5 best moves by Chris Drury as New York Rangers general manager

Chris Drury was named New York Rangers president and general manager in the summer of 2021 and has overseen two trips to the Eastern Conference Final in his first three seasons since. That includes 2023-24 when the Blueshirts won the Presidents’ Trophy and set franchise records with 55 wins and 114 points.

Drury and the Rangers have fallen short of the ultimate goal — the Stanley Cup — and the team has failed to reach the Cup Final since 2014. Still, Drury has some fingerprints on a roster that has produced three consecutive 100-point seasons for just the second time in franchise history.

As we’re currently in the midst of arguably his most important offseason to date, let’s take a look at Drury’s best moves as general manager of the Rangers.

It’s way too early to tell with this current offseason so none of those transactions are on the table, but everything else since he took charge in June of 2021 is fair game.

Related: Why signing Chad Ruhwedel was smart move by Rangers

Best moves by Chris Drury as Rangers GM

Honorable Mention: Extending Adam Fox

Several months into his tenure as GM, Drury locked up Adam Fox long term after he won the Norris Trophy as the top defenseman in the NHL. Fox was entering the final season of his entry-level contract when Drury aggressively signed the rising star to a seven-year, $66.5 million deal, pinpointing him as a cornerstone piece of the Blueshirts moving forward.

At a $9.5 million AAV that currently ranks fifth-highest among NHL defensemen, it’s not the cheapest contract in the world — understandably so given the caliber of player that Fox is. It was a smart move to lock him up long-term and provide piece of mind for the team and one if its most important players moving forward.

It’s not the bargain that some of the other moves on this list are, but it’s a move that needed to happen and one Drury got out in front of.

5. Signing Jonathan Quick in 2023 offseason

Expectations were low for Jonathan Quick when he signed with the Rangers on a one-year deal worth $825,000 prior to the 2023-24 season.

The future Hall of Famer, who led the Los Angeles Kings to two Stanley Cup championships and won another as a backup with the Vegas Golden Knights, struggled mightily in his age-37 season, posting a 3.41 goals-against average and .882 save percentage in 2022-23, both NHL career-lows outside of his debut season when he played just three games.

Perhaps goalie guru Benoit Allaire worked his magic because Quick was a revelation in New York, recording a 2.62 GAA and a .911 save percentage, the latter of which was his highest mark since 2017-18 when he finished Top-10 in Vezina Trophy voting as top NHL goalie.

Quick was brilliant amidst some early-season struggles by No. 1 goalie Igor Shesterkin, allowing the Blueshirts to get off to a hot start. Beyond his on-ice performance, he was a leader in the locker room, and received New York’s Players’ Player Award and was a steady respected voice throughout the postseason despite not appearing in a single game.

The cherry on top, he became the winningest American-born goaltender in NHL history in a Rangers uniform.

He earned himself a one-year extension to remain the Blueshirts backup to Shesterkin once again for the 2024-25 season. The Rangers have had some excellent backup goaltenders over the past decade, but Quick was one of the most surprising and proved to be a brilliant pickup by Drury.

4. Signing and extending Jimmy Vesey in 2022 offseason

Jimmy Vesey may not have lived up to the hype in his inaugural run with the Blueshirts but his second stint has been a resounding success.

Drury signed Vesey to a one-year, $750,000 contract prior to the 2022-23 season. Like with Quick, expectations were low for the 29-year-old forward who was bouncing to his fifth different franchise in four years.

The former Hobey Baker Award winner as the best player in NCAA men’s hockey has completely evolved his game, becoming an excellent defensive forward and penalty killer and establishing himself as a staple in New York’s bottom six.

Seeing a good thing, Drury and the Rangers extended Veasey with a two-year deal worth $800,000 annually, a steal of a deal for a quality bottom-sixer who’s given the Blueshirts 10-plus goals and 25-plus points in each of the past two seasons on top of his staunch defensive play.

At a nearly League-minimum rate, you don’t get better value than that too often.

3. Selecting Gabe Perreault in 1st round of 2023 NHL Draft

This may be the trickiest move to evaluate since Gabe Perreault has yet to make his NHL debut, but Drury still deserves credit for selecting a heralded prospect late in the first round.

Going back to the well of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, the Rangers chose Perreault No. 23 overall in the 2023 NHL Draft.

The youngster quickly flourished in his freshman campaign with a stacked Boston College team, finishing fourth in all of Division 1 hockey with 60 points and second in assists with 41. He was named a Second Team All-American and helped BC reach the NCAA National Championship game, where they lost to the University of Denver 2-0.

Perreault also helped the United States win the gold medal at the 2024 World Junior Championship, registering 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in seven games.

Now, at just 19 years old, he’s considered the Blueshirts clear-cut top prospect and a future star. He’s already announced his return to BC for another season, but he could sign his entry-level contract at the end of his sophomore campaign.

What he does at the NHL level with ultimately determine the value of this pick. Still, it’s not often that you find a gem this highly rated later in the first round, particularly for a Rangers team that hasn’t always been the best with drafting over the past two decades. Drury deserves credit alone for that.

2. Trading for Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano before 2022 deadline

Drury’s first trade deadline as GM was arguably his best. The Rangers were tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for second in the Metropolitan Division on the day of the trade deadline, but needed a boost to truly make a playoff push.

Drury brought in a big haul that included defenseman Justin Braun and bottom-six forward Tyler Motte, both of whom were fine additions in their own right. But the headliners were forwards Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano.

Copp and Vatrano assumed top-six roles and thrived, adding a more potent offensive punch to the group. The Rangers ended up making a run all the way to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and it’s hard to imagine them doing so without their help.

Copp scored 14 goals and 30 points in his 36 games between the regular season and postseason and was one of the strongest performers throughout the playoffs.

Vatrano, meanwhile, found a home on the top line, playing right wing next to Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. He remains one of the only wingers who’s found success on New York’s top line next to that duo since Pavel Buchnevich was traded in the summer of 2021.

Both players left for other destinations in free agency that offseason so it didn’t result in a Stanley Cup or a long-term stay, but Copp and Vatrano helped spark a lengthy and unexpected playoff run that officially marked the end of the rebuild and reframed the expectations in New York.

1. Signing Vincent Trocheck in 2022

Vincent Trocheck is certainly the best free agent signing of Drury’s tenure and the best move of his three years as general manager.

The 2022 offseason saw a few key pieces of the Rangers’ conference final run — Ryan Strome, Copp, Vatrano — depart in free agency. Drury eased the loss by bringing in Vincent Trocheck on a seven-year deal worth $5.625 million annually.

After a very solid first season, when he recorded 22 goals and 64 points, Trocheck flourished in his second year in New York, tallying an NHL career-high 77 points and one of the League’s best face-off win percentages (58.4 percent). He centered a line with Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere on the wings that was among the best in the NHL, with all three setting career-highs in points.

He plays a major role on both the power play and penalty kill and has a strong impact at even-strength. In the Rangers’ most recent postseason run, Trocheck logged an average TOI of 23:08, the second-most of any skater, trailing only Fox. Their most consistent player in the postseason, Trocheck had a team-high 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in 16 playoff games.

And he also played in the 2024 NHL All-Star Game and was voted the winner of the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award.

The Rangers have him locked up for five more seasons at a price that now feels like a bargain, given his production the last two years. It’s hard to think of the last time they had a better 2C than Trocheck.

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