Canadiens’ signing of Chris Kreider was a good move, even if he’s hated in Montreal

Listen, I get it.

For more than a decade, Montreal Canadiens fans have blamed Chris Kreider for halting what was the franchise’s best path to a Stanley Cup since 1993. Carey Price was at the height of his powers, a dominant player in the NHL, and Kreider was seen as the one who put an end to all of that.

I was in the room at the Canadiens’ practice facility on the morning of May 18, 2014, one day after that fateful collision in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final, when Michel Therrien told the hockey world Price was done for the series. It was as if time stopped in the city. And, in many ways and for many fans, it has remained that way ever since.

Kreider is a villain in this city. He has been ever since that fateful game, especially since Price was never quite the same.

But a dozen years have passed, and today, there is little doubt the addition of Kreider makes the Canadiens a better team. What happened in 2014 is irrelevant. The Canadiens are a vastly different team, Kreider is a vastly different player, and what is more important than what happened 12 years ago is what’s possible right now, in 2026.

Here are some of the reasons Kreider, who signed a one-year deal with Montreal on Saturday, should make fans happy and not angry.

Experience

Before Kreider, whose contract is worth $2.15 million with performance bonuses that can take it up to $5.4 million, the Canadiens were a hair away from remaining the youngest team in the NHL. Only the Chicago Blackhawks were younger.

For a team that hopes to go deep in the playoffs, this is not ideal.

The pre-Christmas acquisition of Phillip Danault last season was meant to address the lack of experience and the difference between aspiration and acquired knowledge of what playoff hockey is all about.

Not only does Kreider increase the Canadiens’ average age, he immediately vaults to the top of their list in playoff experience by a mile.

Kreider has never won a Stanley Cup, but he’s played a lot of playoff games with a playoff style. In the last five years, Kreider has played 55 playoff games and put up 26 goals and 18 assists.

Size and speed

Kreider may be listed at 6 feet 3 and 232 pounds, but he is not a particularly physical player. Last season, he was credited with 69 hits in 75 games, which would have ranked No. 7 among Canadiens forwards.

But the combination of that size with Kreider’s speed makes him an enticing player for how the Canadiens want to play. And the combination of that speed with his playoff experience addresses something sorely lacking against the Carolina Hurricanes in last season’s Eastern Conference final.

Yes, the Hurricanes pounded the Canadiens’ defence on the forecheck. But what was lacking from the Canadiens’ forwards in that environment was the poise to use their speed. Kreider should help with that. Even at age 35, his speed last season stacked up pretty well compared to the Canadiens’ returning forwards, according to NHL Edge data.

More than a rugged bruiser, the Canadiens need to add size while not sacrificing speed. Kreider brings that, even at his age.

Role and fit

The Canadiens have been on the hunt for a top-six winger all summer, and Kreider played that role last season with the Anaheim Ducks, riding shotgun with Leo Carlsson and Troy Terry on the top line for most of the season. One difference in Montreal will be that Kreider is unlikely to get top power-play time with that unit essentially set. Still, he will strengthen the second unit significantly, perhaps enough to make coach Martin St. Louis consider balancing the power-play time more than he did last season.

The hole Kreider was signed to fill is clearly on the second line with Ivan Demidov and, in all likelihood, Alex Newhook. With Kreider’s longtime ability to excel around the net-front area — he was in the 93rd percentile of NHL forwards in high-danger shots at all strengths last season — he should be a good complement on that line.

But even if Kreider does not stick there, hie net-front ability essentially makes him a replacement for Brendan Gallagher because the skill sets match up pretty well. But the big difference is that Kreider has the speed to keep up on a line with Newhook and Demidov if he indeed winds up with that duo. If not, he still increases the Canadiens’ overall team speed, which Gallagher did not.

If Kreider is viewed as a second-line solution and only that, it is certainly possible he could wind up a disappointment. But if he is viewed as a replacement for Gallagher who could also potentially play in the top six, Kreider is a clear upgrade over what the Canadiens had last season.

The contract

The real beauty of the Kreider acquisition is that the Canadiens got him for only one year at a minimal cap hit. If Kreider hits all of his bonuses, that means he will have played some great hockey and no one is likely to complain, even if it causes a bonus overage that spills into next season. That’s when the Canadiens have significant money coming off the books with the contracts of Josh Anderson, Sam Montembeault, Alexandre Carrier, Danault and others expiring.

If the Canadiens had been forced to give Kreider term on his contract, the signing would have been to criticize. As it stands, this one-year contract is criticism proof. And more broadly, it speaks to Jeff Gorton achieving a day one goal he spelled out when he took over the Canadiens’ hockey operations in fall 2021.

Gorton stated that day he wanted to make Montreal a destination again, and that would be done only by building a team that gives players an opportunity to win. Yes, Kreider’s history with Gorton and St. Louis from his days in the New York Rangers’ organization was clearly a factor in his signing with Montreal, but he would not have done so, and would not have accepted a one-year contract, if he didn’t believe he had a chance to win there.

It is fitting that Kreider, a player Gorton has had a hand in signing to every NHL contract he’s ever signed, would be the one to signal that Gorton has achieved that goal.