Why Chris Drury Should Be on the Hot Seat for the Rangers

After the baffling 2024-25 season the New York Rangers had, expectations around the league were that the Blueshirts would turn the ship around with new bench boss Mike Sullivan and improvements from players who had some of their worst years at the time. But after ten games into the new season the Rangers are the worst team in the Metropolitan Division, and it looks like more of the same. Even the improved defensive metrics the Rangers accumulated through their first eight games quickly fell apart as the team is back to allowing numerous high danger chances against Igor Shesterkin, reminiscent of how the team failed him last year. And after the Rangers lost to two of the worst teams in the league in back to back games, I took to Twitter to air out my frustration on team President and General Manager Chris Drury.

Regrettable past decisions

The Pavel Buchnevich trade

Chris Drury took over almost immediately after Jeff Gorton and John Davidson got fired in May of 2021, and two months later he shipped off Pavel Buchnevich to St. Louis for Sammy Blais and a 2022 second-round pick. During 2021, Buchnevich was the Rangers fourth-best point producer and unarguably the Rangers second-most consistent forward. So when Drury shipped him off for such a cheap price, it immediately caused an uproar in the Rangers fanbase, and rightfully so. Trading a 26-year old cost controlled player really raised questions.

Truth is, Drury traded Buchnevich for two reasons; he was pursuing Jack Eichel and wanted to save money incase the Rangers acquired the superstar center, and at the time Alexis Lafrenière, Kaapo Kakko, Vitali Kravtsov, and recently drafted Brennan Othmann were highly thought winger prospects. So moving Buchnevich to create room for each to be mainstays in the top-6 was a fine idea in concept, it just blew up in the worst way possible with coaching decisions such as having Barclay Goodrow in the top-6 while Lafrenière and Kakko were buried on the third line. To add, moving an already established youngish winger for the hope to acquire Eichel is just bad asset management in the basics of it all. Now it's 2025 and the Rangers could use a player of Buchnevich's caliber.

Not trading for J.T. Miller earlier

During the 2022 trade deadline it was reported by Arthur Staple of the Athletic, that the Rangers were very interested in trading for then 28-year old J.T. Miller from Vancouver. Drury's main goal was to use draft picks stockpiled by the Rangers rather than his prospects to acquire win now pieces for the team. However, Canucks president Jim Rutherford wouldn't budge off his asking price, and he really wanted Braden Schneider. Both sides obviously didn't make the deal back then, as Drury pivoted to Andrew Copp and others.

The concept of not wanting to trade your highly touted prospect(s) for "rental(s)" is fine, but when the team was in win-now mode a Stanley Cup should have been more important, especially since the prospect wasn't someone like Lafrenière. The Rangers now have both Miller and kept Schneider, but the 32-year old captain has been underwhelming in his first full season back with New York. Miller has a 55% expected goal share which is great, but then you add in the layers of only having six points in ten games and at times how invisible he's been on the ice. It makes you wonder, is he already on the decline and did Drury acquire him too late into New York's championship window?

Not trading for Jake Guentzel in 2024

Chris Drury was looking for a winger to compliment Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad during the 2024 trade deadline, and lucky for him the big fish was Jake Guentzel; an elite winger who only gets better when it's time for the postseason. Pittsburgh's asking price was Brennan Othmann, Kaapo Kakko, and a first round pick. Drury refused to deal Othmann, and at the time Kakko. Guentzel instead went to the divisional rival Carolina Hurricanes, who then lost to the Rangers in that historical game six during the second round. However for the Rangers, they would then be eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champions Florida Panthers in six.

Drury felt the roster needed to be reshaped, which he was right about. It started with getting rid of Goodrow through a loophole in waivers and wanting to add a big name in free agency for the right price. He once again had his eyes set on Jake Guentzel, but once again his hope would be shattered when Tampa Bay locked up the star winger after acquiring him through trade. Eventually, Kakko was traded for Will Borgen who's been fine for the Blueshirts, and Othmann looks like he could be on the move any time now with how underwhelming his development path has been.

Ignoring the development of young talent

There was a time after the Rangers selected Lafrenière first overall in 2020 that they would be a wagon for years to come. A surplus of young talent including but not limited to Adam Fox, Shesterkin, K'Andre Miller, Kravtsov, Filip Chytil, Kakko, Schneider, Ryan Lindgren, and the just mentioned Lafrenière. But now in 2025, everyone but Shesterkin, Fox, Schneider, and Lafrenière have been moved. It feels like he didn't learn from the Lias Andersson mess that was caused by Jeff Gorton. Drury kept the same development staff in Jed Ortmeyer and Tanner Glass while letting people like skills coach Mark Ciaccio stay with the team and quite literally every single first round pick (minus Filip Chytil) the Rangers have made since 2017 has not lived to their expectations. Now the Rangers future looks as bleak as it did back before the letter of 2017 was released, and there seems to be no sense of direction when it comes to developing the high end talent on this roster.

Will it get better anytime soon?

The Rangers average age on the current roster is 28.08, but that's more due to the youth on the bottom six rather than the top-six. Miller and Zibanejad are 32, Artemi Panarin is a pending UFA at 33 (turning 34 on October 30th), Vincent Trocheck is 32, and Lafrenière who's development has embarrassingly stalled despite being 24. In terms of top prospects, the only one who projects to be a top-six option is Gabe Perreault, but with the Rangers development track record, it's nowhere near a guarantee. It's hard to have optimism in Rangers land currently, with little young talent and an aging core.

But it's now Drury's fifth season in charge, and has it been all bad? No, absolutely not. Transactions such as signing Vincent Trocheck in free agency, extending Adam Fox, and trading former 2018 first-round picks K'Andre Miller and Nils Lundkvist for hauls are objectively good moves. But for every good move it feels, there's a couple head scratchers; such as trading a third round pick for Carson Soucy or the 2023 trade deadline where he went all in on Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane, only to let them both walk in free agency following their first round exit to the Devils.

It's Drury's fifth full season as President and General Manager for the Rangers, and with no true sense of direction; Drury needs to be replaced with a fresh, modern voice immediately.