SILENT TREATMENT
On the contrary, Chris Kreider was saying following practice Monday, not only is he not concerned his recent exodus from the scoring and being-noticed columns will unduly influence management’s upcoming decision whether to extend his contract or trade him leading up to the draft, he, well ...
“Maybe you and I look at it differently, but I look at this as a guy trying to gut it out through an injury, which is part of being a professional hockey player,” No. 20 told The Post. “I didn’t do as well or contribute as much as I thought I could and while I don’t think I hurt the team, I didn’t help, either, so I probably shouldn’t have played.
“So as far as management’s evaluation, I’m honestly not worried about this stretch. Plus, it’s a whole season, right?”
Kreider, who has gone 10 straight without a goal since Feb. 24, sustained a hamstring injury against the Lightning at the Garden on Feb. 27 in the Blueshirts’ first match since the trade deadline, The Post has learned. Monday was the first time the injury had been disclosed.
David Quinn, who had bounced Kreider off Mika Zibanejad’s left side after a couple of inferior postdeadline outings and actually de- moted No. 20 to the fourth line to start one game after being benched for most of the third period of a previous match, acknowledged the winger “had battled through an injury, for sure.”
“He’s done everything he can and I give him a lot of credit,” said the coach, whose team faces Detroit at the Garden on Tuesday. “For a guy who depends on his legs so much, I thought he did a real good job fighting through that lower-body injury and did everything he [could].”
Essentially every trade decision the Rangers have made over the past 12-plus months has been driven by contract considerations. Rick Nash, Kevin Hayes, Mats Zuccarello, Michael Grabner and Adam McQuaid were traded as rental properties. J.T. Miller was dealt while an impending Group II free agent. Ryan McDonagh was traded before the captain could enter the final year of his deal preced- ing unrestricted free agency.
Now Kreider is in McDonagh’s situation, either a couple of months away from a lucrative contract extension — figure, conservatively, six years at $6.5 million per for the winger who will turn 28 on April 30 — or a trade in which he would be exchanged for a package of draft picks and prospects/young NHL-ready players.
If management believes it is multiple years away from being a legit playoff team, never mind Cup contender, then it may not make sense to lock up Kreider into his mid-30s. Then, too, moving yet another substantial marquee guy for future commodities kind of ensures the Rangers would indeed be multiple years away from presenting an authentic tournament team.
Kreider has scored only twice in his past 20 games beginning Feb. 6. As such, he rests on 26 goals, still two shy of the personal-best 28 he recorded in 2016-17. He has 49 points, four shy of his career-high 53 he established two seasons ago.
But as his health has improved, so has his game, the last one in Minnesota and the previous night’s performance in Calgary markedly improved. “I’ve definitely felt better and I think I was able to have an impact by getting in on the puck and creating turnovers,” Kreider said. “I’ve felt more like myself, so when I think of these final three weeks coming up, I feel good about it. “You’re going to have dips in your game. The season is just so long. But you have to learn how to approach them, deal with them, separate the good from the bad and put it everything in perspective. And you learn as you go along. I know I learned from watching and talking to Rick Nash when he went through lulls, and his message was to simplify things and get back to the basics.” So back to it for Kreider, reunited with Zibanejad for the last three games. Back to it against the Red Wings and then for the final nine, either of the season or of his Rangers career.