Rangers trade Alexandar Georgiev to Avalanche for picks ahead of NHL Draft

MONTREAL — The Rangers came to the first in-person NHL Draft since 2019 without a first- round pick and with only four picks overall in the two-day, seven-round draft, but hours before the first round was scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at the Bell Centre, general manager Chris Drury traded backup goaltender Alexandar Georgiev to the Colorado Avalanche for three draft picks.

Faced with a deadline of 5 p.m. Monday to present a $2.65 million qualifying offer to Georgiev, a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, or lose him to unrestricted free agency, Drury moved him to the Stanley Cup champions for third- and fifth-round picks this year and a third-round pick in 2023.

“It was just something we’ve been looking at, working on and trying to clear some cap space, and [we] talked to a bunch of teams,’’ Drury said. “And that’s just kind of a deal that came together today.’’

Drury said it was nice that he was able to get back some draft picks in the deal after trading so many away at the trade deadline, when he added Frank Vatrano, Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte and Justin Braun, who helped push the team to the Eastern Conference Final.

Georgiev spent five years with the Rangers after signing with the team following a tryout in 2017. Said Drury, “He’s a fierce competitor and a real good goalie, and I think he’s going to do real good things with Colorado.’’

The move signifies that the Avalanche will not re-sign goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who is an unrestricted free agent. Georgiev apparently will compete/split time with Pavel Francouz, who served as Kuemper’s backup in Colorado this season.

After one full season in the minor leagues with AHL Hartford, Georgiev became Henrik Lundqvist’s backup in 2018-19.

In his career with the Rangers, Georgiev appeared in 129 games (117 starts) and posted a 58-48-11 record with eight shutouts, a 2.94 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.

The more Igor Shesterkin emerged and the more ice time he commanded in his Vezina Trophy-winning 2021-22 season, the more Georgiev struggled. He went 15-10-2 with a 2.92 GAA and .898 save percentage.

Trading Georgiev kicked off what should be a very busy couple of weeks for Drury, who was one of three finalists for the Jim Gregory Award, given to the league’s GM of the Year. Colorado’s Joe Sakic won the award, an honor announced after the Sabres selected Swedish center Noah Ostlund with the 16th overall pick. The Islanders’ Lou Lamoriello won the award in each of the previous two seasons.

Drury, who took over as president and GM of the Rangers in May 2021 after the shocking firing of president John Davidson and GM Jeff Gorton, had been part of the management team that executed a four-year organizational rebuild. Although much of the team already was assembled when he took over, Drury put the finishing touches on it.

He replaced David Quinn with Gerard Gallant, who was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as the league’s Coach of the Year, and added the grit the team needed in the form of two-time Stanley Cup champion Barclay Goodrow and enforcer Ryan Reaves. He also signed No. 1 center Mika Zibanejad and defenseman Adam Fox to extensions.

Drury has much work to do in putting together the roster for the 2022-23 season, especially given the challenges the team faces in fitting everyone under the salary cap.

The Rangers have about $10.2 million available under the $82.5 million cap. Right wing Kaapo Kakko, 21, is a restricted free agent.

Drury said center Ryan Strome, who is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent, did not have surgery to repair the core muscle injury that affected him during the playoffs.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.