Chris Kreider: Several teams wanted to claim him off waivers

Vincent Larue
Chris Kreider: Several teams wanted to claim him off waivers
Credit: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

When Chris Kreider cleared waivers unclaimed on Thursday, it was easy to believe that no team wanted to take on his contract.

As it turned out, that was far from the case.

According to Pierre LeBrun at The Athletic, four or five teams were genuinely interested in claiming Kreider off waivers before his contract with the Ducks was terminated.

That's still a lot.

The veteran accounted for $6.5 million on the payroll, but only $4 million in actual salary was still owed to him. That detail reportedly caught the attention of several teams.

There was, however, a problem.

According to LeBrun, Kreider's agents, Matt and Ryan Keator, reportedly strongly discouraged those teams from claiming him. Chris Kreider wanted to choose his next destination himself once he became a free agent.

In other words, it wasn't the market that decided Kreider would go through waivers. His camp clearly played a major role in the outcome.

We already knew that Kreider wanted to return to the East to be closer to his family and that he would have refused to report to a team where he didn't want to play.

But learning that four or five teams were actually willing to claim him does change the way we view his time on waivers.

Kreider was clearly not a player that no one wanted at $6.5 million. Quite the opposite. There was a market for his services even before he became a free agent.

In the end, it was the Canadiens who managed to sign him.

The Habs signed him to a one-year contract with a base salary of $2.15 million, plus potential bonuses.

Now that we know several teams were willing to take on his old contract, it's hard not to appreciate the Canadiens' move even more.

Sure, Kreider isn't the 52-goal scorer he was in 2021–2022, but he still just tallied 22 goals and 50 points in 75 games with the Ducks.

At 35, there's a risk.

But at $2.15 million for a player who, just a few days ago, still had four or five teams interested in signing him for $6.5 million, it's a risk that's pretty easy to accept.


In a flash

– Hat trick for Josh Nadeau.

– Impressive.

– Victory for the Habs' rookies.

– Surprising?

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