If there were any doubts about whether the New York Rangers were rebuilding or retooling, they were thoroughly put to rest yesterday. On the first day of free agency, Chris Drury sent a very loud and clear message to the fanbase: this is a retool.
Coming off arguably his best draft since he was hired, Drury went to work immediately. At first, it looked like a typical free agency day for Drury; nothing spectacular. And then it got real interesting. In all, Drury made nine transactions. Here they are in order:
1. He acquired goaltender Joonas Korpisalao from the Boston Bruins for forward Kalle Vaisanen and a 2028 4th round pick. The Ottawa Senators retained $1 million of Korpisalao's $4 million salary as part of an earlier trade with the Bruins.
2. He then signed Joseph Valeno to a one year $1.2 million contract that he can unload at the trade deadline if it doesn't work out.
3. Next up, he signed Oliver Bjorkstrand to another one year contract at $4.5 million.
4 & 5.. To replenish Hartford, he signed career AHLers Marc Del Gaizo and Glenn Gawdin to two-year, two-way contracts worth $875k AAV a piece.
Then cam the two blockbusters:
6. Drury traded Vincent Trocheck to the Utah Mammoth for Utah's 2024 1st round pick Cole Beaudoin, a conditional 2027 3rd rounder and defenseman Sean Durzi. Beaudoin was the high draft pick Drury was after, and Durzi is a right-handed defenseman who had an excellent season for Utah last year.
7. Drury then traded a 2030 top 10 protected first round pick for defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Pettersson played for Mike Sullivan in Pittsburgh years ago, and I have no doubt that factored into Drury's decision to acquire him. This trade was actually announced before the Trocheck deal but took longer to finalize because Pettersson has a no move clause.
8. Next up, in what can only be described as a textbook example of addition by subtraction, Drury traded Will Borgen to the Bruins for a 2027 2nd round pick and a conditional 2028 3rd rounder. A used puck bag would've sufficed, so give Drury high marks for finding someone willing to take Borgen and his $4.1 million cap hit off his hands.
9. Rounding out the transactions, this morning, Drury signed Dennis Cholowski, another career AHLer, to a two-year, two-way contract.
Overall, I'd give him a B+. He unloaded Borgen, improved his defensive pairings, but weakened his center depth. In Pettersson, he acquired a player who's 30 years old and still has five years left on his contract. Like the J.T. Miller trade he made in 2025, this has the potential of blowing up in Drury's face.
Look, are the Rangers better now than they were before the Draft? Yes. Have they improved themselves enough to make the playoffs? Maybe.
But here's my concern. Let's say the Rangers sneak in as a wild card this season. Let's be optimistic and say they upset the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round. Then what? Does anybody seriously believe this team can win the Stanley Cup? Me neither.
And that brings me to the sixty-four thousand dollar question. What's the plan? Is this the start of another three-year window followed by consecutive seasons without making the playoffs? How many more times do we have to ride this sick roller coaster? I was 33 the last time this franchise won the Stanley Cup. I was hoping to see one more before I die.
That's the biggest problem I have with Drury. He keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. Name one time when he didn't take a short cut. From the moment he got the job, he's seemed more interested in keeping it than doing the hard work required to win a championship. Case in point: J.T. Miller. Rather than admit he made a mistake and buy out his contract, he's determined to keep him, no matter how badly his skills have deteriorated. The signing of Bjorkstrand is another case in point. Yes, he's a good player, but at this stage of his career he's basically a bottom six forward. How much you wanna bet Sullivan puts him on the second line, thus taking a spot away from a younger player?
Take a good look at the job Leon Rose has done with the Knicks. In six years he transformed one of the worst franchises in professional sports into NBA champions. And he did that without taking a single short cut; by making the tough decisions that needed to be made; by thinking long term instead of short term; and while working for the same boss Drury reports to: James Dolan. Don't tell me you can't succeed with a demanding owner.
There's a reason why the Rangers have won only one Stanley Cup since World War II. They just haven't been good enough to win another. With Chris Drury at the helm, that isn't likely to change anytime soon.
