Steve Serby

Steve Serby

NHL

Leetch: Confident Kreider has been Rangers’ difference maker

Brian Leetch can see these Rangers believe in Henrik Lundqvist every bit as much as his Cup champion Rangers believed in Mike Richter 20 glorious springs ago, and he knows an elite goaltender is essential to a Stanley Cup dream. But in his view, it is Chris Kreider who has been the other straw that has stirred the drink.

“With that size and that power and that skating, and he came in running, if he’d been trying to get his conditioning and his legs back, I don’t think he’d have the impact that he’s had and that he’s having right now,” Leetch said. “I think he’s made that big a difference on the line, and then dominoes go from there with the forwards.”

Leetch said Kreider’s skill set is a combination of many great players.

“He skates with the speed of like a smaller guy, like a [Pavel] Bure, or a [Teemu] Selanne when he first came in, that quick burst and damn, he’s gone,” Leetch said. “But he’s 230 pounds, and you watched … guys are mad at him for falling into [Canadiens goalie Carey] Price and taking him out, but there’s only a couple of guys on that team that can actually take a run at him and not feel the effects of trying to run into him.

“He’s a big man, and his shot and his release are excellent, and this year’s been a big breakthrough for him confidence-wise too, about how to play a game, and what he can do in the NHL and where he belongs.”

Leetch also said nobody messes with Kreider.

Kreider crashes into Canadiens goalie Carey Price in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, a collision that would lead to Price leaving the game — and the series.AP

“No, instead of guys running full speed and trying to run into him, they kind of do the pull up, because they’ve run into him already couple of times and said, ‘Oh, that doesn’t feel good,’ you know?” Leetch said with a chuckle. “There’s a base there. I remember running into a few guys like that, and you learn pretty quick like, ‘That is not the guy to run into full speed if he sees me coming.’ You see guys let up a little bit, or they try and take the angle or rub him off, but there’s not a lot of guys trying to run full speed into him.”

Kreider has been instant intimidation since his return from a broken hand.

“Before, in the last couple of years, he would not demand position in front of the net,” Leetch said. “He’d come in and out, and he’d try and make a play or get open. But now he knows he can stand in there physically, and he can score goals around the net as well as off the wing. It’s been fun to watch. You never know when guys have talent, and they have everything.

“We’ve all seen in every sport whether certain times they click or whether they don’t and then you don’t make that transition. But it’s been fun to watch him this year make the jump.”

Kreider’s return has been invaluable for Rick Nash, in particular.

“I think just having Kreider back is just huge for him and for the whole team,” Leetch said.

Nash was supposed to be an immediate impact player when general manager Glen Sather traded for him, but Leetch said he believes the big forward still can be a force.

“I thought that he was probably the type of player that they needed — size and skill and scoring, a gamebreaker with size and skill,” Leetch said. “Having to give up so much always hurts, ’cause they’d been developing younger players in the core group, and they were really a tight-knit, hard group to play against, and they’d showed a lot of promise. At the time, honestly, I thought it was the right move, and I thought he was the type of player that was needed on the team.”

Maybe now he can be.

“He’s had a lot of ups and downs with the Rangers, from injury-wise, and in trying to get back on track,” Leetch said. “That confidence is such a big thing. He’s trying out there. He’s going to benefit for sure having Kreider back, and we’ve seen it already.”