New York Rangers’ Chris Kreider to play in AHL despite showing impressive performance in NHL playoffs
Chris Kreider, a professional ice hockey player from USA and forward of New York Rangers, who play in Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in National Hockey League (NHL), would have to play in American Hockey League (AHL) even after top performance
in top league of the world.
One of the very few players, who became a success after making their debut in NHL playoffs, without playing in the regular season games, 21-year-old broke record for most goals scored in playoffs without playing the regular season.
Kreider started playing National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for Boston University in Hockey East (HE) conference in 2009-2010. He had a good start to his career as he scored 17 goals and 9 assists for total of 26 points in the very first season
and also won a gold medal with Team USA in World Junior Championships.
The Boxford, Massachusetts born player followed it up with another impressive performance as he scored 11 goals and 13 assists for a total of 24 points in 32 games, a performance which earned him a call from senior international team of US.
A year later he managed to score at an average of more than one point per game as he got 23 goals, 22 assists for and total of 45 points in 44 games. He also scored 6 points in 6 games as he got 4 goals and 2 assists in World Junior Championship where he
was a Bronze Medal winner with Team US.
A first round selectee from 2009 NHL Draft by New York Rangers, selected at 19th overall, could not play until playoffs began and made his NHL debut against Ottawa Senators on 16th April after signing a 3 year deal with the team.
He showed great performance as he featured in 18 games and scored 5 goals and 2 assists for total of 7 points, which helped Rangers reach conference finals.
But now he would have to play in AHL but the 6-foot-3, 230 pounder does not look disappointed as he thinks that playing the minor league would also help him, as he said,
“It’s still hockey. I don’t look at it like that. It’s still a huge jump up from where I played most of last year. I have to be ready and mentally focused.”
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