It took a while but the Habs made a splash of significance last weekend when they signed Chris Kreider to a one-year deal. Our writers offer up their thoughts on the signing.
Terry Costaris: Of all the Writers Weigh In’s that I’ve done, this has to be one of the toughest to put together. Consider this response as Terry thinking out loud. A stream of consciousness WWI of sorts.
I would be a hypocrite to say that I’m happy with the Kreider signing. Right now, I wish that the Canadiens hadn’t. But they did. And now, I, like many Hab fans, have to somehow learn to live with this transaction.
What Kreider did to Carey Price way back when was inexcusable. He took out Montreal’s goalie in a very promising playoff run and likely caused permanent damage to this Hall of Famer’s knees. Yes, he was a 23-year-old punk but man, oh man, that was a greasy move. So, now having him on Montreal’s roster puts a very sour taste in my mouth.
The emotional side of me then gives a hard no to this signing. What about my logical side?
If I simply look at Kreider’s signing from a “hockey perspective,” he will probably help move the needle a bit further than the beloved Brendan Gallagher could have had he stayed on the Habs this season. He may allow Montreal one more year to further “cook” one of its not yet totally ready for prime time prospects. Alternatively, my logical side says that at 35 years of age, it is possible that Mr. Kreider may be very close to his best before date.
Ok. How about both my left and right side of my brain?
Well, both Jeff Gorton and Martin St. Louis, from their New York Rangers days, know Chris Kreider better than 99.9% of us fans. Perhaps, then, I need to get my head around this fact. Maybe he’s not the villain that I believe he appears to be. Why would they welcome someone who is despised by a large chunk of the Canadiens’ fan base unless he’s not as bad a person as we’ve conditioned our minds into believing?
Further, it recently came to my understanding that Price has forgiven Kreider. If so, shouldn’t I as well? That would be the right thing to do.
And, finally, shouldn’t we consider that Kreider is brave enough to walk into this hornet’s nest, on a very team-friendly contract to boot? Is this not a form of hockey penance? Maybe he’s the prodigal undrafted son returning from the Louis Leblanc debacle.
As you can see, I’m trying! I really am.
BUT THE HABS SIGNED CHRIS KREIDER?! CHRIS KREIDER!
I’m going to need a few weeks to process this matter. I believe that many Montreal Canadiens fans feel the same way.
I now know what it must have felt like for Boston Bruins fans when Chris Nilan signed with their team.
Brian Davis: What a clever move! Like many Habs fans, I have been clamouring for a trade or a big signing all summer, looking for that missing piece to round out the top six, so the news on Saturday was a relief (and a surprise) more than anything. Then, when the dust settled, the only thing I could think was “what a move” by Kent Hughes, Gorton, and (more than likely) St. Louis to make Montreal the only destination Kreider wanted to come to. And at a steal of a price too, $2.15 million AAV before bonuses for a player who scored 50 points on a young Anaheim team.
Now the elephant in the room is the run on Price in 2014, which, yes, killed a great playoff run dead and was a terrible injury for Price. But Price himself said only last year that it was the playoffs, that it was a hockey incident and that he held no ill will for it. Habs fans had 11 years of venting their spleen at Kreider every time he stepped foot on the ice with the Rangers, booing him, abusing him. Despite all that, Kreider saw an opportunity to come to a contending team, to play in a happy locker room, to play for an old teammate, all for a chance at the Cup. So, I just hope even the more bullheaded of Habs fans listen to Price, watch him shake his hand at the Ring of Honour ceremony, and just let sleeping dogs lie.
As for the player management by management, it is so clever. Kreider will be motivated to play hard to go for the bonuses. Both top lines now have someone tough who’ll battle for the puck. They have gotten much bigger and stronger. Plus, the one-year contract means they can take a look in the summer at where Michael Hage, Alexander Zharovsky, and others are before without the worry of a contract in the way. More than that, with Dach, Anderson, and Kreider all on one-year contracts, the incentive to play hard to get another contract is huge. Moreover, if David Reinbacher doesn’t come through at camp, the Canadiens will have assets to move to get that missing piece on defence.
