Last summer there was a push amongst many to have Chris
Kreider (2009 1st round pick) turn pro even though he had a subpar season at
Boston College. The idea behind it was
that you get him in the professional ranks with the New York Rangers and let
them take over his development. Part of
the theory for some was that Kreider seemed bored with college hockey and was
not going to take the next step while at Boston College. My problem with that is a prospect shows they
are ready when they go out and dominate their competition level. It might have taken longer than some had both
hoped and expected, but Kreider is now a doing that for Boston College.
Each game for Boston College Kreider seemingly ups his game
and that happened again Friday night with another three point performance. He scored once and assisted on two others Friday as
BC dominated Maine 5-1. On Saturday he had a power play goal in the 4-2 loss to UMass.
Jess Rubenstein at The
Prospect Park has more on Kreider’s play the Friday night.
Kreider was involved in all 3 of those goals and then in the 3rd period showed us something we have been waiting to see for 3 years. We saw some snarl out of him as Kreider even showed us some temper when Maine tried to push him around and Kreider pushed back.A little snarl would be a welcomed addition to Kreider's game because he is going to take a ton of punishment at the NHL level with his role as a power forward around the net. As long as Kreider is smart about when and how to push back it will only help him establish himself once he becomes a pro.
The four points in the two games gives Kreider 15 points (8G, 7A) in only 10
games this season after tallying only 11 goals and 13 assists in 32 games last
year. There was never any question that
Kreider had the physical tools to play in the NHL, even possibly this year, but
his game was not at that consistent level.
This kind of domination in college shows that he is putting it everything
together now and vastly improves his chances of being the impact player he wants
to be at the NHL level.
