Canadiens Need Kreider to Lead Even When He Isn’t Scoring

Not long ago, virtually no one in Montreal would have had kind words to say about forward Chris Kreider. Long-time supporters will recall – with a shiver – his collision with goaltender Carey Price in Game 1 of the 2014 Eastern Conference Final that turned that series on its head. Lo and behold, he signed a one-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens this past September. Bygones would be bygones if Kreider could strengthen the roster’s top six. But it hasn’t really been the case. Let’s dive in.

Kreider’s Numbers With the Canadiens

11 matches is not much to go on in comparison to his highly productive 13 seasons with the New York Rangers, from 2012-13 through 2024-25. That included a pair of All-Star selections in 2019-20 and 2021-22 – although he replaced injured teammate Artemi Panarin for the 2019-20 contest. 

In 2026-27, he has so far netted once and added a trio of assists for four points. He’s also a minus-1. Looking at his stats compared to those of his teammates with data from Hockey Reference, he has only shot the puck nine times on goal. Alexandre Carrier has fired it 12 times, Mike Matheson 12, and Kaiden Guhle 10 times. The thing is, they’re defencemen. And Guhle has played seven contests because he was still recovering from an injury at the start of the campaign. Guhle also has two goals to Kreider’s one.

Those are the simple numbers. The ones most casual fans will glance at. Things get even more interesting with data like expected goals for (xGF), Corsi, and the like.

His Corsi for (CF%) is 49.6 percent. That’s not the worst figure imaginable, except that it still means the Corsi numbers favour, if only slightly, the opposition when he’s on the ice. Furthermore, he is one of only three Canadiens who have played 11 games with a CF% below 50 percent. The two others are Kirby Dach (46 percent) and his own linemate Alex Newhook (48.7 percent). Fans might feel a gut punch when considering just how good Newhook was last season in limited action.

With respect to lines and xGF, the Kreider-Newhook-Josh Anderson trio ranks third out of all lines with 3.3. It looks okay until one notices that the third line (Alexandre Tessier-Phillip Danault-Zachary Bolduc) is way ahead with 4.8. It also has far and away the worst xGA on the team at 4.3.

The Anaheim Ducks Might Have Guessed Right

The reality is that the Boxford, Massachusetts native is 35 years old. He can still play, no doubt about it, but perhaps expectations should have been tempered from the start.

One wonders if the Anaheim Ducks saw a decline in productivity on the horizon. As specified when the news of Kreider joining Montreal broke, Anaheim terminated the forward’s contract. Moreover, he was sent to waivers, with no other club picking him up.

Funnily enough, his 2025-26 season in California wasn’t that bad. He partook in 75 contests, tallying 50 points by way of 22 goals and 28 assists. Those contributions played a role in the Ducks earning a postseason berth for the first time since 2017-18. He even put up seven points in the playoffs as the Ducks made it to the second round (two goals and five helpers).

And yet the Ducks organization saw fit to part ways. 35 is a touchy age in professional sports, especially a contact-heavy one like hockey. They can’t all be Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, and maybe, just maybe, the Ducks saw what loomed.

The Productivity With the Rangers Is Recent

The flip side of the coin is that Kreider’s glory years in New York were not long ago. 

He lit the red lamp a whopping 52 times in 2021-22. Although he has never replicated that figure since, he surpassed 35 goals in both the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns with 36 and 39, respectively. He also scored in the vicinity of 25 goals in three other seasons with the Rangers. Clearly, Kreider can be an offensive weapon. 

Simple math suggests that, given his lone marker in 11 contests, if he plays all 84 this season, he’ll tally 7.63 goals. Round it up to eight. His total of four points thus far would multiply to 30.52. That would be 20 points fewer than last season, which itself was among his least productive.

To be clear, things can change, and we’re basing this on cold, hard numbers and arithmetic. Maybe Kreider goes on a hot streak. Maybe he hasn’t settled in Montreal yet. Maybe Anderson and Newhook are not the linemates he needs. That’s a lot of maybes, but they do need to be considered.

Kreider Could be a Leader for the Canadiens

If he isn’t going to lead the club with points – not literally the points leader but among the best players – then he can lead with the little things.

Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki have played in a Stanley Cup Final in 2021, but they were young. They still are young, and a lot has happened in the five interim seasons, much of it bad. Kreider can be a powerful voice in the dressing room and on the bench when the times get tough. Right about now would be good, even though Montreal has won two in a row as they head into action on Oct. 27. Suzuki will still be out for several weeks. Kreider could be a leader who steps in. 

Even though Montreal has only signed him to a one-year deal, and his pay is on the lower end of the scale, he’s still taking up a roster spot. Whether a player is 19, 26, or 35, they need to earn their place. So far in Montreal, it’s very debatable whether Kreider has. But experience often speaks volumes. He can put his to extremely good use.