Allan Katz: At the end of last season, there were multiple ways for Hughes to patch up the team’s weaknesses. With two talents needed for the second line and one for a right defenceman who can play with Lane Hutson, the expectation was for the Habs to make at least one major trade to fill one position. As the summer went on, everyone from fans to media were getting frustrated as nothing seemed to be happening. But many people were forgetting how the management team operates.
They do not make trades for the sake of trades. They refuse to correct one deficit while creating a new one. They also like to be patient, like lions in a jungle, waiting for the right opportunity so they can pounce. They did this with Noah Dobson and they’ve done it with others like Zach Bolduc. They like to trade from strength, giving up assets they have an excess of so as not to hurt the team. They were not doing nothing; they were waiting to pounce. Since the team is overflowing with young, still-developing talent, the management team was willing to acquire older talent that would not cost as much and would provide a period of time for that talent to develop. Phillip Danault is a perfect example. And that’s exactly what they’ve done with Kreider.
As we know with Kreider, he was the devil incarnate. A player who not only destroyed Montreal’s best chance in years to make the Stanley Cup Final, but vaporized one of Canada’s few chances to win a Cup in the 21st Century. For this vicious crime, there is no reason for forgiveness. He did what he did and I personally had no interest in the team acquiring this monster. So now that the team has pounced on a perfect one or two-year fill-in for a position that can be filled in a few years by their youngsters, how are we supposed to react?
So, I researched the guy and unlike Stalin, Hitler, Genghis Khan, Idi Amin, Heinrich Himmler, and Vlad the Impaler, it turns out that Kreider has some positive elements in his favour. Teammates like him. He has never been in any trouble of any sort. At 35, he still has speed and an instinct for scoring and going to the net. Unlike many, many players in the past, this American actually chose Montreal for its spirit, talent, legacy, passionate fans, management, and coach. He has consistently given his best and produced throughout his career. He claims he was never intentionally trying to injure Price and, re-watching the video, seeing him being knocked over as he barrels into one of the greatest goalies of all time, it is very possible he is being honest. Price himself holds no grudge. So maybe it’s time for a reassessment.
It’s hard to say how he’ll do this year; other than his age, he is a fast player who plays with intelligence and sacrifices his body to get in front of the net.
So, let’s give him a chance. He seems to be a good egg and a perfect plug-in while we wait for Hage, Zharovsky or Gleb Pugachyov to move up and hopefully realize their potential.
Brian La Rose: Kreider certainly checks some boxes for the Habs. While he’s not the physical presence he was in his prime, he still adds a bit of thump to a top-six group that doesn’t have a ton of it. He’s not an elite skater anymore but he should be able to skate well enough to keep up. And the Habs need a net-front player. It’s something few on this group are willing to do and one of them that they had (Gallagher) is now in Vancouver.
On the other hand, this feels a bit like an imperfect fit. Kreider’s point total was inflated by his power play success, 17 points while averaging 3:15 per night on the man advantage. He’s probably not getting that type of power play time with the Canadiens. And, as more of a north-south player, how will he fit in playing with players who like to hold onto the puck and work side-to-side?
I feel like expectations need to be kept in check. I wouldn’t be expecting 50 points again this season. Extending his 20-goal streak to nine years could be tricky as the shooting opportunities may not be as prevalent and there has been a big downtick in volume already compared to just a couple of years ago. But he is an upgrade to a roster that hadn’t had any this summer on a contract that’s manageable, even if $2 million of his bonuses could be earned by the end of October once he plays in his tenth game. As far as late-summer adds go, this is a good one.
