The New York Rangers have promoted former NHL player Chris Drury to assistant general manager, the team announced on Friday.
OFFICIAL: #NYR have promoted Chris Drury to Assistant General Manager.
Press Release: https://t.co/bsG4hm0vTVpic.twitter.com/iKa1X98LDc
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) September 2, 2016
Drury, 40, is now one of only nine active assistant or assistant general managers in the NHL who are 40 years old or younger. After retiring in 2011, Drury joined the Rangers’ front office as the team’s director of player personnel.
Drury played four years at Boston University where he helped the team win the 1995 national championship and received the 1998 Hobey Baker Award, as college hockey’s best player.
Originally drafted by the Quebec Nordiques 72nd overall in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft, Drury made his NHL debut with the Colorado Avalanche in 1998-99. After scoring 44 points in 79 games, he received the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie. The honor earned him the distinction of being the only player in NHL history to win both the Hobey Baker Award and the Calder Trophy. In his 12-year NHL career, Drury won the Stanley Cup in 2001 with the Avalanche and scored 615 points in 892 career games. He was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015.
As director of player personnel with the Rangers this summer, Drury played an important role in the Rangers landing Jimmy Vesey—the highly sought-after free-agent forward who also won the Hobey Baker Award while at Harvard University.
Despite a successful NHL playing career, there is one goal Drury hasn’t yet accomplished.
“I’ve wanted to win a Cup as a #NYR since I knew what a NYR was. That was my goal as a kid & it’s certainly still my goal now” -Chris Drury
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) September 2, 2016
For the Rangers, today’s announcement is a move the team hopes brings Drury and the franchise closer to making that dream a reality.
