The 2o24-25 Season at a Glance and the Chris Drury Extension

Photo courtesy of Scott Levy, MSG Photos

After winning the President’s Trophy and making it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second time in just three years, the New York Rangers fell out of the playoffs.

The Rangers finished fifth in the Metropolitan Division and eleventh in the Eastern Conference, missing the playoffs by six points. Nearly every player had a down year compared to the previous season, especially the longest-tenured veteran, Chris Kreider, who became enemy number one for many Rangers fans.

Many of these teams’ struggles stem from the fractured relationship between the players and management. Before the season began, General Manager Chris Drury made a move that shook the league. After unsuccessfully searching for a trade partner for veteran forward Barclay Goodrow to clear up some needed cap space, Drury placed Goodrow on waivers. San Jose then claimed Goodrow off waivers in what was a favor to Drury by the Sharks' General Manager, Mike Grier. Players in the room did not take kindly to this move, which raised an underlying concern about what was next for any players perceived as expendable.

Goodrow was not happy after Drury's move, stating on record that he was blindsided and given no indication that he would not be returning to New York. However, this was not the only issue that Rangers players had with the GM. After this move, Chris Drury moved on to his next target, the former captain, Jacob Trouba. Rumors of Trouba’s trade were swirling all offseason long, specifically at the time of the draft. A trade was close with Detroit in Las Vegas at the NHL Draft this summer; however, after rumors surfaced, Jacob Trouba added the Red Wings to his no-trade list, blocking the deal.

This move by Trouba would make the Rangers' offseason significantly more challenging. The inability to shed the 8 million contract held by Trouba made it hard for Drury to spend in free agency. So again, for the second year in a row, Drury would have to go to the bargain bin, unable to make any bigger signings. Instead, Drury would make a few cheap signings like Sam Carrick and trade for veteran winger Reilly Smith.

The season started fine enough; the Rangers looked on the way to another playoff appearance. However, after a 7-2-1 start in their first ten games, the Rangers would fall apart the rest of the season, winning thirty-two more games and losing forty-one after that start.

As the season went on, rumors of a big trade for the Rangers started after Chris Drury sent a memo announcing Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba were officially on the market. In the coming weeks, GM Chris Drury will trade Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks, who took on his entire contract, for a pick and defenseman, Urho Vaakanainen. Shortly after, the team would sign star goalie Igor Shesterkin to an eight-year contract worth $11.5 million annually.

On January 31st the Rangers would then part ways with young center Filip Chytil, defenseman prospect Victor Mancini and a first round pick for former Canucks center J.T. Miller, who the Rangers drafted.

In his last few moves of the season, Drury traded young forward Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken for defenseman Will Borgen and defenseman Ryan Lindgren to the Colorado Avalanche for some draft picks. He then sent one of those picks to Vancouver for defenseman Carson Soucy. 

After the trade deadline, the Rangers' poor structure, defense, and lack of offensive consistency caught up to them. They went 8-10-2; despite this record, they remained in the playoff race until deep into April before losing the spot to Montreal.

Shortly after the season, the Rangers would part ways with Head Coach Peter Laviolette, and now Chris Drury will be searching for his third coach in just four years as general manager. For most in this position, this summer would be an end-of-the-line, put up or shut up. That is not the case for Chris Drury. Instead, he was signed to a multi-year extension earlier this year by Owner James Dolan to fix the mess that is this team.

The extension is at best a questionable move. Drury came into one of the best situations a rookie GM could ask for: a great prospect pool, an elite winger, a top 15 centerman, a promising young goalie, and a defenseman coming off a Norris trophy win in his second season.

In his four years as general manager, he has made little to no changes to the roster. He had a lucky deadline in his first year, with players like Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano meshing incredibly well with the top six, and the team went on to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The following year, he would go “all in” trading for wingers Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane, but these moves would not pan out as the Rangers would lose in the first round to the New Jersey Devils. Then last season, he refused to trade Kaapo Kakko for winger Jake Guentzel and instead went bargain bin shopping.

Drury has made only bad moves after bad moves, and there appears to be an apparent disconnect between the roster and the GM. Extending Drury after the moves he has made makes no sense whatsoever. He has done nothing to prove himself as a manager capable of taking this team to the next level. The entire organization needs an overhaul at this point. Chris Drury is not the level of a general manager who leads a team, not only through a rebuild but also to a Stanley Cup. As GM Drury does everything a year too late, the Trouba move should have happened after the 2022-23 season. Kakko should’ve been used to get Jake Guentzel for your actual last crack at a cup with this core.

The core is not getting younger, and Drury has figured that out. The goal is to build around a 32-year-old center, J.T. Miller. The Rangers have hit a wall, and it requires a fresh look, whether that fresh look can come from a new head coach or a roster shake-up is yet to be seen. Although Chris Drury has not earned his keep as GM, this summer and next season should be Drury’s last chance. How long can he dump blame on the coach that he hired?

It is fine to trust Drury; he has had his moments, but the bad has outweighed the good. This extension is shocking, confusing, and truly a last-ditch effort by ownership, who are scrambling to get back into contention with an aging core before they genuinely need to rebuild. The fracture between the players and the GM is a gap that can't be mended.. It is time to search for not only a new coach but a new general manager.