Ryan S. Clarkjun 12, 2025, 01:50 PM ET
Closeryan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN.
Is this the beginning of something more?
This question could be asked both the Anaheim ducks and the New York Rangers after the first major trade this offseason. On Thursday, the Rangers sent Chris Kreider and a 2025 fourth round pick (Anaheim himself, previously acquired by the Jacob Truba trade in December 2024) to the ducks for Centre Prospect Carry Terrance and the 2025 third round pick (Toronto, which was acquired in February 2024).
This looks at what this means for both franchises, in line with how each of them performed.
I had to create a pay cap space. I had a question about production. There was also the fact that rangers could find replacements elsewhere.
Everything said, there were many reasons that influenced the Rangers’ decision to move on from Chris Cryder.
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Kreider scored his 10th 20 goals in his seventh straight season and his career. That consistency has come to define Kreider, which is one of the reasons why it is likely to move from New York.
Kreider turned 34 in late April and scored 22 goals at the end of the season. But that has diminished from what he has done in the past three years. He scored over 36 goals in each of the last three seasons, averaging 69 points per campaign at the time. He finished 30 points in 68 games this season, averaging 0.44 points per game.
With two years remaining on a contract worth $6.5 million a year, it became a number game for the Rangers.
Star goaltender Igor Shesterkin signed a new contract that began in 2025-26, increasing the annual salary from $5.67 million to $11.5 million. Also, a series of deals in a season in which Rangers GM Chris Drury got Will Borgen and JT Miller won $12.1 million a year. Borgen signs a five-year extension worth $4.1 million a year, while Miller is second in a seven-year agreement that earns $8 million a year.
This required rangers to find a solution to address a seven-player limited free agent class led by K’Andre Miller, Zac Jones, Matthew Robertson and Will Cuylle.
That’s not to say there are no questions asked about how they will replace Kreider’s production.
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The spring signature of Boston College star winger Gabe Perreault became important to give the Rangers the top six potential options in a team-friendly deal, while also allowing them to create the space they need to deal with RFA classes.
The Rangers earned $1,4922 million in cap space after cutting Kreider’s contracts per packpedia. This allows the front office to offer more financial flexibility than it originally owned, and the concept may not be done.
Adding Terrance, which signed with ducks in April, brings to a system where the centre’s prospects are likely to be needed. The strongest midfield prospect, Noaraba signed the club after three seasons at Colorado College, but Dylan Lou Brock’s first full professional campaign included 20 goals in the AHL.
Terrance, who was the second round pick in 2023, won his third 20-goal season for the OHL’s Ellie Otters. Overall, he finished with 39 points in 45 games. He also represented Team USA in the IIHF World Junior Championship and scored two goals in seven games before suffering an injury.
Reconstruction is the concept of everything ending in a better place, and all of them take a different path to reach that destination. Kreider Trade is the belief that the ducks remained immovable in an approach that has helped them so far, reaching the playoffs or at least leading to wildcard debate in 2025-26.
For all the conversations about how they drafted and developed, the duck also worked together to isolate its homemade young cores along with respected veterans. It is a veteran group that includes Radko Gudas, Alex Killorn, Frank Vatrano and former Rangers teammate Jacob Trouba of Kirdyer.
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So, what does this mean for the best winger setup of Ducks? Kreider adds to the group with Sam Colangelo, Cutter Gauthier, Troy Terry, Killorn and Vatrano. It not only provides goal scorers in general, but also provides players who can grab those goals in a variety of ways, as well as providing ducks.
And this is what makes the duck attractive or frightening, depending on the perspective. Ducks GM Pat Verbeek made its way forward with a $6.5 million cap hit. The Puckpedia project still has more than $32.188 million available space.
This could be the free agency to make Caterra Avenue a destination on July 1st.
Of course, Verbeek must act responsibly. Lukas Dostal, Drew Helleson and Mason McTavish are part of the Ducks’ younger core, each withholding RFAs that require new contracts. Then there’s something ahead of the next offseason when Leo Carlson, Jackson Lacombe, Pavel Mintjov, Trevor Zegrass, Oren Zelweger and Ghatier all need new deals at the same time.
Having many young talent for cheap contracts creates financial flexibility. That’s why we were able to add Kreider for the price of the draft pick and terrance prospects, which were consumable due to the centre situation at the 2024 second round picks at the NHL and Lucas Pettersson.
Since their rebuilding began, ducks were a franchise that was about to try and make progress in some way. They developed one of the NHL’s most promising farm systems at the time and have cultivated expectations for their outlook. Meanwhile, they knew when to make movements as if they had one.
Pavel Mintyukov is part of an impressive group of young duck players. Gary A. Vasquez/Image Image
What now?
Finishing at 80 points for the first time since the 2018-19 season, he has them at key points. That’s part of why they’re hiring Joel Quenneville from head coach Greg Cronin after two seasons on the premise that they feel they can go further.
Because that’s what it means to play in the Gauntlet that has become the Western Conference. All established candidates, such as the Edmonton Oilers, Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights, and Colorado Avalanches, still have other teams capable of carving passes.
Seattle Kraken did it in the second season of 2022-23. A year later, the Vancouver Canucks did it in their first full season under Rick Totchet in 2023-24. This season, the St. Louis Blues returned to the playoffs, with the Calgary Flames and Utah Hockey Club pushing to the late stages of the regular season.
Anaheim scored 16 points from the wildcard spot in the final Western Conference. But I believe that the progressive improvements that the ducks have shown, along with the fact that they made two big moves this offseason, they can do more – you can see them knocking on the postseason door and kicking it.
