Chris Drury took over as general manager of the New York Rangers in the summer of 2021. Despite two Eastern Conference Final appearances and a franchise-best Presidents’ Trophy season in 2023-24, the Blueshirts have fallen short of the ultimate goal — winning the Stanley Cup.
In fact, they haven’t reached the Cup Final since 2014, their lone appearance since their most recent Stanley Cup title 30 years ago in 1994. Of course, each of those precede his tenure as GM, but while Drury has built some competitive and successful rosters, he’s made a few critical mistakes that have prevented New York from reaching their peak.
As we’re currently in the midst of arguably his most important offseason to date, let’s take a look at his worst 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.
Worst moves by Chris Drury as Rangers GM
5. Acquiring Patrick Kane before 2023 trade deadline
Acquiring Patrick Kane was a dream come true for many Rangers fans and seemingly a no-brainer when the Rangers acquired the forward ahead of the 2023 NHL trade deadline. With the future Hall of Famer all but forcing his way to New York, all it took was a second and fourth-round pick, which made the move even more appealing.
Kane did not impress in the regular season (five goals, 12 points in 19 games), and although he’s not to blame for a first-round playoff exit to the New Jersey Devils, scoring a goal and six points in the seven-game series, the addition of the injured superstar only made things more complicated.
A hip injury that ultimately required surgery in the offseason greatly limited Kane’s effectiveness. While the name still carried plenty of cache, a visibly hampered Kane didn’t do much to move the Rangers in the direction of Stanley Cup contender.
Drury had already acquired a talented veteran scoring winger in Vladimir Tarasenko, so Kane was less of a need and more of an added bonus. Perhaps there’s something to the expression “too many chefs in the kitchen” because what resulted was a disjointed forward grouping that never truly found its footing.
Kane is not to fault for a disappointing first-round exit but, in retrospect, Drury should’ve stayed away from the injured superstar.
4. Signing Barclay Goodrow in 2021 offseason
One of Drury’s first moves as Rangers GM was signing Barclay Goodrow to a 6-year, $3.64 million AAV contract.
Fresh off helping the Tampa Bay Lightning to consecutive Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021 as part of a dynamic third line with Yanni Gourde and Blake Coleman, Goodrow was a desirable target League-wide. But Drury overpaid to acquire his championship pedigree and veteran leadership, giving a hefty contract with a lot of term to a bottom-six role player.
Goodrow largely saw a fourth-line role as the center of New York’s top checking line. Despite getting top penalty kill minutes as well, Goodrow’s ATOI dipped from 16:43 in his first season down to 12:34 in 2024.
After back-to-back 10-plus goal, 30-plus point seasons with New York, his production fell off a cliff in 2024, when he scored just four goals and finished with 12 points in 80 games while recording a minus-13 rating. He proved to be a valuable asset in the postseason, though, when he scored six goals in this past spring’s run to the Eastern Conference Final, but it wasn’t enough to get the Rangers to the Cup in any of his three seasons.
His impact on the penalty kill and postseason should not be overlooked, but it’s overshadowed by his AAV that was simply too high for someone who only played a bottom-six role. The fact that Drury put him on waivers after his strong postseason is a telling indictment of the contract, and the GM was fortunate the San Jose Sharks claimed him and the final three years of that deal.
3. Trading for Jack Roslovic before 2024 deadline
Drury’s first trade deadline was a resounding success, but the next two have left something to be desired. After failing via the superstar route in 2023, Drury opted for a quieter trade deadline in 2024, trading for Alex Wennberg, Nic Petan, Chad Ruhwedel, and Jack Roslovic.
While Wennberg was ultimately a solid move to bolster depth down the middle, Roslovic was not the answer at wing that the Rangers were searching for.
Despite a very good record and a lead in the Metropolitan Division, the Rangers faced a familiar issue with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, who struggled to mesh at even strength with a medley of right wingers that included Kaapo Kakko, Blake Wheeler, and Jimmy Vesey.
Plenty of talented wingers switched hands at the deadline. Pittsburgh Penguins star Jake Guentzel was the headliner when he was shipped to the Carolina Hurricanes, but other enticing names like Tyler Toffoli, Anthony Mantha, and Anthony Duclair were available as well. The Rangers, though, acquired the enigmatic Roslovic, who’d scored more than 12 goals once in his career, right before the deadline from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The speedy winger had just three goals and eight points in 19 regular-season games after the trade, all on the top line. After a hot start to his postseason, recording a point in each of his first five games, Roslovic’s production completely cratered. By the Eastern Conference Final, he was relegated to a fourth-line role.
Like Kane, he’s probably not the reason the Rangers fell in the postseason, but perhaps a stronger offensive winger could’ve helped turn the tide back in their favor. Drury only gave up a fourth-round pick, so the deal itself isn’t a disaster, but when there’s a Stanley Cup title in reach, it hurts to miss on a top-six add like that.
Roslovic is out the door already after signing a one-year contract with the Hurricanes this summer.
2. Signing Patrik Nemeth in 2021 offseason
Another one of the moves from his first offseason, Drury signed Patrik Nemeth to a 3-year, $2.5 million AAV deal with hopes he could be a reliable bottom-pairing defenseman.
Nemeth was 29 at the time and coming off a solid season splitting time with the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche, posting 10 points and a plus-5 rating. But Nemeth’s metrics took a deep dive as soon as he donned the Rangers uniform.
Nemeth recorded seven points and had a minus-9 rating through 63 games, grading out in the bottom one percent of all skaters in Evolving Hockey’s player charts.
With two years and $5 million still left on his contract, Drury attached a pair of second-round picks just to send him to the Arizona Coyotes and get his money off the books.
Nemeth’s lone season in New York was a disaster and the collateral of two second-round picks just to get rid of him easily makes this signing a complete failure.
1. Trading Pavel Buchnevich in 2021 offseason
The most maligned move of Drury’s tenure, unsurprisingly, is trading Pavel Buchnevich in the summer of 2021.
Buchnevich was due a significant raise as a restricted free agent, and the Rangers were tight against the salary cap. So, Drury opted to avoid a bigger payday for the then 25-year-old winger, tradsing him to the St. Louis Blues for Sammy Blais and a second-round pick.
Blais had a brutal knee injury, didn’t score a goal and had just nine points in the 54 games he played for the Rangers before ultimately getting shipped back to St. Louis in the Tarasenko trade in 2023. The second-rounder was flipped to the Winnipeg Jets for Andrew Copp, leaving the Rangers with no remnants from the trade, though Copp was a nice short-term add after the 2022 deadline.
If the lack of return wasn’t painful enough, Buchnevich has thrived since leaving New York, taking the leap that many fans envisioned he would.
After scoring 20 goals and 48 points in his last season as a Blueshirt, Buchnevich immediately made the step to elite winger, scoring an NHL career-high 30 goals and 78 points in his first season with the Blues. He’s kept up the production, posting 60-plus points and 25-plus goals in each of his first three seasons in St. Louis.
Despite Rangers fans longing for a return, Buchnevich won’t be going anywhere after signing a 6-year, $8 million AAV extension to stay with the Blues long term.
New York, meanwhile, has been left with a void at right wing that Drury has failed to fill outside of Frank Vatrano’s half-season in 2022. Even Vatrano wasn’t quite able to replicate the chemistry and production that Kreider, Zibanejad, and Buchnevich were able to develop.
This offseason’s trade for Reilly Smith marks the latest attempt to fill a gap that has lingered ever since Buchnevich’s departure. Drury’s made his share of missteps, but none quite compare to this.
