Typically it’s never a great thing to be crowned “offseason champions” or to be known as winning free agency. However on July 1st, Chris Drury and the New York Rangers received some good news and news that could be considered a win for the first time since a disastrous 2024-2025 campaign. This Drury win was much needed and set the Rangers on the right path.
It has been well known that the Rangers needed to get better defensively and re-establish their blue line. Drury started the work during the regular season moving on from Jacob Trouba and noted warrior Ryan Lindgren. While not every defensive decision Drury made was a hit–Carson Soucy–he did bring in Will Borgen who stabilized K’Andre Miller’s play for awhile.
Going into the summer it was well known that the Rangers re-tool of the blue line would need to continue, but the question would be with limited money what would Drury ultimately be able to accomplish? The need of having to re-sign Will Cuylle weighed heavy on the fanbases mind, especially after multiple reports stated that Cuylle could be a prime target for an offer sheet. It was evident that Drury would also move on from K’Andre Miller after 5 years as part of the Rangers core, the front office deemed he was no longer part of the solution.
The biggest issue facing Drury and the Rangers was the money that other UFA defensemen were seeking and then landing from teams. The Ivan Provorov extension in Columbus almost surely set the standard that, if Drury was going to land the best UFA d-man on the market in Vlad Gavrikov, he would likely have to give him a contract that started with an $8 million cap hit at a minimum.
Gavrikov had turned down multiple offers from the Kings to stay in Los Angeles and decided to test his luck in free agency. It had been rumored that he would command at least close to the Provorov extension, which would’ve been far too much for the Rangers without possibly losing Will Cuylle. But luckily for the Rangers and Drury, they were able to lure Gavrikov to New York to a much friendlier contract than anticipated at 7 years and $7 million per season.
The deal finally gives Adam Fox a lockdown defensive partner that they haven’t had since Lindgren’s game fell apart the last two seasons. After landing the biggest defensive fish left in the free agency ocean, Drury then dealt K’Andre Miller to the division rival Hurricanes for an absolute haul. Carolina sent back a 2026 1st (the better of their two between their pick and the Stars), a 2026 2nd (important since the Blueshirts don’t own their own 2nd in next year’s draft), and right handed defense prospect Scott Morrow, the Canes’ top ranked prospect.
Considering the bad tape that Miller put out last year and the fact that everyone knew Drury was dead set on moving Miller, this was highly impressive work from the Rangers GM. Drury, now armed with future capital to be able to add at this year’s deadline–if all goes well and this team competes under new HC Mike Sullivan–also maintained some cap flexibility as well to be able to continue to add around the edges of this roster the rest of the summer.
After a season where Drury’s leadership was severely questioned for his roster construction and relationships with players, he went a long way on the first day of free agency to making this roster better. In all honesty, to be able to virtually trade K’Andre Miller and get away from that extension, for a team-friendly contract with Vlad Gavrikov, two picks, and a well regarded prospect is a win that Drury and his Rangers sorely needed.
Despite the massive Drury win, the job’s still not finished. This week in free agency was a terrific start to hopefully getting the Rangers back to where they should be. That is playing springtime hockey.
