{"id":351815,"date":"2025-12-12T10:41:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/351815\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T10:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:41:14","slug":"ducks-chris-kreider-viewing-return-to-garden-as-strictly-a-business-trip-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/351815\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducks\u2019 Chris Kreider viewing return to Garden as strictly a \u2018business trip\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Kreider was back on a sheet of ice in New York on Thursday morning but in no mood to reminisce.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust game day against the Islanders, man,\u201d said Kreider, the longtime Rangers forward now playing for the Ducks, when asked about his pending return to Madison Square Garden on Monday night.<\/p>\n

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That night against the Rangers will have been circled on the calendar not just for Kreider but also for Jacob Trouba, who also will face the Blueshirts for the first time since he was dealt in the middle of last season.<\/p>\n

\"Ducks<\/p>\n

Ducks left wing Chris Kreider shoots and scores an empty net goal against the Blues during the third period at Enterprise Center. Jeff Curry-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Trouba, the Rangers\u2019 former captain, wasn\u2019t in the dressing room after an optional skate for Anaheim on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

Both players were victims of the Rangers\u2019 reshuffling that occurred both during and after a catastrophic 2024-25 season in which they missed the playoffs with a 39-36-7 record following an Eastern Conference Final berth the previous season.<\/p>\n

The Rangers intended to trade Trouba in summer 2024 but held off as he didn\u2019t want to uproot his family while his wife, Dr. Kelly Tyson-Trouba, was still completing her three-year residency at a hospital in New York.<\/p>\n

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The public nature of the situation over the summer, though, seemed to affect Trouba\u2019s play, and he was moved to Anaheim last December for Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth-round pick.<\/p>\n

Kreider, a Ranger for 13 years whose No. 20 seemed destined for the MSG rafters, followed him out West in a deal that netted the Rangers a third-round pick and prospect Carey Terrance.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I had an extended summer to let it sink in and certain brush points that allowed me to adjust,\u201d said Kreider, whose natural hat trick propelled the Blueshirts to the Eastern Conference Final in 2024. \u201cGoing out there for the first time, eventually moving out there. I think the biggest thing is how great the organization has been, how great the players have been. It\u2019s definitely made it easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NHLI<\/p>\n

NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n

If nothing else, the 34-year-old Kreider has proven he has plenty left in the tank this season. Through Anaheim\u2019s first 26 games, Kreider had 13 goals and eight assists for 21 points \u2014 just nine behind his season-long total a year ago.<\/p>\n

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The Ducks, who brought a 19-10-1 record to Long Island, lead the Pacific Division and have been one of the surprise stories of the season with a 23-and-under core including Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke, Mason McTavish and Olen Zellweger.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting,\u201d former Islander Ross Johnston said. \u201cYou see new guys come in, you see young guys that have been here for two, three years, accepting roles that maybe when I first came in they weren\u2019t necessarily ready for. But they\u2019re ready for those positions now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe talent we have to score goals mixed with the veteran stuff. Some games still get away from us. We have to figure out how to lock a lead down. But that being said, those guys have accepted roles, and it\u2019s helping our team win right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Chris Kreider looks on during warm ups before the Ducks\u2019 blowout loss to the Mammoth at Honda Center on Dec. 3, 2025 in Anaheim, California. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Ducks play all three tri-state area teams on this trip, going to New Jersey on Saturday between games at the Islanders on Thursday night and at the Rangers on Monday. It\u2019s not clear what sort of reception Trouba will get at his first game back at The Garden, but it is sure to be an emotional occasion for Kreider, who made his NHL debut for the Rangers in the 2012 playoffs at age 20, straight out of Boston College.<\/p>\n

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He had no intention of divulging those emotions Thursday, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusiness trip,\u201d said Kreider, who was scoreless in the Ducks\u2019 5-2 loss to the Islanders<\/a> on Thursday night at UBS Arena. \u201cGood result in Pittsburgh [a 4-3 win Tuesday night] but not a great process for our group. So we want to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Kreider was back on a sheet of ice in New York on Thursday morning but in no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[2210,233,5292,1199,71,14275,1542,511,1739,4220,5,3124,46805,3040,5788,3153,3043,576,4,4184,1469,36,29586,1554,33,33620,8036],"class_list":{"0":"post-351815","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim-ducks","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-ducks","10":"tag-anaheimducks","11":"tag-beckett-sennecke","12":"tag-blues","13":"tag-carey-terrance","14":"tag-chris-kreider","15":"tag-cutter-gauthier","16":"tag-ducks","17":"tag-eastern-conference-final","18":"tag-hockey","19":"tag-jacob-trouba","20":"tag-kelly-tyson-trouba","21":"tag-leo-carlsson","22":"tag-madison-square-garden","23":"tag-mammoth","24":"tag-mason-mctavish","25":"tag-new-jersey","26":"tag-nhl","27":"tag-olen-zellweger","28":"tag-pittsburgh","29":"tag-rangers","30":"tag-ross-johnston","31":"tag-the-ducks","32":"tag-the-rangers","33":"tag-thursday-morning","34":"tag-urho-vaakanainen"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115706179383238516","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}