On March 20th, 2019, New York Rangers assistant general manager and former player Chris Drury was named GM of this year’s U.S. Men’s National Team at the World Championships. Could he bring any current Rangers along with him?
Chris Drury is a huge part of the New York Rangers’ past, present, and, most likely, their future. He played for the team for four seasons out of his 12-year career, serving as captain for three.
In 264 total games with the organization between the 2007-2008 and 2010-2011 campaigns. In that time, he had 61 goals and 89 assists, adding up to 151 points.
He averaged about 0.6 points per game while with New York and made the playoffs with the team three times. More recently, he was named a director of player development with the Rangers for the 2015-2016 season and was promoted to assistant general manager for the 2016-2017 season, a position he still holds.
Additionally, Drury was named general manager of the New York Rangers’ AHL club, the Hartford Wolf Pack, for the 2017-2018 season. He still holds this position as well.
With the World Championships beginning in a little over a month and the rosters sure to be released soon, speculation season is upon us. Since there’s a former Ranger serving as GM for the team this year, will there be a greater chance of any current players be named to the team?
First, we have to take a look at who on the current New York Rangers roster is eligible for Team USA; or, how many American-born players are Rangers. There are currently ten players on the Rangers’ NHL roster who were born in the United States and therefore eligible to make the team; Connor Brickley, Tony DeAngelo, Chris Kreider, Brendan Lemieux, Vinni Lettieri, Cristoval “Boo” Nieves, Neal Pionk, Kevin Shattenkirk, Brady Skjei, and Jimmy Vesey.
We can rule out a few players right off the bat. Some of them aren’t quite NHL regulars yet or are just starting to make that transition, so they most likely wouldn’t make it to World Championships; this group will most likely include Brickley, Lettieri, and possibly Nieves, Pionk, and DeAngelo.
This leaves a group of Rangers with a few seasons of experience under their belts, and good experience at that. This group includes Kreider, Shattenkirk, Skjei, and Vesey.
The most obvious choice out of these four is Chris Kreider. He has had one of his better seasons, despite slowing down a bit recently.
In 73 games, he has 26 goals and 23 assists for a total of 49 points. With two more goals and two more assists, he would reach his career high in both categories.
If he does record those four points, two goals and two assists, he would match his career high in points as well. The forward sits in second place in goals and points among Rangers players, only behind Mika Zibanejad.
He is third on the team in assists, behind Zibanejad and Kevin Shattenkirk. While it would be extremely difficult to catch Zibanejad in any of the categories, Kreider only has two fewer assists than Shattenkirk, so he could move into second place before the end of the season.
While Kreider seems like a lock, the other three players don’t appear to be definite selections for the World Championship team. I think that the player with the second-best chance is Shattenkirk.
Though not great compared to his career numbers, he is having his best season as a Ranger, with two goals and 25 assists for 27 points. He is second on the team in assists, sixth among defensemen in goals, seventh on the team in points, and second in defensemen in points.
The tournament is starting a week later than in the past, after the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs have concluded. That will make the pool of available talent even larger and that could mean Shattenkirk is a late scratch.
As for Skjei and Vesey, I could see them as dark-horse candidates for the team, but don’t think it’s very likely that they make it. Vesey is having his best NHL season thus far, with career highs in points (34) and assists (18), and is one goal away from matching his career high there as well (16).
He’s third on the team in points, fifth in assists, and fourth in goals. Compared to the rest of Vesey’s career, he’s doing great, I’m just not sure if he can measure up to the rest of the available talent.
Skjei has even less of a chance of making it. He may be having his worst NHL season so far, in all categories except goals.
The defenseman has set career lows in points and assists, despite a career high in goals. He is tenth on the team in goals, eighth in assists, tenth in points as well. A huge resurgence in the final stretch of the season would be crucial for the young blue-liner, not just to make Team USA, but for his NHL presence as well.