No one could have expected a New York Rangers team that won the Presidents' Trophy and made it six games into the Eastern Conference Final a year ago to face plant and miss the playoffs.
That's the reality of the 2024-25 Rangers, however.
Management tried to steer the ship back on course by retooling on the fly, but the team's morale never could quite get out of the dumps.
Many faces faded into the shadows this season, but among the most prominent is power forward Chris Kreider. The Rangers' longest-tenured player, who made his NHL debut at Madison Square Garden straight out of Boston College 13 years ago this month, dropped from 39 goals and 75 points to 20 goals and 25 points.
A big part of that disappearance is how the Rangers power play went from No. 4 overall last season to No. 27.
Kreider has made his name as being arguably the most prominent net-front presence in the NHL through his career. Without his knack for burying tip-in goals and rebounds, the 33-year-old has regressed into a shell of his former self.
But it hasn't only been his appearances on the scoresheet that have gone quiet, its Kreider's noticeability on the ice at all.
The franchise's all-time playoff goal leader was rumored to be in general manager Chris Drury's memo to all 31 other GMs before the trade spree that began with captain Jacob Trouba happened in December.
New York Post senior NHL columnist Larry Brooks speculates that when that news leaked, Kreider's game took a turn for the worse to deter anyone from pursuing him in a trade.
In turn, Brooks writes that the Rangers will be ready to move on from Kreider once this season concludes.
"It is time," Brooks said of Kreider's career as a Ranger. "The marriage has reached its end. Alienation of affection, perhaps? We all know they are already sleeping in separate bedrooms. The memo must have stung. The advertised healthy scratch must have stung. Kreider never addressed it. He has never addressed this season.
"Except, he probably did. Because within a week of the memo’s contents being leaked in November, Kreider sat down with a handful of reporters to detail the chronic lower back issues that had become an ongoing issue."
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