It was winter 2019 and Kreider was in the midst of a great season. All of a sudden he stopped scoring. Like, completely.
And I was like "guys, he's hurt. I don't know what's wrong with him but something not right." And you were like "Machinehead you're just a crazy conspiracy theorist and you don't even watch our games!"
Then this came out:
Chris Kreider Has Been Playing With A Legitimate Injury
And I was like "yeah, f*** you guys, I know what I'm talking about!" and then I remembered Kreider is hurt that's not a good thing. It was worse than I thought.
From the beginning of 15-16 through til the end of 18-19, Kreider posted these underlying numbers:
5.98 CF% rel
7.21 xGF% rel
That's as good as it gets. He was a count-them-on-your-fingers best play-driver in the NHL. That's why people liked him and wanted to bring him back.
Since the date that article was posted, 3/19/19:
1.84 CF% rel
-1.82 xGF% rel
To this day, I can't pinpoint the injury, I don't know what happened, I don't exactly when I started noticing it, but something was wrong with him. And he's never been the same.