Longtime Ranger Chris Kreider signing one-year contract with Canadiens

Chris Kreider is officially back in the Eastern Conference, with the former Rangers star inking a one-year deal with the Canadiens, the team announced.

The contract is worth $2.15 million in base salary and up to $3.25 million more in possible incentives, according to The Athletic.

Kreider’s decision came down to three teams, according to TSN, and his deal with Montreal reunites him with former Blueshirts teammate Martin St. Louis — now the Canadiens’ head coach — and president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton, who was one of the Rangers’ general managers during Kreider’s stint on Broadway.

After the Ducks waived him earlier this week, reports surfaced that Kreider, who initially had a cap hit of $6.5 million for the upcoming season, wanted to return to the East Coast — and wouldn’t report to a team that he didn’t want to play for.

New York Rangers left wing Chris Kreider after the Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 on Thursday, April 17, 2025, at Madison Square Garden. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

While with the Ducks, Kreider helped lead Anaheim to an unexpected postseason berth, finishing with 50 points — 22 goals and 28 assists — and adding a veteran presence to a team with an emerging young nucleus.

But it marked a strange year for Kreider, too, as he was forced to skate for a team other than the Blueshirts for the first time in his career.

He etched his place in Rangers history with a 13-year stint that featured plenty of vintage moments, postseason runs and net-front goals on the power play.

At the time he signed off on the trade to Anaheim, Kreider was tied for the most power-play goals in Rangers history with 116 — a record now held by former linemate Mika Zibanejad with his 124 — and still holds the Blueshirts’ record for most playoff goals in a career.

Anaheim Ducks left wing Chris Kreider skates during an NHL hockey game against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. AP Photo/Kyusung Gong

“You try not to live in the past,” Kreider said before he returned to the Garden in December. “Living in the moment. It’s arrogant to think that you know what something is in that given moment. You don’t necessarily know if it’s going to be a good thing or a bad thing, so just take everything in stride and playing in the National Hockey League — it doesn’t matter where you’re playing — is a tremendous, tremendous honor.

“Obviously, playing here is incredibly special, but the Anaheim experience has been fantastic. It’s just kind of been positive on all fronts. A lot of gratitude. Just feel very lucky.”

Kreider and St. Louis were teammates for Kreider’s second and third seasons with the Blueshirts, as St. Louis arrived at the trade deadline in 2013-14 and spent his final NHL season with the Rangers in 2014-15.

The Blueshirts lost to the Kings in the Stanley Cup Final in 2014 before falling in the Eastern Conference final the following year. Now, Kreider will be on a St. Louis-coached Canadiens team — led by superstar Cole Caufield — that lost to the Hurricanes in the conference finals last season.