2026 Rangers Report Card: Chris Drury

This article is part of an ongoing series of Rangers Report Cards, grading the performance of each member of the 2025-26 New York Rangers. To view more report cards in this series, go here.

To read the Season Preview for Chris Drury, go here. 

I come here neither to praise Chris Drury, nor to bury him.

I do not come to bury him because, in some sense, there's no point. He's still the general manager of the New York Rangers. And despite what some people out there have convinced themselves of, there's simply no evidence that Rangers owner James Dolan has lost faith in Drury, nor that his seat is even hot.

Allow me to remind you that, post-letter, Dolan appeared on WFAN to, among other things, voice his support for Drury and the coming Rangers retool. You can think that's an error and you can think that faith misplaced. But it's real, nevertheless. And while it is, of course, possible that Dolan suddenly changes his mind and shows Drury the door—every NHL GM is inexorably on a path to being fired some day—it is worth recalling that the dismissals of Jeff Gorton and John Davidson had an exogenous event in the Artemi Panarin-Tom Wilson incident, and the league's subsequent lack of reaction thereto, that contributed to that outcome.

Post your Drury clown-face memes all you want. He'll still be here when it stops getting likes.

But, I do not come to praise Chris Drury either, because I don't have all that much to praise. As Joe and I have noted on the podcast, we're at the point now where Chris Drury needs to prove any and all of our previous defenses of him right (and I do think some of those earlier lines of criticism about him were often unfair, bleeding into ridiculous) rather than Joe and I's defenses needing to be proved wrong.

It simply wouldn't be honest of me to say that the job Drury has done has been good. I said on one of the episodes of the podcast that there's a forest vs. the trees problem with a lot of Drury's work. Many, if not most, of his individual moves I think are, at worst, defensible, if not somewhere between fine and good. Yes, there's the original sin of the the Pavel Buchnevich trade. And, yes, there have unquestionably been bad moves, like signing Patrik Nemeth. But given some less than ideal situations, he's often managed to find a way to make some lemonade out of those lemons.

But when you step back and look at the forest, the picture is much less impressive. The Rangers were a very bad hockey team in 2024-25. They were an even worse hockey team, by record at least, in 2025-26. This is made to look even worse by having reached the Eastern Conference Final in two of the three seasons preceding the 2024-25 collapse. The players bear an enormous amount of culpability in what transpired—they have the lion's share of it, I'd argue; you can think your boss is a mean jerkface all you want, but that doesn't validate or legitimize your subsequent decision to just stop doing your job. But, the buck stops at the top, and that means it stops with Chris Drury.

Before we look forward, let's look back at this past season.

Expectations

From my Season Preview:

The expectations for Chris Drury this year are tied pretty directly to the expectations for the entire team this year. I don't want to spoil our upcoming Blueshirt Banter Season Preview Roundtable (out on Oct. 6), but I think reasonable expectations would have the Rangers back in the playoffs, and ideally winning a round, if not two.

Welp.

Look, we've been over this already. Most of us here at the Banter were definitely too bullish on this team, thinking that they'd rebound more from the prior season's disaster. There was some reason to think this, after all. Despite many of the players quitting on the team for weeks on end, the Rangers still finished just outside of the playoffs in 2024-25. The reacquisition of J.T. Miller had added some spark to the team late in the year, particularly seeming to revitalize Mika Zibanejad's game. They still had Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin. They'd added Vladislav Gavrikov, who is the best defensive partner Fox has had in years, and they would go on to be one of the best and most effective defensive pairings in the entire NHL.

What seemed to make sense in theory was far less than that in practice. The team was bad straight out of the gate. They couldn't score, and seemed to get shutout every other game they played. Some of this leveled out as the season went a long, players found their offensive game, and they were able to win some games. But the team was what it was, and there was no denying what they were was just not enough.

As such, we never got to a conversation about buying at the trade deadline. This team had areas that needed to be addressed, but that would come in a much different form when the team released The Letter 2.0 and announced they would retool.

