. A back injury, a hand injury that may have resulted in offseason surgery, and what he later revealed to be a bout of vertigo limited him to 68 games. When healthy, his production cratered. While never a playmaker by any stretch, Kreider still had just eight assists in addition to his 22 goals, giving him 30 points on the year.

That worked out to 0.44 points per game, the worst rate of his career, excluding a 23-game trial in 2012-13. His 0.32 goals per game was far closer to his career median and just a few ticks south of his career average, though. Considering he shot at 14.5%, 0.6% worse than his 15.1% career average, there’s reasonable hope for him to get back to 30 goals again next season for Anaheim, especially if he gels well with a much younger group of centers in Orange County.

Rangers general manager Chris Drury, who had been shopping Kreider as far back as the Rangers’ early-season slide last November, wasn’t going to wait to see if the aging winger would rebound and be worth his cap hit next season. While tough to swallow for a lifelong Ranger, it’s an understandable viewpoint. With limited salary cap flexibility this summer to retool his roster and higher-paid players having no-movement clauses, Kreider, who only has a 15-team no-trade clause, was always the most likely candidate to be moved this offseason to free up considerable spending money.

It’s presumably not how Kreider, whose 326 career goals rank third in Rangers franchise history behind Rod Gilbert (406) and Jean Ratelle (336), wanted his time in New York to end. It’s also an eerily familiar move. Former captain Jacob Trouba was made available for trade at the same time as Kreider and could now welcome his ex-teammate to Anaheim after the Ducks took him on, also with no retained money, mid-season.

It’s not yet clear where Kreider could fit into the Ducks’ left-wing depth chart, which includes Cutter Gauthier, former Rangers teammate Frank Vatrano, and now Trevor Zegras after the natural center was shifted away from the middle of the ice. Zegras is entering the final year of his contract and has been the subject of trade rumors for a few years now, while Vatrano is kicking off a three-year extension but has some experience playing the right side. If he shuffles over, that would make more room for Kreider to split top-six LW duties with the 21-year-old Gauthier, who’s coming off a 20-goal, 44-point rookie season.

The Rangers are at least slated to land a center prospect with moderate upside in Terrance. Anaheim selected the 20-year-old in the second round of the 2023 draft. He was the No. 10 prospect in their system, as opined by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, amid a strong season for OHL Erie, where he was promoted to captain and finished the year with a 20-19–39 scoring line in 45 games. His season ended in February after a hit into the boards sent him to the hospital, although he was discharged within 24 hours. He is under contract – Anaheim signed him to his entry-level deal in April. Otherwise, they would have lost his signing rights on June 1.

Image courtesy of Danny Wild-Imagn Images.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post was first to report Kreider had waived his modified no-trade clause. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was first to report the details of the draft pick swap.

New York Rangers Expected To Have Busy Offseason

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According to Arthur Staple of The Athletic, the New York Rangers are expected to be one of the busier teams this offseason, along with the Buffalo Sabres, Seattle Kraken, and Utah Mammoth.

That wasn’t the only assertion Staple made in his report. He indicated that General Manager Chris Drury will look to shake up the roster and lists Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox, and Artemi Panarin as the only true untouchables on the roster.

The news comes with little surprise given that the trio was inarguably the top three performers on a disappointing Rangers team this past season. Still, outside of those three, it would make little sense for New York to part ways with the likes of J.T. Miller, Vincent Trocheck, or Gabriel Perreault, either, for various reasons.

Additionally, moving on from higher-priced players such as Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafrenière could prove difficult this offseason, given the Rangers would undoubtedly be selling low on either piece. However, if New York frees up some cap space, Staple believes they already have a target in place.

Vladislav Gavrikov, who has spent the last two-and-a-half years with the Los Angeles Kings, would immediately become an interest for the Rangers with more cap flexibility. Gavrikov has already indicated he’d like to sign a longer-term extension with Los Angeles, but the new regime led by Ken Holland could have different ideas.

The Russian defensive defenseman would immediately become one of the top options on the blue line in a thin free agent class. Gavrikov averaged above a 50.0% mark in CorsiFor% at even strength during this time with the Kings, and an on-ice save percentage at even strength of 91.6%.

Given that the Rangers finished 27th in the league in shots against and 25th in high-danger scoring chances against during the 2024-25 season, Gavrikov would help alleviate many of their issues. Still, assuming Gavrikov signs around the projected mark between $6.5MM and $7.5MM, the Rangers would have difficulty making that work at the present with only $8.4MM in cap space heading into the offseason.

