NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 25: Chris Kreider #20 of the New York Rangers skates against the Minnesota Wild at Madison Square Garden on November 25, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Wild 3-2 in overtime.
(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

After weeks of back and forth, the New York Rangers and Chris Kreider have reached an agreement on a new contract extension.

Chris Kreider is not going anywhere. Team president John Davidson announced he and the New York Rangers have agreed on a seven-year contract extension with a $6.5 million AAV and a limited no-move clause.

Entering the day, there was not much optimism surrounding a potential deal after New York was hesitant to go seven years. Ultimately, the team and Kreider came to an agreement, and it looks like Kreider took a hometown discount to remain a Blueshirt.

Kreider entered Monday’s trade deadline as the No. 1 available piece on the trade market with multiple teams showing interest in the big 28-year-old forward. On the season, the former first-round pick has scored 45 points and is on pace to break his career-high in goals.

The club traded big pieces throughout the last two deadlines, but this move signals the start of something big.

New York is showing they are ready to take the next step in this rebuild and start to invest heavily in this group moving forward. It all started with Artemi Panarin and Jacob Trouba in the offseason and it continues with Kreider on Monday.

New York sits just four points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Moving a piece like Kreider would have served as a major blow to a young club on the brink of competing.

Even with Kreider in the fold now, the question still remains what does the club do with guys like Ryan Strome and Jesper Fast? Fast is an unrestricted free agent while Strome is a restricted free agent and both players are due for a pay raise after performing well alongside Panarin all year.

New York has until 3 p.m. ET to decide their fate.

Dominick is a graduate of Canisius College. He has covered the Rangers for the last seven seasons and the Yankees for the last four.