By now, Chris Drury would be gone in any professional organization with high standards. Shoot, he wouldn’t have had the job in the first place.
Today, the Rangers will introduce Mike Sullivan as their 38th head coach in franchise history. Undoubtedly, it will be heartwarming, which is always true in this setting. You will hear stuff like accountability, forecheck, attack, player development, collaboration, and more from the new head coach. The new guy will work the room and appeal to the masses who want to eat it all up. It’s just the way Rangers’ owner James Dolan likes it.
Yes, it will be Sullivan’s day, but it will also be Chris Drury’s day. Drury is the Rangers’ president of hockey operations and general manager. Drury wanted Sullivan as his head coach, but couldn’t get Sullivan in New York because he was still employed as the Pittsburgh Penguins’ coach. So after coming to the Rangers, he had to settle for Gerard Gallant and Peter Laviolette as his first two head coaches.
Now, thanks to his former team, the Penguins, he has his chance. Pittsburgh fired Sullivan for another missed playoff appearance. However, perhaps the more amazing thing about this story is that Drury is still around and has the chance to pick his third Rangers coach.
Photo courtesy NY Rangers Insider
Let’s face it: Drury has done a terrible job as president of hockey operations. Can you name a great trade he’s made? No. What about his activity in the free agency market? Same. Ok. What about player development? Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere come to mind. Kaako was a bust, traded to the Kraken in midseason. Lafreniere could be on the trading block.
Team culture? He created strife in the locker room when he inexplicably put Barclay Goodrow on waivers despite being one of the team’s best postseason players. Want more? Drury did all he could to alienate Jacob Trouba by dangling him in the trade market in the offseason (to the point his captain quit on the Rangers), and then he traded Trouba to the Ducks. And how about this? Drury sent a memo to all other NHL teams (soon leaked) that his players were available in a trade.
Jim Dolan (L) and Chris Drury (photo courtesy NY Post)
Put all of this together, and you can make a strong argument that Drury put Laviolette in a position to fail, and how unnecessary it all was. None of this would have happened if Drury appreciated what he had. Instead, he wanted a tough and fast team like the Florida Panthers. Unfortunately, he never had the players who fit that skill set.
Looking at his body of work, it’s unreal that Drury is still employed. I would argue that the Rangers are worse off now than when Jeff Gorton was the team’s GM and John Davidson was president.
At Madison Square Garden, it’s often about surviving the political game. Drury has joined guys such as Isiah Thomas, Steve Mills, Leon Rose, Tom Thibodeau, and Glenn Sather in playing with Dolan and surviving. Consider that Dolan just gave Drury an undeserved contract extension.
It would be nice if the press would step up and call out what’s happening. After all, the NYR hasn’t won the Stanley Cup in 31 years. But don’t expect the New York Post’s Larry Brooks to do what I do here. Brooks, Drury’s water boy, gets rewarded by writing off-the-record stuff that Drury wants the public to know.
The Rangers aim low, and the results show.
