The Anaheim Ducks are placing Chris Kreider on waivers to terminate his contract and clear up more cap space. (Friedman)
Kreider has agreed to this as he hopes to return to the East coast.
He was slated to be in the last year of his seven-year contract that had a cap hit of $6.5 million but only $4 million in actual salary.
The Rangers traded Kreider to Anaheim last year with the Ducks 2025 4th round pick for Carey Terrance and a 2025 third round pick that the Rangers used to select Artyom Gonchar.
Last season for the Ducks, Kreider had 22 goals and 28 assists. Terrance had 8 goals and 9 assists in his rookie season in Hartford.
Adam Rotter: It doesn’t seem like this was part of the Ducks’ plan this summer but everything changed with the Flyers offer-sheeted Leo Carlsson and then Anaheim matched his $18 million per season cap hit. The Ducks still need to sign 41 goal scorer Cutter Gauthier to a contract extension and only had $12.7 million in cap space before this move.
Kreider is forgoing the $4 million in salary from his contract but will likely make around that or more on what will probably be a multi-year next contract.
My guess is that Kreider returns home to play for the Bruins, but the Sabres, Flyers, Hurricanes and Penguins all have cap space. So does Montreal where Kreider has a history and long-time relationship with coach Marty St. Louis from their time as teammates, as well as trainer Jim Ramsay and Jeff Gorton. The Rangers, do not. I don’t know if Kreider would have wanted to return to the Rangers had this happened much earlier in the summer but the signings of Eeli Tolvanen last week and Oliver Bjorkstrand on July 1 took both the cap space and roster spots the Rangers could have used to bring Kreider back. A return East will mean that the Rangers will see more of Kreider this season and likely put him on a team they will be competing for a playoff/wild card spot with.