As a whole - the salary cap so far
Listen, the Rangers re-signed an incredibly-improved Will Cuylle with a $3.9 million a year bridge deal. Trading away Miller and as a result, his salary, in exchange for Gavrikov was another step in the right direction — especially for a value of $7 million for the caliber of defensive defenseman (one of the best in the league) he is. Additionally, trading away Kreider unloads his contract and brought plenty of return in cap space.
Acquiring the players previously mentioned in free agency for the value they got was also quite impressive. In terms of cap space, Drury did his job; but I will take away points that he had to get rid of Kreider in order to get there.
As a whole - the 2025 NHL Draft
Drury selected five much-needed defenseman and three forwards (one left wing, one center and one right wing) at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. At No. 43 they took winger Malcolm Spence, defenseman Sean Barnhill at No. 70, defenseman Artyom Gonchar at No. 89, center Mikkel Eriksen at No. 111, another defenseman in Zeb Lindgren at No. 139, winger Samuel Jung at No. 166, defenseman Evan Passmore at No. 171, and finally defenseman Felix Färhammar at No. 203.
All of these were good picks that meet the needs of the franchise. But, while it was necessary in order to complete the J.T. Miller trade, it would have been nice to see them make a first round pick.
Overall, Drury and the Rangers' franchise have made practically all of their offseason moves in the high marks range in an attempt to rectify missing the 2025 postseason.
Hopefully, all of this pays off well on the ice for the Blueshirts during their 2025-26 season.