Chris Kreider says Rangers' locker room has 'frustration, angst, tension,' but thinks it can make them stronger

RALEIGH, N.C. — Chris Kreider doesn’t go out of his way to talk a lot to reporters. But on Wednesday morning, two days after reports leaked that his name and captain Jacob Trouba’s were among those put on the trading block by general manager Chris Drury, Kreider was willing to talk.

And he had a lot to say.

First, after he took part in the Rangers’ optional morning skate prior to their game against the Carolina Hurricanes, Kreider revealed — unprompted — that it was back spasms that kept him out of the lineup Monday against St. Louis and again Wednesday against the Hurricanes.

“My back locked up on me,’’ he said. “Sacrum. Two games back, it was lumbar, and then during training camp it was thoracic. So three independent, annoying things. So we're working on it, and we've done a couple things to remedy it so it doesn't happen anymore.’’

Since the Rangers’ organizational policy regarding injuries is to describe them only as upper- or lower-body injuries, Kreider’s giving out that kind of detail was almost defiant.

But regarding the firestorm surrounding the team after reports surfaced Monday that Drury had sent a memo to all 31 other NHL GMs saying he was looking to ship out some veteran players, Kreider downplayed their effect on him. Asked if the reports hurt his feelings, he didn’t say no.

“So, we shouldn't trivialize people's feelings, but how you feel doesn't affect your ability to be something that you've done for the entirety of your life, unless you let it,’’ he said. “I know there's guys in here will say there's games where they come in and they feel great, and they don't play well. There's games where … either they're sick, maybe they're banged up, and all of a sudden, the puck's following them around. So [the] body knows what to do. You’ve just got to kind of get out of your own way and let it do it.’’

Kreider said he has spoken to Drury but declined to characterize the conversation.

“Yeah. I mean, there's always conversations … regardless of what point we're at in the season, about a bunch of different things,’’ he said. “Obviously, that's between me and the general manager and the coach and my line mates, my teammates and the training staff, right?’’

The Rangers entered Wednesday 12-7-1 overall, but having lost three straight games and going 4-5 over the past nine. Kreider is tied for ninth in scoring on the team with nine points – nine goals and no assists. But his line, with longtime center and friend Mika Zibanejad and newcomer Reilly Smith, has not had the kind of impact it was counted on to have. And right now, the power play, which is usually one of the very best in the NHL, has not produced a goal in six straight games, going 0-for-10 in that span.

With their recent struggles, and now the disturbing trade speculation, the locker room is an uncomfortable place right now, and though the rest of the team is following the same script when talking about the mood in the room — “I think we just try to focus on what we can control,’’ Zibanejad said. "All the noise [we] try to keep that out,’’ — Kreider was willing to address it.

“What is the feeling in the room? I mean, I think it's pretty obvious,’’ Kreider said. “There's frustration, angst, tension. Good. You know, we're 20 games in. Let's go through the [struggle] now, figure out who we are. We had the best regular season in the history of [the] franchise last year, won a President's Trophy, and didn't go as far as we would have liked. We're getting exposed right now. Our warts are out there, and teams are picking on the things that we don't do well, and we've gotten away from things we do do well.

“So we don't necessarily know what this is right now, right? This could be just part of the story,’’ he said. “We [could] look back at this and say this made us better.’’

Blue notes 

Both Kreider and Filip Chytil (upper-body injury) took part in the optional skate, but neither dressed. Chytil missed his sixth straight game … With Matt Rempe sent back to AHL Hartford, Jonny Brodzinski drew back into the lineup … Coach Peter Laviolette said the optional skate, which followed an optional practice Tuesday, was a nod to the team being in a stretch of nine games in 16 days. “There's back-to-back one o'clock games [and] it's the start of three and four. But I think just making sure that we have the energy.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.