Rangers left wing Chris Kreider sets before a face-off against...

Rangers left wing Chris Kreider sets before a face-off against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third period of an NHL game at Madison Square Garden on March 9. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke

The trade of Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday was jarring, no doubt, given that Kreider was the longest-tenured Rangers player, the franchise’s third-leading regular-season goal-scorer and the club’s No. 1 postseason goal-scorer.

But the move certainly had been expected ever since that memo from general manager Chris Drury to the rest of the league listing Kreider and then-captain Jacob Trouba as being on the trading block leaked in November.

As soon as the Rangers’ miserable 2024-25 season was over, Drury had a long summer to-do list to attack to try to get them back into the playoffs next season. Job No. 1 was addressing the coaching situation, which he did when he fired Peter Laviolette two days after the season ended and hired his dream coach, Mike Sullivan, two weeks later.

Trading Kreider was Job No. 2. Drury needed to get as much of Kreider’s $6.5 million salary cap hit off the books as he could to create room under the salary cap to sign his 11 restricted free agents and maybe bring in a player or two to freshen up the roster. Anaheim took the entire hit and sent the Rangers a promising 20-year-old prospect, Carey Terrance, plus a pick swap that gives them an additional third-round pick in this month’s draft.

In his introductory Zoom call with the Anaheim media, Kreider — who revealed he had surgery to repair the hand fracture he suffered during the season — said Drury had been open with him about his desire to move him. Kreider said the Ducks were on his 15-team no-trade list but had given Drury the go-ahead to talk to Anaheim and was willing to waive his no-trade clause after doing his due diligence. That included talking to former teammates Trouba, Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano as well as Trevor Zegras, a Westchester County native who is one of his training partners in the summer.

Still, he said, leaving New York, where he said he “grew up,’’ was difficult.

“I think I probably went through the spectrum — anger, sadness, grief, whatever you want to call it — but I keep on arriving at gratitude, for how I was treated, the opportunities I was given, for the connections I was able to make, the friendships, the experiences I was able to have,’’ he said.

“I spent a childhood in the Boston area, went to school there, but I feel like I came into adulthood in the City of New York, became a man and matured and grew up, started a family. A lot of emotions, but at the end of the day, just so much gratitude and appreciation.’’

So what comes next?

With Kreider gone, Drury can get on with all the other business he’s got to take care of.

First, there are all those restricted free agents who need new contracts, the most notable being defenseman K’Andre Miller and wingers Will Cuylle, Matt Rempe and Adam Edstrom. Miller, Edstrom, Zac Jones, Arthur Kaliyev and Matthew Robertson have arbitration rights.

With the cap space he now has — between $15 million and $17 million available under the NHL’s $95.5 million cap for 2025-26 — Drury probably should get to work signing some of his RFAs and not risk having them sign offer sheets with other teams. Cuylle, who built on a solid rookie season with an even better second year, might be a target for an offer sheet, as might Rempe and/or Edstrom.

There also were reports that the Rangers had put Miller’s name out there as being available for trade, so maybe now would be the time to take care of that before free agency begins July 1. That way, when the free-agent signing period begins, Drury would know what the roster needs and how much money he has available to spend.

Pick now, or later?

There’s also the decision about what to do with their first-round pick in the June 27 NHL Draft. The Rangers traded the pick to Vancouver as part of the J.T. Miller deal and Vancouver moved it to Pittsburgh at the trade deadline in the deal to get Marcus Petterson. The pick is No. 12 overall but was top 13-protected, so the Rangers have the option to keep it and give the Penguins their first-rounder in 2026 instead.

The thing is, no one can predict where next year’s pick will be. If the Rangers have a bounce-back year under Sullivan — and remember, they’ve had great first years under their last two new coaches, Gerard Gallant and Laviolette — they could make the playoffs and advance, and next summer’s pick could be in the 20s. (Or, in a best-case scenario, No. 32, if they win the Stanley Cup!)

But if they end up being as bad as last season or worse, next year’s pick could be a lottery pick again, and what if it ends up being No. 1?

The Rangers have to let the Penguins know 48 hours before the draft if they are keeping the pick or handing it over.

One last question

Getting back to K’Andre Miller for a minute, is it really prudent to trade a 25-year-old defenseman entering his prime who clearly is the second-best defenseman on the roster? Especially when your team is thin on quality lefthanded defensemen and is trying to find a suitable partner for Adam Fox on the top pair.

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