Boilard Traded In QMJHL

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  • Rangers prospect Raoul Boilard will be suiting up for a different team in the QMJHL next season. The league announced (Twitter link) that the center was dealt from Baie-Comeau to Shawinigan.  Boilard, a fourth-round selection last year (119th overall), saw his output drop compared to his draft year as he notched 12 goals and 34 assists in 53 games after putting up 22 goals and 40 helpers the year before, one that he was able to stay healthy in as he played in all 68 games in 2023-24.  Next season will be a big one for Boilard as New York has not yet signed him to a contract.

Rangers Hire David Quinn, Joe Sacco As Assistant Coaches

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4:19 p.m.: The Rangers have officially announced their new hires, according to a team statement.

8:38 a.m.: The Rangers are nearing a deal to bring David Quinn back to the organization as an assistant coach under new bench boss Mike Sullivan, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. They’re also expected to add former Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco to Sullivan’s staff after Boston declined to remove his interim tag and hired Marco Sturm today instead. Sullivan’s third and final assistant will be Ty Hennes, who had been on Sullivan’s staff with the Penguins for the last few years, Friedman adds.

Quinn, whose first NHL head coaching job was in New York from 2018 to 2021, spent last year as an assistant under Sullivan in Pittsburgh as well. He also worked with Sullivan as an assistant for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

It’s exceedingly rare to see a coach return to a team so quickly after he’d been let go, especially in a reduced capacity, but he’ll take the chance to continue working with Sullivan after coming up short in a couple of head coaching searches. The Kraken and Penguins both reportedly interviewed Quinn for their vacancies this offseason.

Quinn will presumably work with a Rangers power play that had its fair share of struggles this year. After clicking at 26.4% in their Presidents’ Trophy-winning 2023-24 season, their man-advantage units converted at just a 17.6% rate this year, fifth-worst in the league.

Sacco heads to MSG after an 11-year run in Boston that began as an assistant in the 2014-15 season. The Massachusetts native survived two head coaching changes before getting a chance himself as the interim for most of this year following Jim Montgomery’s firing in November. He coached the Bruins to a 25-30-7 record, undoubtedly dragged down by a 5-11-2 post-deadline stretch after trading away captain Brad Marchand and top-four defenseman Brandon Carlo.

The 56-year-old’s previous NHL stops include a four-year run as head coach of the Avalanche from 2009-10 to 2012-13 and one year with the Sabres as an assistant in 2013-14. He also coached the United States to a bronze medal at the 2013 World Championship.

Hennes, the tertiary assistant, is by far the least experienced among the group. The 45-year-old has only ever worked in Pittsburgh at the NHL level, only working on the bench since November 2022. Before that, he worked with the Pens for four years as a skating skills coach.

Penguins Name Dan Muse Head Coach

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The Penguins have hired Rangers assistant coach Dan Muse as their next head coach, per a team announcement. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported minutes earlier that the hire was expected to get across the finish line.

Muse is a bit of a surprise hire. He was the most recent name to be reported as a candidate for Pittsburgh’s vacancy, linked just yesterday by Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

Not too long ago, it looked like the finalists for the Pens’ job were Capitals assistant Mitch Love and Kings assistant D.J. Smith. It became apparent that Love was out of the mix and replaced by Muse as a finalist yesterday, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period relays. Love was labeled a name on which Pittsburgh was relatively high from the beginning, but the Penguins will instead opt to poach a different assistant coach in their early 40s from a Metropolitan Division rival in Muse.

This will be Muse’s first chance to be an NHL head coach. He’s spent five years in the league as an assistant, first with the Predators from 2017-18 to 2019-20 before working under Peter Laviolette in Manhattan for the past two seasons. In the interim, he was a head coach for the United States National Team Development Program and coached the Americans to a gold medal at the 2023 U-18 World Junior Championship.

The development of the Penguins’ young players will be crucial over the next few seasons as they look to quickly return to contention as Sidney Crosby’s, Kris Letang’s, and Evgeni Malkin’s careers wind down. That top-down ideology from general manager Kyle Dubas is extremely apparent with the hire of Muse, who’s won multiple accolades at the junior level – including a USHL championship as head coach of the Chicago Steel in 2017 before landing the AC job with Nashville.

Here’s Dubas’ full statement on Muse’s appointment:

During this process, we met with many candidates who we felt would have been a fit as the next head coach of the Penguins, but ultimately, Dan Muse stood out as the best choice. What separated Dan was his ability to develop players, win at all levels where he has been a head coach and his consistent success coaching special teams in the NHL. From his success in developing college and junior players, to his impactful work with veteran players during his time in the NHL, Dan has shown a proven ability to connect with players at all stages of their careers and help them to reach their potential. Additionally, his leadership of special teams units at the NHL level in both Nashville and New York produced elite results consistently. His overall body of work, attention to detail and vision for our group showed us that he is the best coach to take our team forward. We’re excited to welcome Dan, and his family, to the city of Pittsburgh.

