Reason for the LA Kings to not trade for Chris Kreider: Contract
While there are plenty of positives or reasons to do a trade like this, there are reasons for concerns. One of those concerns has to be Chris Kreider's contract as he currently is in year five of a seven-year contract. He is set to have cap hits of $6.5 million in each of the next two seasons for whichever team trades for him.
If Chris Kreider's production is not due to the Rangers struggles and he can't turn it around, this would be a tough contract to manage over the next two seasons. In addition, it isn't even clear if the Kings could make a trade as Kreider does have a modified no-trade clause that includes 15 teams. However, at this point if the Kings were one of those teams he might be happy to get out of New York and go to a playoff contender.
The challenge for Rob Blake in adding a player like Chris Kreider with his contract would be to fit it under the salary cap. They could certainly do the trade now with Drew Doughty on long-term injured reserve but he is set to return soon and they would need to have a plan to fit it all under the cap.
If the Kings were to do the trade, it would seemingly have to be an even swap in terms of cap hits to make it work.