Chris Kreider opens up on trade talk with Rangers tension rising

RALEIGH, North Carolina – When the Rangers’ longest-tenured player, Chris Kreider, was suddenly sidelined the day after his name was mentioned in president and general manager Chris Drury’s league-wide memo eliciting trade partners, it appeared to be a peculiar coincidence.The 33-year-old, however, wished to set the record straight ahead of his second straight scratch.“Back spasms,” Kreider said after an optional morning skate before the Rangers take on the Hurricanes Wednesday night.“Back locked up on me – Sacrum.

Few games back it was lumbar [spine, the lower back made up of five or six vertebrae that support most of the body’s weight and allow for movement] and then during training camp it was thoraxes [the chest, or the part of the body between the neck and the abdomen].“Very independent, annoying things.So we’re working on it.

Done a couple things to remedy it so it doesn’t happen anymore.”Kreider hasn’t heard his name amongst trade chatter since leading up to the 2020 trade deadline, when the Rangers essentially had to decide between keeping him or defenseman Brady Skjei due to cap restraints.Skjei was shipped to Carolina and the Rangers signed Kreider to a seven-year, $45.5 million contract with a no-move clause, which was modified to a 15-team no-trade list this season.Noting that he’s been in New York for 13 seasons now, Kreider said there will always be noise when playing for a team like the Rangers.Still, the way Drury proclaimed himself open for business to the other 31 NHL general managers less than 20 games into the season — mentioning a list of players that wasn’t limited to just Kreider or their captain, Jacob Trouba — has shades of the ruthlessness the Rangers head honcho showed when circumventing Barclay Goodrow’s no-trade list this summer to shed his $3,641,667 cap hit.“Shouldn’t trivialize someone’s feelings, but how you feel doesn’t affect your ability to do something that you’ve done for the entir...