As for the Rangers, they’ll need to continue their coaching overhaul under new bench boss Mike Sullivan, whom Muse succeeds in Pittsburgh. They’ll have an entirely new bench staff next season after firing associate coach Phil Housley and losing assistant coach Michael Peca to Jeff Blashill’s staff with the Blackhawks.

Hurricanes’ Jesper Fast Announces Retirement

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Former Carolina Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast has decided to call it a career. He’s announced his retirement at the age of 33, after 11 seasons and 703 games in the NHL. Fast spent seven seasons with the New York Rangers, and his last four seasons with the Hurricanes.

Fast faced an uphill battle to the pros from the start. He was originally drafted in the sixth-round of the 2010 NHL Draft, after making his professional debut in Sweden’s SHL. He continued on for three seasons in Sweden’s top league, before making the jump to North America at the end of the 2012-13 campaign. He spent the bulk of the 2013-14 season in the minors, but also earned the first 11 games of his NHL career on the back of 34 points in 48 games as an AHL rookie. Fast didn’t score in any of those NHL appearances, but did enough to flip the balance in his sophomore season – with 11 appearances in the AHL to 58 games in the NHL. He scored six goals and 14 points in those appearances, then added six points in 19 games of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Fast locked in his spot in New York’s bottom-six after providing strong, two-way support during their theatric 2015 run. He scored just 30 points in 79 games during his first full NHL season in 2015-16, but provided heaps of impact on both ends of the ice. That pattern came to define Fast over the next few years – consistently rivaling 30 points and making tough plays across the ice. He was a player that fans wanted to root for more than they wanted to root against, even if his scoring or lineup role never jumped off the page.

But Fast’s career was marred by injuries in nearly every year. He played in fewer than 70 games in six of his 11 NHL seasons, largely thanks to his gritty and aggressive role. The poor injury luck came to a peak in the 2023-24 season, when Fast suffered a broken neck in the final game of Carolina’s season. That injury held him out of the entirety of the 2024-25 campaign, and will now lead him into retirement. It’s an unfortunate cap to a tenacious career that continued on into Fast’s 30s. He was a playoff hero in Carolina’s 2023 postseason, netting nine points and two overtime game-winners in 15 games.

Even with an early end to his career, it’s hard to imagine Fast staying away from the hockey world for too long – whether he returns in a Swedish coaching role or supporting NHL development.

Rangers Gauging Interest Level In K’Andre Miller

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This past season was a rough one for the Rangers who went from a perceived Stanley Cup contender to missing the playoffs altogether.  Along the way, GM Chris Drury tried to shake up his roster while some of his older veterans could still be available as further shakeups are believed to be desired.

It appears that one player who could be in the mix in a shakeup deal is defenseman K’Andre Miller.  In a recent appearance on Sportsnet 590 (video link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Miller’s name is definitely out there as Drury is trying to gauge the market for some of his players.

Two years ago, it looked like the 25-year-old had taken a big step forward toward becoming an all-situations core blueliner with a 43-point breakout year while logging more than 22 minutes a night.  While New York would have preferred to sign him to a long-term deal at that time, their cap situation forced them to pursue a bridge option instead with the sides agreeing on a two-year, $7.74MM pact.

Unfortunately for Miller and the Rangers, his play took a step back the following year and another step back this season.  Offensively, his output dropped to just 27 points in 74 games while some ill-timed defensive miscues helped contribute to the team going from being one of the stingier defensive teams in 2023-24 to one in the bottom half of the league in that category this season.

While this is generally the time that a player would sign a long-term deal coming off a bridge pact, Friedman suggests that the team isn’t ready to make that commitment at this point.  With two RFA-eligible seasons remaining, they could theoretically look to work out a one-year deal but the back-dated nature of his bridge deal puts his qualifying offer alone at $4.646MM.  Between that and Miller being eligible for salary arbitration, even a one-year deal might be costlier than they can afford.

Per PuckPedia, the Rangers enter the summer with just $8.4MM in cap space with Miller and winger Will Cuylle being their most prominent players to re-sign.  But considering the two of them alone could cost that much let alone filling out the rest of their roster or trying to add an impact player, it’s certainly understandable that Drury is at least exploring what level of interest would be out there in Miller to see if a feasible trade presents itself.  But if one does, New York will have a big hole to try to fill on their back end moving forward as well.

