Kreider Lands in Montreal. The Purge Is Complete.

Chris Kreider signed with the Canadiens on Saturday, closing the book on a summer that saw Anaheim shed McTavish, Zellweger, and now Kreider in the span of a few months. The move made sense for both sides — Kreider wanted East Coast, the Ducks wanted cap room — but the destination carries its own footnote: he arrives in Montreal having been booed there since a collision with Carey Price more than a decade ago. That's his problem now. Anaheim's is the roster he left behind.

The Ducks enter camp with Carlsson and Gauthier as the clear top two, and not much proven behind them. Beckett Sennecke showed flashes last season, and the additions of Sean Farrell and AJ Greer add bodies, but none of it fills the specific void Troy Terry leaves. Terry finished last season as the team's leading assist man, and his hip surgery has him out indefinitely to start 2026-27. Kreider's 25 points last year weren't the issue — it's that his departure, stacked on top of Terry's absence, strips the forward group of whatever veteran structure it had.

The honest version of this roster right now is two cornerstones, a promising young winger, and a collection of depth pieces that haven't been tested at this level. That may be fine as a plan for 2027 or 2028. As a plan for October, it's thin.