Chris Kreider signing changes Canadiens' middle-six picture immediately

The Montreal Canadiens top-six just got a lot bigger, as free agent Chris Kreider has signed a one-year contract only days after being terminated.

On Saturday evening, the hockey world got the news they were anticipating. With the news that Anaheim was going to terminate Chris Kreider and let him become a free agent, it didn't take long until he found a new home. Wanting to head home, an Eastern team was the only way to go.

Chris Kreider trades in one red, white, and blue for another

And the Montreal Canadiens are going to be his new home for 2026-27:

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Kreider signed one-year deal with the Canadiens after putting up 50 points with the Ducks last season. The 14-year veteran spent the majority of his career with the New York Rangers before being traded to Anaheim last summer.

Per Elliotte Friedman, the contract details show that Kreider will earn $2.15M AAV on his deal, with bonuses allowing him to potentially earn $3M on top of it. Pierre LeBrun later broke down the deal a bit more in-depth:

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In doing so, Kreider will immediately slide into the middle-six for the Canadiens, and round out their lineup with that one final scoring and physical threat they've spent months trying to acquire. There was a lot of talk they wanted to add Matthew Knies at the deadline or this summer, but the cost was too much - now they get a former 50-goal scorer for peanuts.

Atlantic Division becomes arguably the hardest in the NHL after Kreider signing

While every division will have their powerhouses, the Atlantic now becomes one of, if not the deadliest in the NHL. Montreal added Kreider to a lineup mostly unchanged from last season - one that had an Eastern Conference Finals berth.

Then you have the Toronto Maple Leafs who have revamped their lineup in the hopes of competing and have rookie phenom Gavin McKenna set to debut, and the return of the old Auston Matthews is a genuine possibility.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers are going to continue to be nuisances all season, and seeing as Florida is coming off a down year with something to prove, they are going to be dangerous. Tampa Bay lost a couple pieces this season but were able to replace them with arguably equal or better players.

Buffalo is still going to be in the mix despite having lost a few players key to their Atlantic Division-winning team, and the Bruins while not exactly a powehouse, are set up to succeed down the line and have some great pieces like Mason Lohrei, Fraser Minten, and David Pastrnak, meanwhile Ottawa still has one of the best defensive cores in the entire NHL.

The Detroit Red Wings are the only team that is going to likely suffer a bit, though it does lend credence to the fact that the Atlantic is incredibly tough - there are seven potential playoff teams out of eight.

When 87.5% of the teams in a division are expected to fight for the postseason, it makes Montreal's decision to add Kreider look a whole lot smarter, as they added the one piece that may push them from the Eastern Conference Finals to the Stanley Cup Finals.

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