Rangers Testing The Market For K’Andre Miller

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With new head coach Mike Sullivan at the helm, the New York Rangers are ready to begin the next chapter in their franchise’s story—one that may not include a key defender from recent seasons.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on his 32 Thoughts Podcast that the Rangers are gauging trade interest in pending restricted free agent K’Andre Miller. Friedman compared Miller’s situation to that of the Sabres’ Bowen Byram, another young, high-pedigree defender who could benefit from a change of scenery. As Friedman notes, “It’s not a guarantee, but they are testing the market.”

The 25-year-old Miller is coming off a down year, mirroring the performance of many members of the Rangers’ core who disappointed this season. In 74 games, Miller scored seven goals, 27 points, and posted a zero plus/minus rating. While he tied his career high with 21:57 of ice time per game, Miller also set a career high with 97 giveaways. Moreover, his 107 hits and 110 blocked shots were his lowest totals since his rookie season.

GM Chris Drury will need to decide if trading Miller is the best move for the team, but if a trade doesn’t bring a defender back to New York, the Rangers will likely have to target the position in free agency. As the roster currently stands, the Rangers have five defensemen under contract for the 2025-26 season, which includes Adam Fox, William Borgen, Braden Schneider, Carson Soucy, and Urho Vaakanainen. And like Miller, Matthew Robertson and Zachary Jones are set for restricted free agency, while veteran Calvin de Haan is set to become an unrestricted free agent.

While Miller didn’t have the season he’d hoped for heading into restricted free agency, he could benefit from playing under Sullivan, especially if the coach brings his patented style that helped the Pittsburgh Penguins win two Stanley Cups. In Pittsburgh, Sullivan favored a fast-paced style of play that relied on mobile defenders—something Miller excels at.

Rangers, Michael Peca Parted Ways Weeks Ago

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Blackhawks Hire Jeff Blashill, Michael Peca

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11:12 a.m.: Chicago had made Blashill’s hiring official. They’re also bringing in Rangers assistant Michael Peca to serve in the same role on Blashill’s staff, Arthur Staple of The Athletic reports. Peca, 51, had been working under Peter Laviolette in New York for the past two years. He’s also worked as a development coach for the Capitals and an assistant coach for AHL Rochester. Sorensen will be on Blashill’s staff as an assistant as expected, while Penguins assistant Mike Vellucci is a strong candidate for the third and final assistant job on Blashill’s bench, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.

10:26 a.m.: The Blackhawks will announce Lightning assistant Jeff Blashill as their next head coach later today, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.

Blashill was the only name to be publicly linked to Chicago’s vacancy throughout their search aside from University of Denver bench boss David Carle, who opted to stay in his NCAA role. The Hawks have had nearly a month to explore other options after Carle withdrew his name from consideration for the position, and while there were some other unknown candidates they were considering as recently as a few days ago, Blashill has been positioned as the favorite for the role ever since his name first emerged.

Chicago will be Blashill’s second stop as an NHL head coach. His first, a seven-year run as head coach of the Red Wings, was a tough assignment as the team slowly entered a full teardown with him at the helm. That understandably led to a poor record – a 204-261-72 (.447) mark in the regular season with just one playoff series and one playoff win to his name, coming in Game 3 of the 2016 first round against the Lightning in his first season behind the Detroit bench.

There are legitimate reasons for optimism that Blashill can be a more effective head man with a Blackhawks club in the latter stages of their rebuild rather than with a Detroit club in the early stages. Since being let go by the Wings in 2022, he’s served as Jon Cooper’s top assistant in Tampa for the last three years. He also put together a strong minor-league resume with Detroit’s AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids before being promoted to the top role there, guiding the Griffins to a Calder Cup championship in 2013 and being named the league’s Coach of the Year the following season.

Blashill will take over for interim head coach Anders Sorensen, who was behind the Chicago bench for most of this year after the team dismissed Luke Richardson in early December. Sorensen, who coached the team to a 17-30-9 (.384) record in the season’s final 56 games, is expected to remain with the Blackhawks in some capacity.

The 51-year-old Blashill will likely have a significantly bolstered roster to manage come opening night compared to how the Hawks are beginning the offseason. Not only do they have the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft that could potentially slot into Blashill’s first-year lineup, they’re expected to be one of the most aggressive clubs in free agency this summer with nearly $31MM in cap space and no high-priced pending RFAs to re-sign.

While Blashill may not be the person behind Chicago’s bench when they’re a consistent playoff team again, he’ll at least be tasked with helping the club exit its years-long rebuild. He’ll do with a stacked group of under-25 players that includes forwards Connor Bedard, Oliver Moore, and Frank Nazar, defensemen Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, and Alex Vlasic, as well as goaltender Spencer Knight.

With Chicago making Blashill’s appointment set in stone, only three head coaching vacancies remain: the Bruins, Kraken, and Penguins.

Image courtesy of Kim Klement-Imagn Images.

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