The Rangers placed left winger Chris Kreider on injured reserve Tuesday, reports Larry Brooks of the New York Post. The move is retroactive to his last appearance on Saturday against the Capitals. It rules him out for their next three contests with an upper-body injury, including Tuesday’s game against the Stars and Thursday’s rivalry matchup with the Devils. They now have an open roster spot, which, as Brooks notes, could go to winger Matt Rempe after he was sent down Monday to make room for waiver claim Arthur Kaliyev.
As Colin Stephenson of Newsday points out, doing so would mean Rempe serves the final game of his eight-game suspension for elbowing Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen Tuesday. He would then be available to re-enter the lineup for the New Jersey game.
Kreider’s upper-body issue may be recurring, partially explaining why the 6-foot-3 winger’s point production has fallen off a cliff this season. He also missed three games with a UBI in November.
It is unfortunate timing for the 33-year-old, who was on a season-high three-game point streak before exiting the lineup. After scoring the game’s first goal in a 7-4 loss to Washington, he sat out the following day’s 6-2 win over the Blackhawks.
Despite still seeing consistent top-six usage, Kreider has 15 points in 34 games this year — just 0.44 per game. That would be the lowest rate of his 13-year career aside from a 23-game trial in the 2012-13 campaign, his first taste of NHL regular-season hockey.
13 of those 15 points are goals, still putting him on pace for a strong 31 goals if he played a full 82 games. Still, that would be his worst total since the 2020-21 season, notwithstanding his paltry two helpers on the year.
Before his injury, Kreider’s struggling second line, including Mika Zibanejad and Reilly Smith, was beginning to turn things around. The latter two also have active three-game point streaks. According to MoneyPuck, the trio has now controlled 51.2% of expected goals on the year after sitting below 50% through most of the early going.
Despite his struggles and trade rumors this season, Kreider still ranks second on the Blueshirts in goals behind Artemi Panarin’s 16 in 37 games. Generating offense has been an issue overall for the Rangers, who are 21st in the league at 2.90 goals per game. That’s down sharply from last year’s 3.39 mark, which placed them seventh in the league amid a Presidents’ Trophy-winning season.
Kreider can return on Jan. 14 against the Avalanche if his health allows.
