No, we. Have. Not. Seen. Much. Of. Chris. during five-on-five play through the Rangers’ first three games. That is both literally and figuratively.
The fact is that Chris Kreider, whose two points, in the form of a pair of assists, were both recorded on the power play, has the eighth-most even-strength minutes among the team’s forwards who have suited up for every contest. Only Brendan Lemieux, Brendan Smith and Lias Andersson have gotten less time.
As Mets managerial candidate Joe Girardi might say, that’s not what you want. It is also not what the Blueshirts need in order for this team, which is so young and inexperienced in so many critical areas, to keep its head above water while the kids develop both in the NHL and at Hartford.
There is the contract and pending free-agency issue that may or may not be playing with Kreider’s head. It never seemed like a particularly good idea to bring the winger back absent an extension, and it was surprising that the hierarchy didn’t recognize the inadvisability of proceeding in that fashion, but that does not provide cover for the winger any more than it did last year for Mats Zuccarello.
What might, though, is the impact of Artemi Panarin’s addition, for that free-agent signing bumped Kreider off Mika Zibanejad’s left wing, where he’d played a majority of the past two seasons following previous first-line center Derek Stepan’s trade to Arizona.
The past two seasons, per NaturalStattrick.com, Kreider played 1,122 of his 1,805 five-on-five minutes with No. 93, which equates to 62 percent. They formed a very strong, if not perfect, union. This year, there have been three games with Ryan Strome and 1:46 with Zibanejad. It’s just unfortunate that neither he nor Panarin plays on the right.
The fourth game, Thursday at the Devils, will be played with Brett Howden between Kreider and Kaapo Kakko, the switch confirmed following Tuesday’s practice by coach David Quinn.
But the change in centers cannot fully explain Kreider’s failure to place any kind of a five-on-five stamp on the first three games. (You don’t want to take this small sample size out of context, but those three games provide the only context.) The Rangers need Kreider to be a physical force, hard on the puck, in on the forecheck, making life difficult for opposing defensemen, who pretty much have had a lark playing against what has been a fairly passive and pacifistic group of forwards.
“I think in general the line he’s been on hasn’t been great,” said Quinn, who was effusive in his praise of Kreider’s work with the man-advantage. “One of the things I’d like to see, not only out of him but all our forwards, is to have a mentality where they pressure pucks more. I don’t think we’re pressuring pucks anywhere near the way we need to. I don’t think we’re physical enough near the way we need to be.”
Quinn repeatedly stopped practice during its scrimmage. He was loud — very loud — while admonishing his team in a manner that recalled October 2018, at one point imploring the group to move the puck north-south at an accelerated pace after a languid breakout.
“I want you to do both and you’re not doing either,” he barked in exasperation, reinforcing the theme upon which he later expanded during his press briefing.
“I really believe we’re cheating the game,” Quinn said. “I think we got this lead in our first two games. The first one [6-4 over Winnipeg] was not a great one even though we won it. I thought we were better in Ottawa [4-1 victory] and I just thought we were very lifeless against Edmonton.“It’s been talked about and addressed, and we’ve got to play with a pace and pressure people. The other team right now is five guys who are able to defend because we don’t touch anybody right now. It’s tough to hit somebody when you’re not skating. We’ve got to skate more so we can put people off-balance so we can get to the middle of the ice.”
Kreider generally is one of the last Rangers off the ice at practice. Tuesday, he was among the first, heading directly to the trainer’s room for treatment. He missed his final shift of the first period on Saturday after Jujhar Khaira fell on his leg. The man needs his wheels.
And the Rangers need more from Kreider, who finished last season scoring two goals in his final 17 games while bothered for a spell by a hamstring issue. They need more, and have a right to expect more, because he has much more to give.