Chris Kreider is one of the top names floating around the NHL ahead of next month's trade deadline, and for good reason. He is an effective scoring winger perhaps playing the best hockey of his career (17 goals, 15 assists in 48 games); his contract lasts through the 2020-21 season at a team-friendly $4.625 million salary cap hit.
Plenty of teams that expect to contend both this spring and next season surely will check on Kreider's availability over the next month, but the Boston Bruins reportedly view him as their top trade target over the next month. NBC Sports Boston's Joe Haggerty cited anonymous hockey sources in his report, which also noted it remains possible that New York could hold on to Kreider for the rest of the season.
The Rangers (23-21-4, 50 points) are 10 points out of the Eastern Conference through Tuesday's standings, and are unlikely to make the playoffs — but general manager Jeff Gorton is still assessing his roster. As Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman noted on Wednesday, the Rangers have back-to-back games with the NHL-worst Detroit Red Wings after the All-Star break. An early February surge could persuade Gorton to hold on to Kreider, even if he does top TSN's "Trade Bait" board.
MORE: Five potential landing spots for Chris Kreider
Say Gorton does decide he's willing to move Kreider, though; how likely is he to land in Boston?
The game-winner with :25 left, courtesy of Chris Kreider.#NYR #LGR #PlayLikeANewYorker pic.twitter.com/X5iPq4Ov0U
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) January 17, 2020
The Bruins are seemingly in need of help on the wing every season; they have been linked to Kreider before. It symbolically helps that he grew up in Boxford, Mass., and played at Boston College; the team has a few Boston-area natives on the roster already. The Bruins have long had a top line of elite players in Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak. It's the second-line wing positions that the club has sought help at consistently in recent years, and it's where Kreider could fit right in.
Kreider has a reported 11-team no-trade clause in his contract, but Boston's status as a clear Stanley Cup contender should render it a non-issue. Sweeney has the first-round draft pick that the Rangers reportedly want as a starting point for a Kreider deal; he has younger wingers, such as Anders Bjork, who could grow into the role Kreider may leave behind in Manhattan as well.
Boston is right up against the salary cap ($566,824 in space on Jan. 22) which could make a trade difficult to complete, but it hasn't stopped Sweeney and Gorton from dealing before: Boston acquired Rick Nash from the Rangers in a 2018 trade deadline deal in exchange for a package that included three players, two draft picks, and salary retained on Matt Beleskey's contract to make it all work.
The NHL's trade deadline is on Feb. 24.