I'm not "criminally underrating," him. He's being discussed in relation to Artemi Panarin, who he simply is not as good at, period, and a first overall pick who a) has more natural talent than him, b) needs a change of scenery from the line he's on, and c) has just as many even strength goals as said "criminally underrated," player.
I'm not saying Chris Kreider is a "third line player," which I feel like is part of the ingrained pushback - "HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST KREIDER ISN'T A FIRST LINE WINGER!!!"
Yes Kreider does more than just score goals, but if anything he's being slightly overrated in terms of the impact he's making outside of scoring. Again, that line he's on is not some dynamo of 5v5 hockey, so he's not really "tilting the ice," that much. Kreider is, generally throughout his career, a quality second line player who is not so great on the first line and who would be excellent on the third line seeing easier matchups.
He's a fine player but he's not someone who it should be off-limits to move down when his competition for ice time is, again, Artemi Panarin and a first overall pick who is matching his 5v5 goal production (despite the 1OA getting lesser minutes).
And again, I'm not saying he needs a demotion because he's not playing well or anything. I'm saying for the good of the team to get the best four lines rolling, it's probably better to have a different arrangement.
I think swapping Panarin to the first line, Laf to the second, and Kreider to the third instantly improves the first and third lines, and while the second falls off cause it subtracts Panarin, it could spark Lafreniere which more than offsets it (in conjunction with the improvements to the first and third lines).
