Near the end of the 2021 COVID-shortened season, the New York Rangers made headlines when they fired president of hockey operations, John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton. The man who took over both positions was Chris Drury. He served as both an assistant and associate general manager prior to him getting these promotions. It was now his task to take the Rangers out of the rebuild and put them back into being contenders for the Stanley Cup.
Like most people who get new jobs, the beginning of Drury’s tenure is not looked back on fondly, as he made some big mistakes that are still having an impact on this team to this day. However, over time, he has learned from his mistakes and has become a very good general manager in the NHL. In this piece, we are going to look back on his start as Rangers GM and see how he has evolved over the years.
Early Mistakes: Trading Pavel Buchnevich and Signing Barclay Goodrow
The 2021 offseason was not a very good start for Drury as GM. Two of the biggest mistakes he made to start came on back-to-back days. The first move was signing Barclay Goodrow to a six-year contract worth $3,641,667 per year. He was coming off back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with the Tampa Bay Lightning and he was seen as a key depth player, used mainly on the Lightning’s third line. At this time, the Rangers wanted to get tougher to play against and add more experience to the lineup. They did that with this move, but the deal they signed him to was way too much to give to a bottom-six player. He played three seasons with the Rangers before they decided that they needed to move off his deal and put him on waivers earlier this offseason. He was claimed by the San Jose Sharks and Drury was able to get out of this deal without having to trade him with assets to move his contract.
His second and even bigger mistake was trading the restricted free agent (RFA) rights of Pavel Buchnevich to the St. Louis Blues. At the time, the Rangers were one of the teams in on Jack Eichel and it seemed that they could end up getting him. They needed to make space on their roster and Buchnevich was a casualty of that. He was traded for Sammy Blais and a second-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. He was the Rangers’ best right winger at the time and he worked very well on a line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Ever since this trade, Drury has been trying to fill this void and nothing has stuck and now, Reilly Smith is going to be the next player they try in that role. Buchnevich has thrived in St. Louis and just signed a massive contract extension. This can be looked at as the biggest mistake Drury has made in his time as GM.
Great Ability to Find Value Players via Trade or Free Agency
As the years have gone on, one of Drury’s biggest strengths is his ability to find good value players and get them for cheap, whether it’s by trading for them or signing them as free agents. Two of the most recent examples came during last offseason, when he signed Erik Gustafsson and Jonathan Quick to one-year deals and both players signed for less than a million. Gustafsson was a solid third-paring defenseman for the team this past season and even stepped up when Adam Fox went down with an injury and missed 10 games. He scored six goals and 31 points in 76 regular season games. He struggled in the playoffs with just three assists in 16 games and signed with the Detroit Red Wings on a two-year deal this offseason. Quick had a career resurgence with 18 wins, a 2.62 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage. His play earned him a contract extension and he will look to have another great season with the Rangers in 2024-25.
Related: NHL’s 5 Most Underrated General Managers
One of the best trades that Drury has made so far was trading a 2022 fourth-round pick to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Frank Vatrano. At the time, it seemed like just a depth move for the Rangers, but he turned out to be a great addition. He went on to arguably be the best right winger to play on the line with Kreider and Zibanejad since Buchnevich. He scored eight goals and 13 points in 22 regular season games and followed it up with five goals and 13 points in 20 playoff games. He provided speed and had a great shot and he became a fan favorite in his short time in New York. He went on to sign a three-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks in the 2022 offseason and ever since he left, there have been so many rumors that he could come back, but it hasn’t happened yet. Drury turned a fourth-round pick into a first-line player and he has a knack for finding value pieces where others might not.
Looking to the Future and the Tough Road Ahead
This upcoming season and offseason could be the toughest yet for Drury in his time as GM. The Rangers are once again looking to be Stanley Cup contenders and he is going to have to use his assets wisely in order to help make this team better. One move he tried to make this summer already backfired on him, as he tried to trade Jacob Trouba and his $8 million salary, but Trouba used his trade protection to block the move and now, he needs to mend fences with his captain and hopefully, move forward from this.
The next offseason is going to be very tricky to navigate. The Rangers won’t have much cap space to play with and have to sign key players to contract extensions. Those players are Alexis Lafreniere, K’Andre Miller and most importantly, Igor Shesterkin. Even if a player like Kaapo Kakko has a breakout season, he will need a new contract as well. With the lack of cap space, Drury is going to have to get creative and hopefully, he will be able to fit all these extensions in, especially for those three key players as they are part of the team’s core going forward.
Drury is now entering his fourth season as GM of the Rangers and this season is going to be the most important of all if they want to bring the Stanley Cup back to New York. With the core players getting older and this being the last season of Shesterkin on a “team-friendly” contract, the window to win is right now because the future is still unclear. Drury has become a very good GM over these past three seasons and now, he is going to have to take what he has learned and hopefully make the right moves that help this team. If he does, maybe they will be the ones left standing when the Stanley Cup is awarded next June.
