Chris Kreider makes his feelings known on trade rumors, calls out Rangers' form 

New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider has voiced his frustration over trade rumors and the team's poor performances this season. The Rangers are 12-8-1 after four straight defeats, including a 4-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night.

Kreider, the 33-year-old veteran, was scratched for two straight games right after his name came up in trade discussions initiated by Rangers GM Chris Drury. That led many to speculate that Kreider was being shopped, but he clarified that he was out with back spasms.

"Shouldn't trivialize someone's feelings, but how you feel doesn't affect your ability to do something that you've done for the entirety of your life – unless you let it," Chris Kreider said as per NYpost.

"I think it's pretty obvious there's frustration, angst, tension. Good. We're 20 games in. Let's go through this s--t now and figure out who we are."

The Rangers are struggling after a successful 2023-24 season where they won the Presidents' Trophy. Kreider believes that the team is being "exposed" and needs to figure things out quickly.

"We had the best regular season in the history of an Original Six franchise last year, won a Presidents' Trophy and didn't go as far as we would've liked. We're getting exposed right now," he said bluntly.

Kreider acknowledged having conversations with Drury amidst the trade rumors, as the GM has likely been meeting players due to all the speculation.

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Chris Kreider remains optimistic despite poor start

Chris Kreider remains optimistic despite his poor start to the season with the New York Rangers. The veteran winger has just nine goals and no assists, a disappointing output, but Kreider believes that the Rangers can turn things around.

Acknowledging that the team's weaknesses have been exposed, he said:

"Our warts are out there and teams are picking on the things we don’t do well and we’ve gotten away from the things we do do well. We don’t necessarily know what this is right now, right? This could just be part of the story. We look back at this and say, ‘This made us better.’ ”

The veteran remains upbeat, knowing that the struggles now may pay dividends down the road.