Chris Kreider won't play tonight, speaks out about trade rumors

According to a report from TSN insider Chris Johnston, New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury has informed other GM's around the NHL that he's willing to trade veteran leaders Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba in an effort to shake up his roster.

From Johnston on TSN's Insider Trading segment:

Chris Johnston: Absolutely. Chris Drury, the Rangers general manager is open for business, he's let that be known to other GMs around the league. Specifically he's mentioned Jacob Trouba and Chris Kreider as veteran Rangers players that he'd be willing to move on from under the right circumstances.

I think this coming to light in the last day or two has sent a shockwave through the Rangers dressing room. A trade of either of these players is not a straight forward transaction. Both have 15-team no-trade clauses included in their contracts so there could be a situation where the team could would have to try to work with one of those players in order to get them to be moved on from.

The mere fact that they're publicly known to be available amongst other Rangers players tells you a little bit about the situation in New York, which might surprise some people. If you look at the standings, the Rangers are holding down a playoff spot at this point but there's been a general displeasure with the displeasure with the performance of some of the veteran players on the Rangers this season. They've dropped three games in a row and management is now considering other options to try to shake things up.

- Chris Johnston

Yesterday evening following these rumor reports, Drury reportedly met with the team to discuss these rumors and to have an "honest, productive conversation."

From Arthur Staple of The Athletic:

A Rangers source said Drury did meet with Trouba later in the day Tuesday, as well as Kreider and other veterans, before the team flew to Raleigh. The source characterized the meetings as “honest, productive conversations.”

- Arthur Staple

Today, the Rangers announced that Kreider won't play in the team's game against the Carolina Hurricanes due to an injury and Kreider himself weighed in on the rumors flying around the league.

“I think it’s pretty obvious there’s frustration, angst, tension. Good. We’re 20 games in. Let’s go through this shit now and figure out who we are. We had the best regular season in the history of an Original Six franchise last year, won a Presidents’ Trophy and didn’t go as far as we would’ve liked. We’re getting exposed right now. Our warts are out there and teams are picking on the things we don’t do well and we’ve gotten away from the things we do do well.

“We don’t necessarily know what this is right now, right? This could just be part of the story. We look back at this and say, ‘This made us better.’”

- Chris Kreider

Frankly, the Kreider trade rumors are a bit surprising to me.

Not because Kreider and Trouba aren't worthwhile trade bait but... what's the ultimate plan for Drury here? Is he looking to inject some youth and start a rebuild? He'd likely be looking for roster players back in a deal, right? You typically trade veteran talent like this when you're looking to take on draft picks and prospects, two things that the Rangers do not need right now. The Rangers need roster players right now and I'd be shocked if Drury were able to parlay either Kreider and/or Trouba into some immediate roster help.

Stay tuned.