Kreider Still With CT Whale
Steve Zipay at Newsday is reporting that Chris Kreider has not joined his Rangers teammates at informal practice yet and remains with the CT Whale. Zipay adds that he's not sure what the rules are regarding AHL players participating at informal practice with the CBA not yet ratified.
This weekend, Larry Brooks at the New York Post reported that Kreider took a shot to the foot, but was fine.
...got to assume the likely reason is that he's not allowed to participate because CBA has yet to be voted on. I have no doubt he'll be in camp when it opens, hopefully, this weekend.
In other prospect news, JT Miller has returned to the Whale roster.
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I think the kid's "struggles" are because (if I get Tort's and NYR strategy correctly) the Whale has him focusing on things that they saw as holes in his game.. they didn't send him to Hartford to work on things he was already "good" at, right...? Krieder spent nearly zero time on the buy-in to the Tortorella system so I would suspect (not having any complete Whale games) that he is focused on a new vision of the game... one that would set expectations for his performance on Broadway. Lot's of free-flying offensive players have had to make adjustments to the way Tort's sees the game played and I suspect that the kid is just going through those same adjustment blues...
The kid is obviously going to be a stud. If the offense is producing, he will get some time to work it out. I expect him to start on the third line with Boyle and Pyatt. He's going to have to earn a spot on the top six by working with those grinders.
Hopefully by the end of the year he gets some time with a combination of Gaborik, Stephan and Hagelin. Fastest line in the league!
He hurt his foot the other day. He was walking around in a boot on Sunday, during the game.
Would expect him to stay here in Hartford until he appears.... Well motivated. His play has lacked that this year for sure
Technically, I think leaving would make him AWOL, and if anything happened (sorry I even said that - God forbid!) at an informal skate with players that are currently not "under contract," he would be screwed...chalk it up to red tape, and not the kind that Ovechkin tapes the butt of his stick with...
I absolutely cannot wait to see what Kreider can do with the Rangers top forwards, but I think it's time to be realistic. He's obviously struggling with the pro-game. Granted, he was pretty spectacular in the playoffs, given his age, lack of experience, and production, but he has struggled pretty mightily with the daily grind of the AHL. I've heard people say that he's not being challenged enough by the inferior AHL competition, but that's crap. Almost all the other young NHL'ers that went to the AHL are at the top of their teams in scoring and are lighting up the AHL (Couturier, Niedereitter, Schenn, Hall, Eberle, etc.). I think Kreider's playoff performance gives him a shot at camp and a few games to show his stuff, but I think his leash will be short because they won't want to ruin his confidence completely. Besides, I don't think he's being looked at as a top 6 savior as much now that Nash is here. They can afford to have patience with him.
Technically, I think leaving would make him AWOL, and if anything happened (sorry I even said that - God forbid!) at an informal skate with players that are currently not "under contract," he would be screwed...chalk it up to red tape, and not the kind that Ovechkin tapes the butt of his stick with...
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I'm not going to worry about Kreider at all. I don't even want to put that energy into the atmosphere because there's enough of it out there already. The kid faced a lot of pressure showing up in the playoffs last year and he performed admirably. But he still has a lot to learn and he deserves some time to get his pro game together. I'm itching to see him perform at the level everybody believes he can, but the more people expect too much too soon, the more difficult it will be for him to reach that level. I'm confident in Torts and the whole organization that they will handle him appropriately. I'm not worried. Just psyched!
Nah. I was just at Iceworks and there are a few Islanders playing 4 on 4 at a very low tempo. He's probably better off where he is for the moment if the Rangers are doing something similar.