Performance

To evaluate this, let's take a look at the major individual moves that Drury made this year:

• The Carolina Hurricanes acquire K'Andre Miller for Scott Morrow, a conditional 2026 1st round pick, and 2026 2nd round pick

I'll give this trade a C. I'm betting many of you would grade it lower. As Joe and I have discussed on the podcast, there's a skewing effect when you're talking about defensemen in Carolina's system. Brady Skjei is perhaps the best example of a player who was mediocre and inconsistent before he was with Carolina, was good and effective with Carolina, and was straight up bad after leaving Raleigh. That has to be taken into account when talking about Miller here. Scott Morrow is another whole can of worms, but in short: I agree that he should have gotten more run, but I also understand that the offensive upside of defensemen who can't play defense at all has to be enormous for them to even get serious consideration from most NHL head coaches. Hopefully Morrow can improve that part of his game, because if he can't then this trade only looks worse. And finally, there are the draft picks, for which we'll have to wait and see who the Rangers get with that.

• Vladislav Gavrikov signs a 7-year, $49,000,000 deal with the Rangers

A+ for this one. Gavrikov's contract is incredibly reasonable, especially with the salary cap going up, and he's the best defensive partner Adam Fox has arguably ever had. Check out the Fox Report Card for the numbers on how they did as a pair this year. Spoiler alert: They were fantastic.

• Taylor Raddysh signs a 2-year, $3,000,000 deal with the Rangers

This gets a C. Raddysh was fine, but considering how bad the Rangers were this year (and admittedly he was not signed with an eye towards the team being that bad) it would have been better to not have a guy who isn't part of the future in New York taking up a roster spot. Likely the only reason he's still on the roster is that his father was dying right around the trade deadline, so Drury opted not to move him amidst those circumstances. The grade can slightly improve if/when he's traded and we see what assets he returns.

• Conor Sheary signs a 1-tear, $775,000 deal with the Rangers

Another C. Look, I know Sheary was one of the primary whipping boys all season long. I said in training camp that I didn't want them to give him a deal, and would have rather had Brett Berard—who is a very similar but younger player—taking that roster spot. But there were several things at play here. Sheary is a veteran who has won championships with Mike Sullivan. Sullivan wanted a a guy who knew him and his coaching style well and who could lead by example. Berard, for his part, simply didn't do anything that forced the Rangers to keep him on the roster, let alone in the lineup. And, at the end of the day, Sheary wasn't terrible, even if he wasn't overly impressive. He was fine.

• The New York Islanders acquired Carson Soucy for a 2026 3rd round pick

Give this one a B. Could Drury have gotten a little bit more from another team? Probably. Did he do Soucy, who had a newborn at home, a solid by only sending him out to Long Island instead of across the country? Absolutely. Was the delta between this return and the best reasonable theoretical return that big? Probably not.

• The Los Angeles Kings acquired Artemi Panarin for Liam Greentree, a conditional 2026 3rd round pick, and a conditional 2028 4th round pick

This is a B. I can already hear some of the groaning out there, but reality is reality. Artemi Panarin had a full no-movement clause, and at the end of the day he decided Los Angeles was the only place he wanted to go. If a recent Russian-language interview is to be taken completely seriously, then Panarin didn't want to go to the Seattle Kraken, even though they were prepared to offer him more money in a contract extension that the Kings did (and where the return could have theoretically been bigger for the Rangers), because he didn't like their jersey colors. What do you even say to that? I get that some feel that this return was underwhelming given the quality of the player, but that's what happens when you have only one buyer out there. And, there's reason to be hopeful about Liam Greentree.

• Ty Kartye was claimed off waivers by the New York Rangers from Seattle

This was an A. Given where the Rangers were, there was no reason not to take a flyer on a guy like Kartye, and he turned out to be a pretty valuable piece for them late in the season. It cost you nothing and he was productive. What's not to like?

• The Buffalo Sabres acquire Sam Carrick for a 2026 3rd round pick and a 2026 6th round pick (CHI)

It's kind of funny that this trade seemed to sting the most? Sam Carrick can play on my hockey team any day. He was a guy who cared at a time on the Rangers when plenty of players decided that they did not care nearly enough. That said, I think we were deluding ourselves if we thought we were getting a something like a first round pick for him. This gets a B.

