Report: Rangers, Ducks Have Chris Kreider Trade in Place

It’s been about two months since the New York Rangers regular season ended, which means Rangers fans essentially been sitting around waiting for the dominos to start falling for about the same time. Late last night, a report from Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff indicated that the first of those black and white tiles very well might be ready to fall, in the form of a deal that would send veteran winger Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks. 

This report was later backed up by Vince Mercogliano of LoHud.com, who is much closer to the Rangers than Seravalli.

As mentioned in Vince's report, it sounds like the Rangers would be sending Chris Kreider, importantly with no salary retention, to Anaheim in exchange for a prospect and pick. This is very similar to the trade we saw for Jacob Trouba during the season, in which the Rangers shipped their captain to the Ducks with no salary retained for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth round draft pick. Kreider would join a team full of former friends including Frank Vatrano, Ryan Strome, and Trouba. It feels like not too long ago we were referring to Tampa Bay Lighting as the Rangers of the South. Now, it appears we have the Rangers of the West.

Now, there are always two sides to every trade: the business side and the personal side. From a business standpoint, clearing up $6.5 million in cap space while getting a draft pick and prospect back is certainly helpful.

But from a fan perspective, this one is going to hurt. We’ll have plenty more time to get into that if and when this trade goes down, but for now it bears repeating: Chris Kreider will go down as an all time Ranger and should be remembered for the player he was at his best.

At any rate, the trade is still just a report at the time of this writing. But from the sounds of it, this could become official at any moment. Until then, here's what the Ducks have to offer in terms of picks and prospects that could soon become assets of the Rangers.

The Ducks have a pick in every round in this year's NHL Entry Draft, as well as a second pick in rounds three and five. How high the pick will be certainly depends on the quality of the prospect coming in the trade, but perhaps it makes sense that the pick could be a third or a fifth since the Ducks have two picks in each of those rounds.

As far as the prospect goes, Seravalli mentions Casey Terrance in his full article who was the 59th overall pick by the Ducks just two years ago. A left-handed center, Terrance—who is also a New York native—has spent the last four seasons with the Erie Otters in the Ontario Hockey League. During that time, he had two seasons where he flirted with 50 point seasons, but took a bit of a step back last year, registering just 20 goals and 19 assists in 45 games played. At 20-years-old, Terrance will be eligible for his first professional season in the AHL at the start of this season.

It would certainly make sense that Terrance is the prospect involved seeing as he's a center, which is a position of need for the Rangers, and also has USA hockey ties. Terrance had two goals in this year's World Juniors tournament to help Team USA win their second consecutive Gold Medal. In the event it's not Terrance, here are a couple other options that could make sense for the Rangers.

Noah Warren

A 6-4, right-handed shot defenseman is coming off his first season of professional hockey with the Ducks AHL team. He's a former second round pick that has size, a hard shot, and plays a physical game. You can see him as a potential Braden Schneider replacement down the road in the event the Rangers end up moving Schneider.

Tyson Hinds

A more seasoned option, Hinds is a 6-3, left-handed defenseman that has an extra season of AHL experience and more proven professional production. Drafted in the 3rd round of 2021, Hinds is a mobile, two-way defenseman with great hockey IQ who could become a middle of the pack NHL quality defenseman down the road.

Tristan Luneau

This is less likely of an option seeing as the Ducks finished the season with him on their NHL roster. Luneau is another former second round pick, right-handed mobile defenseman with great offensive skills, and was nearly a point-per-game player with the AHL San Diego Gulls last year.

Nathan Gaucher

A late first round pick in 2022, Gaucher is a right-handed center who has some size (6-3), plays the game with some tenacity and could still pan out as a middle six NHL forward. In two seasons in the AHL, he registered 25 points in 2023-24 and 19 last season. He hasn't developed in quite the Ducks had hoped yet, but there's a chance they aren't ready to give up on him yet.

Rodwin Dionicio

A less exciting option, but definitely a change of scenery candidate, Dionicio is 21-year-old former fifth round pick who has only spent 24 games with the San Diego Gulls, scoring five goals and four assists in the process. A 6-2 left-handed defenseman, Dionicio isn't the best skater. But his offensive skills, hockey sense, and strength are all strong suits. If the Rangers get a higher draft pick, he could be a good gamble to take in terms of a prospect.

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