- Anaheim is placing Chris Kreider on waivers to terminate the last year of his deal
- Kreider wants to head back east and won’t report to a team he doesn’t pick
- Read below for how the move ties into Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier standoff
Chris Kreider’s stay in Anaheim lasted one season.
The Ducks are placing the veteran winger on waivers Wednesday for the purpose of terminating the final year of his contract, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported. Kreider signed off on the whole thing.
He had one season left at a $6.5 million cap hit, the tail end of the seven-year extension he signed with the Rangers in February 2020. Clear waivers and he is an unrestricted free agent.
Friedman also laid out what Kreider wants out of this:
“According to several sources, Kreider has indicated he desires to return east, closer to family where he spent the first 13 years of his career, and will not report if claimed somewhere he prefers not to play.”
Cap math drove this. Anaheim matched Philadelphia’s offer sheet on Leo Carlsson at $18 million a year rather than hand over their No. 1 center for a pile of first-rounders, and that decision had to get paid for somewhere on the roster.
Cutter Gauthier is still unsigned. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reported that Connor Bedard’s $15 million extension in Chicago is the comparable getting pointed at in those talks.
Anaheim sat at roughly $9 million in space before Wednesday, nowhere near a $15 million number. Kreider’s $6.5 million covers almost the entire gap, which is the roster surgery Friedman flagged last week.
What the Ducks give up here is a real player. Kreider scored 22 goals and put up 50 points in 75 games last season, fifth on the team, and Anaheim reached the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
He added seven points in the postseason while the Ducks knocked off the Oilers for their first series win in nine years.
Now 35, Kreider sits at 348 goals and 632 points in 958 games, and he is two years removed from a 39-goal season. Every Eastern contender with cap room gets a shot at a former 50-goal scorer for nothing but money.