Kevin Leveille: When Kreider was bought out by the Ducks, I figured the history between the player and the team made it unlikely that Kreider would be interested in signing with the Habs. Add what many thought the salary demands would be and there was not much appetite on the Habs end either, at least that was my evaluation. This was too bad, because the fit on the ice would have been perfect! A player with a strong playoff history, a big body that makes his living in front of the opposition’s net. Could have been a perfect addition for a September signing.
Then came the news that he signed and I was immediately nervous. Signing a 35-year-old… what were the terms of the deal? Once those terms were revealed, this immediately became a slam dunk signing. This is a prove-it deal for Kreider as he shows the league that he still has that 50-point ability in him and can be an addition to this young Habs roster. The interesting thing to me is the online critics. Well, I haven’t seen one be about the contract or the player on the ice in 2026. The only question that remains is the ability for this fan base to follow in the footsteps of Price and accept that this is a player who can help this team now, no matter what happened in 2014. Living in the past is great when remembering the teams that were for the Montreal Canadiens. It is costly when considering how to win in 2026, with 31 other teams willing to do whatever it takes to get to the ultimate prize and Montreal should be no different.
Peter Longo: On the surface, there’s a lot to like about this signing. A big-bodied, skilled forward with lots of experience that didn’t cost any assets to acquire and a very reasonable short-term contract with virtually no risk. I can dream about having one big forward on every line (Juraj Slafkovsky, Kreider, Anderson, Florian Xhekaj) with punishing forechecks that wouldn’t give the opposition any shifts off. It could be a huge additional skill-set the team has never had.
But what gives me pause is not Kreider but rather Montreal’s coaching. St. Louis doesn’t do well coaching those types of players. Anderson and Gallagher are two key examples of grinding-type forwards who struggled under current Montreal coaching systems. As he had in the past, will St. Louis try to modify Kreider’s game, pushing him to move more East-West with a focus on offensive-zone perimeter puck control? This type of game isn’t what made Kreider (nor Anderson or Gallagher) successful.
So, I like the signing but it remains to be seen if the coaching staff can use Kreider effectively.
Norm Szcyrek: When I first heard about the Kreider signing, my knee-jerk reaction was WTF! However, after a little time to cool down, I thought this through. Kreider is indeed an experienced power forward who has scored at least 20 goals in each of the last eight seasons, despite missing as many as 32 games in one of those. Given his robust style, he is relatively sturdy. Over the past three seasons, he has missed an average of only seven games per season. His 22 goals and 50 points last season show he is still productive. I believe with his size, speed, and goal-scoring he will make a good addition to the second line with Ivan Demidov. When considering how well Demidov and Slafkovsky played together for a while last season, Kreider may also be moved up to the first line if the coaches decide on shaking up the top six forwards.
David Woodward: With the Kreider signing, the Canadiens acquire a top-six forward without losing any assets and committing only $2.15 million in cap space. With bonuses, Kreider could earn another $3.25 million (and we all hope he does). And the Habs are only bound to the 35-year-old for one year. Kreider’s deal is a bridge to the arrival of Hage and/or Zharovsky at a bargain-basement price. What’s not to like?
I suppose those Habs fans with long memories may invoke Kreider’s reckless transgressions in the 2014 playoffs and the devastating injury to Sir Carey that effectively sealed the Canadiens’ fate in those playoffs. To those who might hold a grudge, turn the page. It was the Habs so-called brain trust that selected Leblanc rather than Kreider in his draft year when Trevor Timmins wanted Kreider.
Did Kreider sign in Montreal due to his familiarity with Gorton and other former Rangers’ staff who now work in Montreal? I am sure that helped. However, Kreider’s signing shows that recent success – and a very capable management team with a clear plan to win and that treats players well – causes players to consider Montreal as a destination, climate, fan pressure and linguistic issues notwithstanding. The Hughes-Gorton management team and the players have created a team-first environment where winning is paramount. That is pretty attractive to an aging veteran whose time in the league is short.