• The Calgary Flames acquire Brennan Othmann for Jacob Battaglia

I'll give this a C. On one hand, given the current state of things when this trade was made, it's remarkable that they got anything back for Brennan Othmann, first round draft pick pedigree or not. He had simply done nothing to prove be belonged in the NHL. On the other hand, Othmann had been around so long and done so little with the (arguably too few) chances he was given that his value had been allowed to depreciate far too much. If they really didn't think he was a part of the future, they should have moved him much earlier when they could have gotten more.

While all of these transactions are July 1, 2025 and after, I think we should also examine two other deals that were made prior to that date. First up:

• The Anaheim Ducks acquired Chris Kreider and a 2025 4th round pick for Carey Terrance and a 2025 3rd round pick

This gets a C- from me. The return is underwhelming, and made all the more brutal by it being for Chris Kreider, whose jersey I still think will hang in the rafters of Madison Square Garden some day. He should have been a Ranger for life. I think he could have been if he wanted to stay here. In the wake of the 2024-25 season, he decided that he didn't. That's his right, and the feeling at that point was probably mutual. And Chris Drury facilitated a trade to destination he desired, which as we've seen with other deals, when the buyers are few the return is considerably less. It's only a C- and not a D because it's clear to me that Kreider wanted out.

And finally:

• The Rangers acquired J.T. Miller, Erik Brannstrom, and Jackson Dorrington from the Vancouver Canucks for Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini, and a conditional 2025 1st round pick

Joe and I have talked on the podcast about how the philosophy of some fans about wanting to overwhelming "win" trades is wrong. Trading, in all forms, is supposed to be a win-win proposition. You give up something you value but that you value less than what it is you're getting in return. For the other party, the same is true, as well. Jeff Marek remarked that this is one of the few trades he could think of that was a disaster for both sides, as both teams got worse after doing the deal. For Vancouver, Mancini is probably a fringe seventh defenseman/AHLer, at best. And then there's poor Filip Chytil, who still can't stay healthy.

For the Rangers side, Erik Brannstrom was almost immediately traded. Jackson Dorrington might be just about the same kind of quad-A player that Macini is for the Canucks. And then there's Miller. If you listen to the podcast, you know that I'm not a big fan of J.T. Miller and do not think he was a good choice for the captaincy. I'm with Joe in that if I could press a button to undo the trade, I'd press it. I'm tempted to grade this a D, but will give it a C- for the possibility that Miller's membership in Team USA mafia might attract some other Team USAers to Manhattan.

Grades

Author's Grade: C

Banter Consensus: C-

Final Evaluation

His seat may not be hot yet, but the clock is ticking.

Drury has a couple of things going for him right now. First, he has an owner who has given him a full vote of confidence, so he knows that he's not out there having to wheel and deal to try to save his job. Many of you probably wish that if he wasn't already fired, that he was on the cusp of losing it. I promise you that's a worse scenario. GMs in that position are given to making big, bold, and frequently bad trades. Operating with some job security is a hedge against that. Add to that Dolan no doubt being far more focused on the New York Knicks right now, and Drury is operating from a place of quiet comfort rather than panic or urgency.

Second, he has the best chip that's available on either the trade market or the free agent market (because there's hardly anyone available there) in Vincent Trocheck. Trade deadline day coming and going with out Trocheck being moved was undeniably a let down, but it also looks like it was the right play for Drury. The returns weren't what he was looking for, and other GMs were staring him down to see if he'd make a panic move. He didn't. Now he holds all the cards. The news that Dylan Larkin has requested a trade from the Detroit Red Wings dampens this a little. But there will still be plenty of suitors out there for Trocheck. Plenty of more pixels will be spilled between now and when he's almost certainly traded, but this is the biggest opportunity Drury has to move this retool/rebuild further down the road. Simply put, he can't fuck this up.

But the forthcoming Trocheck deal underscores that we're finally at a crossroads with Drury. A retool/rebuild is happening. And if we're going to start sprouting some saplings that will make that aforementioned unimpressive forest of Drury's work look more appealing, it starts with the Trocheck deal. Get that right and the Rangers are on their way down the path to improvement and, eventually, contention again.

Get it wrong? Well, get it wrong and we'll all reconvene here to bury Chris Drury, sooner rather than later.