Rangers Coming Into Shape

Chris Drury is apparently done making splashes. His latest move - re-acquiring Tyler Motte from the Ottawa Senators for a conditional seventh round pick and Julien Gauthier - is an indication that the GM believes his team's greatest need isn't the addition of another scorer like Patrick Kane to the top six, but a little sandpaper to his beleaguered fourth line. So Motte - who did a yeoman's job playing with Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Reaves in last year's tournament - will hopefully have a repeat performance with Goodrow and a player to be named later. You don't think Drury would be stupid enough to go with Jake Leschyshyn as his 4C in the postseason, do you? Leschyshyn is merely a caretaker until his replacement arrives. By this time next week Nick Bjugstad, Sam Lafferty, or someone comparable will be donning the blue and red.

Face it: in a perfect world - one without a salary cap - Drury would jump at the chance to land Kane. Hell, with no salary cap, Timo Meier would already be a Ranger. Unfortunately, there is a salary cap and once Drury pulled the trigger on Vladimir Tarasenko, Kane became a luxury he could no longer afford. Yes, I suppose if Drury is able to find someone to take Leschyshyn and Vitali Kravtsov off his hands - a big if - that might free up just barely enough cap space to swing it, but that would mean Goodrow becomes the 4C, which would be a mistake. Goodrow is a winger, not a center.

Like it or not, Rangers fans, you're going to have to deal with Jimmy Vesey playing in the top six. While his inability to finish over the last few games is a concern that could prove problematic in April and May, even more concerning is the fact that Gerard Gallant barely played his fourth line in the third period against the Flames on Saturday. A coach who shortens his bench in the third period is nothing new in hockey; it happens all the time. What happened in Calgary, though, had nothing to do with a coach shortening his bench; it was a not so subtle hint from Gallant to his boss that he couldn't trust some of his players with the game on the line. Credit Drury for getting it. 

Let's be clear here. Motte is not a silver bullet. Like I pointed out above, he did a yeoman's job on the fourth line last postseason, but Bob Gainey he ain't. What he does bring to the table is a quality this team on too many nights still lacks: the ability to win the battles in the trenches. This team has plenty of elite-level talent; what it doesn't have enough of are foot soldiers. Motte is a foot soldier who isn't afraid to get his uniform bloodied. The Rangers are a better, slightly tougher, team now than they were on Saturday.

And they will need every ounce of that toughness if they have any hope of beating what is, without question, the toughest, most complete team in the NHL. The Boston Bruins are having the kind of season teams dream about. At 43-8-5, they're the prohibitive favorites to win the Stanley Cup. They can score, they can defend and they have the best goaltending tandem in the league. Besting them in a seven game series will be a tall order.

With the top six teams all in the Eastern Conference, whichever team makes it to the finals will have gone through three rounds of a track meet. If the Rangers are to be that team, Drury needs to make one more move on his chess board.

Drury is Carefully Building a Championship Team Right Before Our Eyes.

Now that the trade deadline has come and gone and the new players the Rangers acquired have had a chance to acclimate themselves to their new team, it's time to state the obvious: apart from Justin Braun, the Flyer defenseman with 100 games of playoff experience that Chris Drury was able to pry away from Cliff Fletcher for a 4th round pick, all three forwards - Andrew Copp, Frank Vatrano and Tyler Motte - could be here to stay.

As the old saying goes, why rent when you can own? While other GMs in the league for the most part ponied up first and second round draft picks for the privilege of renting the services of players that will be gone next season, Drury set his sights a bit higher. He opted for players that can not only help his team now but, with a little creative math and the shuffling of one or two current players on the roster, can be retained after the playoffs are over.

I've been saying this for months now. The negotiations with Ryan Strome's agent over a contract extension are at the epicenter of all Drury's decision making with respect to the number two center position. In a nutshell, it is untenable for him not to have a Plan B in place in the event Strome decides to walk, which with the signing of Tomas Hertl to an eight-year extension by the San Jose Sharks, is all but a given. There's no way in hell Strome is going to get anywhere close to the $8.1 million salary Hertl will be making next season. Even if the Rangers had the cap space - which they don't - Drury would be a fool to even entertain such a contract.

It's also obvious that the longer these negotiations dragged on, the less likely it was going to be that the two sides would reach an agreement. And given that Drury locked up Igor Shesterkin and Mika Zibanejad before the start of the season, and Adam Fox shortly after, you can draw your own conclusions as to what happened and why. Suffice to say Strome's agent may have overplayed his hand by rejecting a deal that was believed to be around four years at $5.75 million AAV.

But that's water over the dam now. If Strome isn't staying, a replacement must be found. J.T. Miller was never a practical candidate. Yes, at $5.25 million through next season his contract was the most team friendly out there. Assuming the Vancouver Canucks even make him available during the off season, Drury would have to pay a king's ransom to land him. And as I wrote in an earlier piece, Drury would only be kicking the can down the road an additional season. A year from now, he'd be in the same predicament, but without the draft capital or assets needed to get out of it.

As for Mark Scheifele, the Winnipeg Jet comes in at $6.15 thru '24, which gives the Rangers an extra year to play with. But in the end, like Miller, the result would be the same: a parting of significant draft picks and assets with a limited return on investment. For the Rangers to tell their fan base that they endured a four-year playoff hiatus in order to enjoy a two to three year playoff window is a non starter. What Drury needed was a long-term solution that allowed him to protect his assets while still fielding a team that could contend for the Cup now and in the future. And it looks like he may have found it.

Andrew Copp and Frank Vatrano are not Claude Giroux and Rickard Rakell, that should be obvious. But they ain't Bobby Sheehan and Pierre Plante either. And considering what Drury paid to acquire them, it's fair to say he hit it out of the ball park, so to speak. Both players have made significant contributions since their arrival. Copp has a goal and four assists in his first four games as a Ranger, while Vatrano has five goals in his first seven. The new additions also seem to have impacted the team's overall performance, as well. According to Stat Boy Steven, since the trade deadline, the Rangers 5v5 scoring has almost doubled, from 1.87 goals per game to a league-leading 3.6. That cannot be a coincidence.

And here's the best news: While both players are UFAs after the season, both can be re-signed without breaking the bank. Now that the NHL has made it official that the salary cap is going up to $82.5 million next season - an increase of $1 million over this season - that leaves the Rangers with $11.7 million in cap space with 16 players under contract. While not as bad as the Florida Panthers, who have only $4.5 million available with 15 players under contract, it does mean that Drury will have to thread the needle carefully over the summer.

If he can find someone to take Patrik Nemeth's contract off his hands, that would increase the amount Drury has to play with by $2.5 million. And if he can move Filip Chytil, that would free up an additional $2.3 million. Say Copp signs for $5 million and Vatrano for $3 million. That leaves $8.5 million left for Kaapo Kakko ($2.4m?), Motte ($1.5m), Sammy Blais ($1.5m), Zac Jones ($925k) and a backup goalie ($1m). My point is Drury has everything he needs within his own organization to build a contender next season and beyond. How many GMs can say that?

Since taking over as president and general manager of the Rangers, I've been very impressed with Drury. He's been methodical and deliberate in the moves he's made. There's always a rhyme and a reason for everything he does. Indeed, he seems to be taking a page out of Julien BriseBois' playbook. If the Tampa Bay Lightning go on to win their third Stanley Cup in a row this spring, it'll be due in no small part to the job BriseBois has done as GM.

Bottom line, the cupboard is full, the future bright. Trust the process, people. Chris Drury knows what he's doing.