Chris Kreider was the darling of last year’s playoff run for the Rangers. So how does he get repaid when he finally gets back onto NHL ice?
With a puck in the face.
Kreider skated for the first time with close to a full ensemble of NHL teammates yesterday at the MSG Training Facility in Westchester. And during a 3-on-1 drill, he just missed taking a pass and lunged forward, where a deflection off the stick of defenseman Anton Stralman sent the puck quickly into his upper lip, necessitating three or four stitches.
“Little scratch on the lip,” the 21-year-old said jokingly. “I guess they didn’t miss me that much.”
More seriously, Kreider is getting ready for a training camp expected to open Sunday with no pretense that he has a roster spot sewn up. He played the past four months for the Connecticut Whale in the AHL, and once the new collective bargaining agreement is fully ratified, he will have to be called up to join camp.
And once that happens, all of the glory of his 18-game whirlwind tour — including two game-winning goals — will be in the past.
“Same thing as it always has been, keep my head down, work hard and try to make the team. That’s all you can do,” Kreider said. “The slate is wiped clean and you have to earn your spot.”
➤ The Rangers’ player representative, backup goalie Martin Biron, spent his first day with the team yesterday and was very level-headed about the CBA about to go into effect.
“It’s a negotiation and Don [Fehr] said from the beginning, in those type of negotiations, there’s not a winner, there’s not a loser,” Biron said. “It’s what you can live with and what can both sides live with and move forward and try to make work within their respective parties.”
Biron said he knew that the 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue was always going to happen, and that in regards to how the players made out, “no doubt it’s a better deal than it was in November or December of even New Year’s Eve.”
➤ Because the coaches are not technically allowed to be involved with the players just yet, yesterday’s practice was run by the coach of NYU’s club team, Chris Cosentino. The final 20 minutes were spent doing conditioning drills around a shortened oval — something very reminiscent of head coach John Tortorella’s usual grueling training camp.
“It felt like a regular New York Rangers practice,” said defenseman Ryan MacDonagh. “Not a lot of time between drills and high intensity.”