ANAHEIM, Calif. – It didn’t take long for Chris Kreider to win over certain portions of the Anaheim Ducks fanbase in his introductory teleconference following a trade of the longtime New York Ranger to Orange County on Thursday.

“To come into a group like the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, or is it just the Ducks now?” Kreider said. “We’ll keep the ‘Mighty’ in there.”

It’s Kreider’s own “mighty” tendencies that made him an attractive target for Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek, as he seeks to address Anaheim’s goalscoring woes and even more woeful power play unit this offseason.

“He’s a force in front of the net,” Verbeek said. “I think that he’s going to be an unreal example to all our young guys of how to score goals in tough situations. Be that playoffs, scoring in tight to the net, deflections, rebound goals.
I just think that he’s going to be a shining example for all our young guys in that area.”

Even in a down year for Kreider hampered by injury and team drama, the 34-year-old’s 22 total goals and six power play goals with the Rangers would have tied for team leads in Anaheim. The Ducks posted the third-worst goal total in the NHL along with a league-worst power play last season.

Verbeek also noted Kreider’s vaunted skating ability, which is a treat on his 6-foot-3, 230-pound frame that brings size, strength and reach to be an effective penalty killer and forechecker.

All in all, Kreider is a more than adequate fit for the immediate future of the Ducks, as Anaheim tries to shape itself back into a playoff contender under new coach Joel Quenneville.

“If you talk to Joel, we want to play fast and we want to play heavy, and he provides two of those elements right off the bat,” Verbeek said. “We want to be a fast team, and we want to hunt pucks, and Chris has the ability to be able to put incredible pressure down ice with his forecheck and also on the PK.”

What made Anaheim a near-perfect fit for Kreider, enough to waive a 15-team no-trade clause and move to a new team for the first time in his 13-year career, is his familiarity with the Ducks’ locker room,

From former Rangers teammates Jacob Trouba, Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano to offseason training partner Trevor Zegras, Kreider kept tabs on Anaheim more than other teams out west and heard plenty about the rising promise of the Ducks core.

“I think whether or not they were doing it on purpose, I think that they had a lot of positive things that would sell you on the organization and the team,” Kreider said. “They’ve really enjoyed their time there. They really like the group they have. They’re really excited about the opportunity that they have. They think they’ve got a fantastic group and an opportunity to compete and to win hockey games and to make a little noise. And I agree with them.”

Kreider knows that veterans as either teammates or foes, like Alex Killorn. He has closely followed Cutter Gauthier as a former Boston College Eagle. Kreider said he had heard “terrific things” about Mason McTavish and met him a couple times through Zegras.

Kreider said he’d also spoken a bit with good friend and Rangers teammate Mika Zibanejad about his Swedish countryman Leo Carlsson and came away with a glowing review.

“For being that young and for being able to do some of the things that he can do,” Kreider said, “those kind of players, those are… Every team doesn’t have a player like that. He’s a very special player.”

And then there’s the previously mentioned Zegras, the New York native who has been working out with and looking up to Kreider since Zegras was 10 years old. 

As Kreider told Alexis Downie on the team’s Ducks Stream podcast, the gym where the two train in the offseason is lined with jerseys of the pro hockey players that have trained there, and Zegras had already pasted a note of “Quack, Quack, Quack” on Kreider’s jersey on Thursday morning.

“He comes in with a whole lot of energy. I always say that he was born caffeinated,” Kreider said. “He is high energy and he’s a lot of fun, and he’s got a ton of talent. He energizes a room, and he’s fun to be around.”

What Kreider sees in front of him now is opportunity–opportunity to get healthy and an opportunity to bounce back and contribute.

Whether it was deep playoff runs or trips to the World Championships, Kreider said he never really had an extended offseason to fully recuperate and prepare for training camp, which will be even more important for him coming off a season full of derailments.

Early in the season, Kreider dealt with back spasms, which he said “we were looking in the wrong place” for how to deal with them. He later reportedly suffered an illness that led to a bout with vertigo, and following his Team USA duty at the 4 Nations Face-Off, Kreider broke his hand, which he said he “didn’t deal with particularly well.”

With his future sorted, Kreider said he feels good now and is ready to tackle his offseason.

“I ended up having six months to get myself healthy and to be ready to show up to training camp in great shape and help the team win hockey games,” Kreider said. “I feel like my best hockey is ahead of me.”