Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
Yesterday, New York Rangers‘ captain Ryan Callahan was asked about his young teammate Chris Kreider‘s development, in which Callahan responded by saying he is going to be good.
Well, that’s not a lot of information, but what else was he going to say?
At least it is good Callahan has faith in Kreider, who spent most of last season traveling to and from New York City and Hartford, Connecticut (between NHL and AHL), in a very disappointing first full season for Kreider.
After a brilliant 2012 postseason, where Kreider put up five goals and two assists, he only scored two goals and had one assist in his first regular season in 2013. Kreider struggled to be effective, and only played a total of 23 out of 48 lockout shortened games.
He did, however, come up with a big game four winning goal in overtime in the second round of postseason play in 2013 against the Boston Bruins to avoid elimination; even though the Blueshirts just went on to lose the series in game five.
Kreider’s ability to stand out in big games tells me that Callahan is right about Kreider, and will be a very good NHL player. He may not be great, but he should have no problem putting the puck in the back of the net with his quick release, and is now going to play in a more offensive system under Alain Vigneault.
It might take him some time to adjust, but eventually I see Kreider being one of the Rangers’ top goal scorers.
Hopefully Callahan and I are both right, and Kreider helps give Henrik Lundqvist some room to work with out on the ice and makes Hank want to stay a Ranger.
Steven Carollo is a New York Rangers’ and sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, and join his Google network.
