When Chris Drury spoke Friday for the first time since the Rangers’ season ended, he did not sound like someone content with the best regular season in franchise history and a second Eastern Conference final berth in three years.
He did not sound like someone ready to commit to running it back with the same group that again came up short of a championship.
“We’re looking at a lot of different things,” Drury, the Rangers’ general manager, said on a Zoom call with media. “And there’s different ways to get to where we want to go. To me, really, nothing’s off the table.
“We’re trying to be better. We’re trying, as I said, to reach the ultimate goal here. In the middle of that process now and trying to figure out what’s next and what can we do to be better.”
At this early stage of the offseason, it is impossible to know exactly how things will play out, because there is no shortage of options for Drury to shake up the roster.
The Rangers have a number of players entering free agency, but outside of Ryan Lindgren and perhaps Braden Schneider — who nobody expects to leave following a breakout postseason — none are considered core pieces of the foundation.
Letting Kaapo Kakko go as a restricted free agent appears to be a possibility, but given Kakko’s playoff status as a third-line winger and Game 2 healthy scratch in the conference final, it would be hard to view that as a massive shakeup.
After Jacob Trouba, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad all struggled during the conference final, it’s plausible to suggest the Rangers could look to move either the captain, their top-line center or the franchise’s longest-tenured player — and any of the three would be a major departure.
But there are potential stumbling blocks to any of those scenarios, namely salary, no-move clauses and the strong possibility that the Rangers are better with those players than without.
Assuming Kreider and Zibanejad are back next year, an obvious focus this offseason will be on finding a permanent right wing for the BFFs, who have not permanently jelled with anyone since Pavel Buchnevich was dealt ahead of the 2021-22 season.
“We’re looking at a lot of different options,” Drury said. “Some internal, some external, whether it’s through trade or free agency. For me, Mika and Chris are terrific players. Can drive a line all by themselves. We’re going to continue to look and explore and try to find someone that could become a good fit for them.”
Barclay Goodrow, another letter-wearer, is someone whose name could appear in rumors this summer given the team will need to move some money around to re-sign Lindgren, though he has a modified 15-team no-trade clause.
Making a move will not be easy, given both cap constraints and that the Rangers have already dealt eight of their 21 draft picks through 2026, though they do still have their first-rounders in all three upcoming drafts.
CapFriendly gives the Rangers $11.3 million to work with this summer, but that is without factoring in their need to deal with the eight players on expiring contracts, or the eventual need to extend Igor Shesterkin, Alexis Lafreniere and K’Andre Miller.
Drury was not about to give away specifics — and less than a week after elimination, it’s likely he still has some work to do to plot a way forward — but it was telling that he framed his belief as one in individual players, not in their assemblage as a 23-man roster.
“I do believe in our players individually,” he said. “We have a lot of really good players here. A lot of players had great seasons, a number of them have been very good Rangers for a long time. Now is the part of the job to figure out if this group collectively can get us to where we want to be. The process is already underway and will continue throughout the offseason. As I often say, we’re constantly trying to figure out how we can be better and push forward to reach our ultimate goal.”
