Boston too
Edit: this is for Metatron
Kreider has been the "well maybe they'll trade this guy" name that analysts have been throwing around trying to grasp for straws now that Yandle is off the table. I do think it's not impossible, but I don't think Gorton wants to cut bait with him just yet even though he's having a down year because of how important he becomes in the playoffs. If he's going to trade him, I would think he would want to do it in the offseason, after he's regained some of his market value in the playoffs.
Also, the fact is that Kreider/Miller/Hayes/McIlrath isn't really that overwhelming a group to try to pay. McIlrath is only the 7D this season and cracking the lineup maybe half of the time. He's been real good while doing it, and he'll be a permanent member of the top 6 next year, so he will be in line for a raise, but it won't be huge. He'll go from 600k to maybe 1.1m. Kreider and Hayes have both had seasons where they've taken steps backwards. At the start of the season I would have thought paying them would be a real problem. Now I'm not so sure. Kreider is already at just about 2.5m. Will he get more than 3m after this year's performance? I'm not so sure. Hayes is only making 900k on an ELC and is in his sophomore season, which has been nowhere near the level of his first. I don't see him making Kreider money next season.
JT Miller is the only one out of that group who has truly overperformed and is probably now due a bigger contract than anticipated come season's end, but he's also still just an RFA and in what is essentially his first real full time season. He's only making 874k right now. I think you can tack a 1 to the front of that and call it a day, maybe ever so slightly more.
And in all of that, remember that Dan Boyle's $4.5m comes off the books next season, so you probably only have to really move one guy at most in order to be able to afford everybody whose deals are up, including Yandle, unless the cap makes a major regression next season. If you can somehow ship off one of Staal's or Girardi's contracts (which they won't be doing here at the deadline, since AV has already said this core deserves "one more kick at the can," and those two are decidedly considered part of that core), then you can re-sign everybody and even have room to do some serious UFA shopping.
So while I would say Kreider is probably available for the right deal, I don't think they'd use him for an Eric Staal deal, which is probably a lateral move at best.
I could see them using a guy like Jesper Fast, some mid-range picks, and possibly a prospect or two, though. Fast is an AV favorite, though, and he just had his face rearranged yesterday, so that might not be a go.
Raphael Diaz is also a tradeable asset that maybe people are forgetting about because he's been in Hartford all season. He can't make the Rangers' top 6, but he could easily fit into some of the tank commanders' squads.
In the meantime, the Rangers will be wearing Andy Bathgate decals now: