NEWARK, N.J. -- Chris Kreider, the longest-tenured Rangers player, was a healthy scratch from the lineup Monday afternoon against the Devils in the final game before the NHL's Christmas break.
Kreider, 33, has been having a disappointing season, playing in 30 games with 11 goals and one assist. He missed three games earlier in the season with back trouble, but a source said he was healthy on Monday when the 16-16-1 Rangers visited the 22-11-3 Devils, who are second in the Metropolitan Division.
The move to scratch Kreider comes eight days after coach Peter Laviolette surprisingly scratched young forward Kaapo Kakko in St. Louis last Sunday for a 3-2 loss to the Blues. Kakko complained bitterly about that decision two days later, and was traded to Seattle the next day.
Kreider is third on the Rangers' all-time goal-scoring list with 315, behind Rod Gilbert (406) and Jean Ratelle (336). A first-round pick (No. 19 overall) in 2009, he made his Rangers debut in April 2012, just days after leading Boston College to their second NCAA title in three years. He had five goals and seven points in 18 playoff games that spring, as the Rangers made it to the Eastern Conference finals. A net-front specialist on the power play, he is second on the franchise list in power play goals, with 114.
But he has been largely ineffective this season and last month, and his name was leaked as being included in a league-wide memo sent by Rangers general manager Chris Drury to all of the 31 other general managers as being among those players Drury was willing to trade as he sought to improve the team's roster.
The other player whose name was leaked as being available in that memo was captain Jacob Trouba, who was traded to Anaheim on Dec. 6.
Ten days ago, Kreider was asked by Newsday how he felt about hearing his name out there in trade rumors. He tried to brush it off.
"Until the last three or four years, I think I was in every single trade rumor in the first, first seven or eight years of my career,'' he said.
He was asked if that makes it easier to deal with.
"It's the nature of the job, right?'' he said. "You've gotta show up, and you control what you can control.''
Laviolette made one other lineup change from the group that lost to Carolina at Madison Square Garden Sunday, scratching defenseman Chad Ruhwedel and re-inserting defenseman Zac Jones.