Kreider deflecting credit to Rangers teammates for best season in NHL
Forward has helped New York to 30 wins, emerged as candidate for Rocket Richard Trophy
This is where personal achievements are celebrated, where team accomplishments are set aside for a few days to fete the best in the NHL through the first half-plus of the season.
Nope. Not with the New York Rangers forward.
He's asked if he thinks he's playing the best hockey of his life at 31 years old and in his ninth full NHL season. Kreider smiles and deflects to the Rangers, who are third in the Metropolitan Division, fifth in the Eastern Conference and sixth in the NHL.
"It seems things are certainly going pretty well, and at the same time things are going very well for our team," Kreider said. "A rising tide can lift all ships. To me, if you have team success, everyone looks good."
He's asked what it's like, at the time, to be leading the NHL with 33 goals in 47 games (he is now tied for first with Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl).
"It's helping us win hockey games," he answers.
The Rangers (30-13-4) will look for another win when they host the Boston Bruins on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, MSG, NESN, ESPN+, NHL LIVE), their first game since Feb. 1.
Kreider will continue to redirect questions about himself like he does on many of his goals, but as a first-time 30-goal scorer, he is the unlikely candidate for the Rocket Richard Trophy, given to the leading goal scorer at the end of the season, in a pack of usual suspects.
Draisaitl has finished in the top four of the goal-scoring race in each of the past three seasons.
Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, third in the NHL with 32 goals, won the Rocket Richard Trophy last season with 41 goals in 52 games. He was third in 2019-20 and in 2016-17.
Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, fourth with 29 goals and fourth in NHL history with 759, is a nine-time Rocket Richard winner.
But Kreider had never scored more than 28 goals in a season, never more than 11 on the power play. He has an NHL-high 17 with the man-advantage this season.
"I play with some incredible players and they're setting me up to tap the puck in," Kreider said. "It's my job and I'll continue to try to do that."
Steven Stamkos has played against Kreider enough through the past decade to have perspective. The Tampa Bay Lightning forward is also a bit of an expert on the subject. He won the Rocket Richard Trophy twice and is the last player to score 60 goals in one NHL season (2011-12).
"We've seen the speed and the strength and the ability to score goals for a long time now," Stamkos said. "Then you add in some pretty great playmakers in [Artemi] Panarin and [Mika] Zibanejad and [Ryan] Strome and the power play is going real well. That's where you can see the progression. He's always had the ability of being able to put a season like he is together."
Toss in Adam Fox, the Norris Trophy winner voted as best defenseman in the NHL last season, with Panarin, Zibanejad and Strome, and Kreider has arguably never been on a power play with the collection of talent like the Rangers have now.
They're fourth in the NHL at 25.9 percent.
"Yeah, but the good thing for us is the guy that's hot is in front of the net," Strome said. "Our struggles on the power play have come from being too much on the perimeter or passing the puck too much and not shooting. But when that guy is hot in front of the net, obviously it's easier to funnel pucks there more, which is a good sign for us and for him because he's so good at it. You want to always find the hot hand and it's a great thing that it's in front of the net."
Kreider has been in front or around the net on the Rangers power play for years. It's just that he's been a different player in that area this season, Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux said.
"He finds ways to get open around the net," Giroux said. "I mean, that's a talent by itself, to be able to have body position, be able to find the loose pucks."
Said Strome: "He doesn't overcomplicate his game. He keeps it simple with the five or six things he does and he's really good at them. Probably some of the best in the League in a few of those categories. Find him because he knows where to be."
Kreider has scored 12 goals in 10 games since Jan. 13, most in the NHL since then.
He didn't score against the Bruins in the Rangers' first game against them, a 5-2 win at TD Garden on Nov. 26, but he's scored against 19 of the 27 teams the Rangers have played this season, with four goals each against the Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets.
"When you're hot, you're hot," Stamkos said. "He's got great speed, but he's so strong on the puck and tough to move in front of the net. He knows where to go and he's getting rewarded."
