Chris Kreider is ready to be Rangers leader in his own way
It has never been, “Did you hear Chris?” or “Did you hear Chris!”
No, not even once, but when Alain Vigneault talked about the challenge he had laid down for Chris Kreider, the coach made a point of saying the 26-year-old winger would need to be more vocal in assuming more of a leadership role for the Rangers this season.
“AV and I have talked about his expectations for me. I think that’s the best way to put it,” Kreider told The Post before his second-period breakaway score in the Rangers’ 4-3 exhibition victory over the Devils on 18-year-old Filip Chytil’s goal with 3.5 seconds remaining in overtime at the Garden on Wednesday. “As far as me speaking up in the room, I’ve probably been in the middle of the pack.
I’m not a church mouse but I’m not the biggest rah-rah guy, either.
“I think it’s important not to try and be someone that I’m not. That would come off as disingenuous. You have to evolve organically. I’m not sure exactly what AV has said to [the media], but what he told me is that with the turnover we’ve had from year to year, I’m not a young guy in the room anymore, and that after being here for a while, it’s time for me to step up and be one of the leaders.”
A year ago, Kreider was instrumental in helping Pavel Buchnevich adapt to life in the NHL in the young Russian’s first year in North America. So certainly in that sense, No. 20 has been a mentor.
“I speak the language so it was only natural,” said Kreider, fluent in Russian. “But I am maybe more comfortable in the one-on-one relationships in the room. Again, I don’t think it’s healthy to force things. We all follow the example set by our captain. We follow Mac’s [Ryan McDonagh] lead. We have a good leadership group in here.”
In repeating his 2017-18 expectations for Kreider on Wednesday, Vigneault further defined his own concept of leadership as it applied to the winger, who memorably made his NHL and Blueshirt debut in the 2012 playoffs just over a week after leading Boston College to the NCAA championship.
“A big part of leadership is the power to influence, in my mind, anyway,” the coach said. “Chris Kreider is one of the best-conditioned athletes I’ve ever been associated with, so the way he works out and the way he prepares himself physically, he should be able to influence other guys to do the same thing.
“Now he’s more experienced, he knows the pressure of the games, of the season and of the playoffs. He has to share that experience with his younger teammates. And like I’ve said, there are no excuses. It’s those guys’ [Kreider, J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes] time to take a bigger role in our dressing room.”
Ultimately, though, players lead by example. They lead by performing and producing. Kreider is no different. The chiseled 6-foot-3, 228-pounder led the Rangers with a personal-best 28 goals last season (a jump of seven from the previous two years), which tied for 19th among NHL wings, but the overwhelming consensus is Kreider has more to give.
There were just too many games in which you did not see Chris.
“I don’t know if that is a backhand compliment or not, but I put more pressure on myself than anyone from the outside can put on me,” the eternally internalizing Kreider said. “But if the coach tells me that I need to do more, I’m not going to sulk. Just the opposite. I’m amped up by that. That excites me.
“I think I’ve gotten better every season but I also believe that I am capable of doing more for this team, and I’m not talking only about my goal-scoring or statistics. I’m approaching this season with the objective of making an impact in every game whether I score or not.
“I want to get in on the defense and make my presence known, physically. I think as a group of forwards, whether it’s Millsy playing with an edge or Grabs [Michael Grabner] intimidating the D with his speed, we all have the ability and responsibility to make an impact in different ways.”
There is no doubt the baton is being passed to a younger generation of Blueshirts who will set the standard for the even younger guys such as Chytil, Lias Andersson, Neal Pionk, Anthony DeAngelo and Alexei Bereglazov.
“You want to have a group of leaders, not a group of followers,” Kreider said. “Right?”
Right. And among those leaders must be Kreider, whose time it is to be seen and heard.