The New York Rangers will play one final meaningless game this week, and then the season of misery ends.
Then the hard part begins — fixing a team that has fallen from championship-caliber to lottery-curious almost overnight.
Arguably the biggest question facing ownership is whether or not General Manager Chris Drury deserves the opportunity to clean up a mess that is partially of his making. There are cases for and against Drury returning as Rangers GM.
Drury’s successes are home runs
In Drury’s tenure as GM, the Rangers have been to the playoffs three times in four years and gone to the Eastern Conference Finals twice. They also won the President’s Trophy with the best record in the league in 2023-24.
Drury has never rested on the idea that the team was good enough — he’s been regularly aggressive at the trade deadline and in free agency.
His first contract with Igor Shesterkin gave the Rangers arguably the best bang-for-your-buck goaltending in the league for four seasons. Drury also locked up superstar defender Adam Fox to an eight-year deal off his entry-level contract — a rarity for the Rangers.
Drury hit big in signing center Vincent Trocheck in unrestricted free agency to a seven-year deal worth $5.625M annually — well below the current market value for a No. 2 center. The latest feather in his cap: trading a middling prospect, an oft-injured center and a protected first-round pick for No. 1 center J.T. Miller.
