Closing out our 2023-2024 report cards is our 2024 Chris Drury report card. It’s tough to grade a GM on one season since analyzing each move in a vacuum is usually a fool’s errand. Each move is made with an overall goal in mind, and sometimes it may not be clear why a player or a coach was added until we see all the pieces fall into place.
To me, the GM’s role is to identify where the team is, what the goal of the season is, and fill the holes appropriately. Coming into the 2023-2024 season, that goal was to rid the team of the toxic Gerard Gallant atmosphere, insert a coach that can provide much needed structure, and fine tune the team as the season progressed.
Normally, we would be grading Drury from the start of the 2023 draft through the day before the 2024 draft. But hiring Peter Laviolette was a big part of his 2023-2024 plan, so we have to move the goalposts a bit and judge him from that point forward.
Hiring Peter Laviolette: A
Hiring Laviolette was criticized at the time, and that’s fine. He was a retread, many wanted Kris Knoblauch, and there was concern about hiring yet another coach who was fired without a Cup in recent years. But this time around, the head coach couldn’t bring his usual assistants.
Instead, Laviolette filled out his staff with Dan Muse, Phil Housley, and Michael Peca. All three brought in unique coaching skills to help develop the current roster while Laviolette guided them to an Eastern Conference Final appearance. One puck bounce the other way and they have a 3-1 lead on Florida as well.
It didn’t end the way they had hoped, but Laviolette and his staff were strong hires.
2023 NHL Draft: A
Drury gets an A for the draft, but this is mostly luck based. Gabe Perreault should not have fallen to #23 for the Rangers, but he did. Still, good on Drury for recognizing that Perreault was the obvious pick despite falling.
The rest of the 2023 Draft was solid. Drew Fortescue is a good prospect and Dylan Roobroeck appears to be yet another giant that can play the game well.
Landing Perreault alone made the draft a win. But Drury did well with the other picks.
Cutting Libor Hajek loose: A++++
About time.
2023 Free Agency: B-
The Rangers didn’t have much cap space to make a splash in free agency. While that was probably a good thing, this was also a problem created by Drury in his first season with the Rangers. He has since recognized his mistakes and has cut bait with that entire first year, but the damage was done.
The cap space concern was an issue of his own creation and led to the Rangers going bargain bin hunting. Jonathan Quick and Erik Gustafsson were massive wins. Blake Wheeler was fine, but had to play up in the lineup due to Kaapo Kakko’s inability to hold down the 2RW spot. Filip Chytil’s injury forced Nick Bonino to play way up in the lineup, and that simply didn’t work out either.
Connor Mackey, Tyler Pitlick, and Mac Hollowell were fine depth options.
The Rangers probably benefited from Drury’s cap mess, but it was still a mess of his own doing, bringing his free agency grade down.
Midseason contract extensions: B
The Rangers signed 4 players to contract extensions midseason: Connor Mackey (2 years, $775k cap hit), Jonny Brodzinski (2 years, $787.5k), Brandon Scanlin (2 years, $775k), and Jonathan Quick (1 year, $1.3 million).
All four earned their contract extensions, with Scanlin proving he could be a true dark horse for the Rangers blue line. Brodzinski and Mackey are still going to be depth players, but they are solid depth at the NHL level while providing top of the lineup skill for the Hartford Wolf Pack.
The only gripe I have is Quick’s contract. A backup goalie at $1.3 million is a bit high, but Quick was so good last season it’s tough to argue against. I would have preferred he come in around $1 million, as that extra $300k goes a long way, but it may be nitpicking.
2024 Trade Deadline: C
The 2024 trade deadline was a bit rough. Alex Wennberg was a much needed add down the middle. He stabilized the bottom six and was a key piece in one of the top playoff shutdown lines. Wennberg was the “prize” of the deadline, and that really doesn’t say much.
Jack Roslovic was a fine add for the cost (4th round pick), but he disappeared in the playoffs. He was a straight line player whose speed certainly helped the Kreider-Zibanejad duo in the regular season, but was stifled in the postseason. Overall fine, but mostly due to cost.
Trading for Chad Ruhwedel made sense. The Rangers needed a reliable 7D and he came cheap. It’s not really on Drury that Ruhwedel wasn’t used over the very clearly injured Jacob Trouba.
If not for his own mess with the salary cap, the Rangers probably could have added more. Alas, it was not meant to be.
Pulling a Tampa/Vegas with Filip Chytil: A++++
Putting Filip Chytil on LTIR and having him return for the playoffs was the kind of move Cup winners make. It’s about time we saw the Rangers use this loophole to their advantage.
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