Rangers GM Chris Drury believes final tweaks to roster have club in good position for playoff run
Rangers general manager Chris Drury speaks during a press conference at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 28, 2022. Credit: Getty Images/Steven Ryan
GREENBURGH — It was a hectic last 24 hours before Friday’s NHL trade deadline and a hectic week for general manager Chris Drury as he tried to reshape the Rangers’ roster on the fly.
And when the deadline came and went and the last trade was made and the roster was set for the final 20 games of the season, Drury said he was pleased with what he’d been able to get done.
He said he thinks the reconfigured Rangers now have a chance to not only make the playoffs but to do some damage if and when they get there.
“I do,’’ Drury said on a Zoom call with the local media after the 3 p.m. deadline passed. “I believe in the group. I wanted to make some changes these last few days, this last week, to show them that. The way they played since the new year [15-7-4], and . . . even when we’ve lost games, just the way they played to me is how you have to play night in and night out.
“But certainly, they have to take the bull by the horns and win hockey games.’’
After making two trades Thursday, Drury had a relatively quiet day Friday. The biggest news the team made was announcing that it had reached agreement with defenseman Urho Vaakanainen on a two-year contract extension that a source said carries an average annual value of $1.55 million.
They did make one late trade that was announced after the deadline had passed: They flipped defenseman Erik Brannstrom, who had been acquired in the J.T. Miller deal in late January, to Buffalo for forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel. Brannstrom, 25, had been playing for Hartford and Aube-Kubel, 28, had split the season between Buffalo and its AHL affiliate in Rochester.
On Thursday, Drury traded pending unrestricted free agent forward Reilly Smith, an original Golden Knight, back to Vegas for San Jose’s third-round pick in this year’s NHL Draft and prospect Brendan Brisson. A few hours later, he flipped the pick to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for 6-5 defenseman Carson Soucy.
After the Rangers practiced Friday before traveling to Ottawa for Saturday’s matinee, coach Peter Laviolette said the move to add Soucy, 30, was “great.’’
“Big left-shot ‘D’ and can take down some minutes,’’ he said.
“We think there’s a lot of possibilities with Carson,’’ Drury said. “I’m glad we’re able to get him . . . I was excited about the term [he’s under contract for this season and next], excited about the number [an AAV of $3.25 million].’’
Drury has been very active in making deals all season. A 4-15 skid from late November through the end of December knocked the Rangers out of a playoff spot and into last place in the Metropolitan Division by New Year’s Eve, so Drury started to shake things up.
In December, he traded captain Jacob Trouba to Anaheim for Vaakanainen and draft picks and sent winger Kaapo Kakko to Seattle for Borgen and picks.
In January, he sent Filip Chytil, prospect defenseman Victor Mancini and a first-round pick to Vancouver in the deal to get Miller.
Last Saturday, he traded pending UFAs Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey to Colorado for forward Juuso Parssinen, defenseman Calvin de Haan and two picks.
One trade Drury didn’t make was moving on from winger Chris Kreider, the longest-tenured Ranger. Kreider had been on the trading block since late November, when it leaked out that Drury had sent a memo to the other 31 general managers that he was looking to make trades. Trouba and Kreider were listed by name as among those players available to be had.
But on Friday, Drury said he is happy to still have Kreider, who is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
“I’m really excited Chris is here,’’ he said. “He’s been a terrific Ranger for a long time. You know, in some ways, if and when he does play, hopefully, which is relatively soon, he’ll be almost like a trade-deadline acquisition, with him and Adam [Fox].’’
Notes & quotes: Soucy will meet the team in Ottawa, and Laviolette said “I believe so’’ when he was asked if he will play Saturday . . . Will Cuylle, who the team said was sick Thursday, did not practice Friday but skated on his own . . . Laviolette would not say whether Kreider will be activated off injured reserve and be in the lineup Saturday . . . Fox (upper-body injury) has been skating, but Laviolette couldn’t say when he might return . . . D Chad Ruhwedel was returned to AHL Hartford.
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.
