Near the end of the COVID-shortened 2021 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 an assistant and associate general manager before earning these promotions. It was now his task to lead the Rangers out of the rebuild and put them back into the position of Stanley Cup contenders.
Like most people who get a new job, Drury’s start in management is not remembered in a good light as he made some big mistakes that still have 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 article, we are going to look back at his start as the 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 good start for Drury as a general manager. Two of the biggest mistakes he made early on 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 of winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with the Tampa Bay Lightning and was seen as a key player, used primarily on the Lightning’s third line. At the time, the Rangers wanted to be 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 too much to give to a sixth-tier player. He played three seasons with the Rangers before they decided they needed to let go of his deal and put him on waivers earlier this offseason. He was claimed off waivers 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 biggest 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 interested in Jack Eichel and it looked like they might end up signing him. They needed to make room on their roster and Buchnevich fell victim to 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 worked very well on a line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Since this trade, Drury has been trying to fill this void and nothing has worked out and now, Reilly Smith will 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 seen as the biggest mistake Drury has made in his time as a general manager.
Great ability to find valuable players through trade or free agency
As the years have gone by, one of Drury’s biggest strengths is his ability to find quality players and get them on the cheap, whether through a trade or signing them as free agents. Two of the most recent examples came this past offseason, when he signed Erik Gustafsson and Jonathan Quick to one-year deals with both players signing for less than a million. Gustafsson was a solid third-line defender for the team last season and even stepped up when Adam Fox was injured and missed 10 games. He had 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 big season with the Rangers in 2024-25.
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One of the best trades Drury has made so far was trading a 2022 fourth-round draft pick to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Frank Vatrano. At the time, it seemed like a simple depth move for the Rangers, but it turned out to be a great addition. He became arguably 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 then had five goals and 13 points in 20 playoff games. He brought speed and had a great shot and became a fan favorite in his brief stay in New York. He signed a three-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks in the 2022 offseason and since he left, there have been plenty of rumors that he could return, but it hasn’t happened yet. Drury turned a fourth-round pick into a front-line player and has a knack for finding value pieces where others might not.
Looking to the future and the difficult road ahead
This upcoming season and offseason could be the most difficult for Drury in his time as general manager. The Rangers are looking to once again be a Stanley Cup contender and he will have to use his assets wisely to help improve this team. One move he attempted to make this summer already backfired, 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 make amends with his captain and hopefully move forward from this.
The upcoming offseason will be a very difficult one to navigate. The Rangers won’t have a lot of cap space to play with and will 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’ll also need a new contract. With the lack of cap space, Drury will have to get creative and hopefully he can make all those extensions fit his needs, especially for those three key players as they are part of the core of the team moving forward.
Drury is now entering his fourth season as the Rangers’ general manager 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 core players aging and this being Shesterkin’s last season on a “team-friendly” contract, the window to win is now because the future is still unclear. Drury has become a very good general manager over these past three seasons and now, he’s going to have to take what he’s learned and hopefully make the right moves that will help this team. If he does, maybe they’ll be the ones left standing when the Stanley Cup is handed out next June.
(tags to translate)Barclay Goodrow
