Is general manager Chris Drury the man to handle the Rangers ‘retool?
Peter Carr/The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images The New York Rangers’ season was falling apart in mid-January when team president and general manager Chris Drury issued “Letter 2. 0,” a message to fans that management was throwing in the towel on the current season and would begin to “retool” for the future. Four months and one last-place finish in the Eastern Conference later, the question now is whether Drury is the man for the job.
Owner James Dolan told WFAN Radio in New York on Jan. 5 that he was confident the Rangers had the right people in charge and the Drury and first-year coach Mike Sullivan would remain in their jobs. Ironically, Dolan was on his way to Madison Square Garden that day to see the Blueshirts play the Utah Mammoth in what proved to be a disastrous game – not only did the Rangers lose 3-2 in overtime, they also lost starting goalie Igor Shesterkin and No.
1 defenseman Adam Fox to injuries that kept two of the team’s most important players out until after the Olympic break. Things fell apart from there. The Rangers finished 21 points behind the third-place Philadelphia Flyers in the Metropolitan Division and 22 behind the Ottawa Senators for the second wild card in the East.
It was the second straight non-playoff season for a franchise that got within two wins of the Stanley Cup Final in 2022 and 2024. The 25 games the Rangers played after the Olympic break were meaningless – a big reason 12 of the 14 home games didn’t sell out. Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images There’s obviously lots of work to be done, but in a conference call with the media during breakup day on April 17, Drury wouldn’t give any specifics.
“I’m not going to get into the timelines,” Drury said via call (rather than in person at a press conference) when asked how close the Rangers are to getting back to the playoffs. “I think we have a lot of good players. We have a lot of talented players.
Continue to the original source for the full article.