Chris Drury's job is reportedly on the line despite recent extension if offseason plans fail

The New York Rangers GM Chris Drury's 2025-26 season could be a career-defining year. With a retooling taking place and a firing of former Head Coach Peter Laviolette, he has a mandate to turn the tide and put the team back into win-now mode. The Rangers situation is very fragile, and Drury needs to make sure the team is built to compete, again.

This postseason will be more important than any other for Chris Drury's career with the New York Rangers. He'll have to course-correct and put the team back into win-now mode.

As he's slowly dismantled the old core, which consisted of Jacob Trouba, Chris Kreider, Filip Chytil, and other players, the question remains whether or not his retooling methods will work.

He's secured lower-end defenseman during his time, moving players like Ryan Lindgren, Jimmy Vesey, Filip Chytil, and Jacob Trouba. Needless to say, the results have been varied.

 

After firing Peter Laviolette, he felt it best to hire Mike Sullivan, the coach of the Penguins, who last won a cup nearly a decade ago.

A full-on rebuild would outlast Drury's tenure, and a retool is a delicate process. He'll need to shake up major pieces of the lineup while keeping the team competitive, a challenge in itself. He'll have to meticulously attend to RFAs and figure out who to prioritize, out of Will Cuylle, Zac Jones, K'Andre Miller, and more.

While surgically moving $14.92 million in cap space to acquire a top-six forward that could help move the team forward. That's not the kind of cash flow needed to acquire someone like Mitch Marner, but instead a Brad Marchand or Nikolaj Ehlers.

How he handles the talent, including K'Andre Miller, who is a current trade target, will define his tenure as Rangers GM, and could keep the fanbase polarized when it comes to opinions of him.

While he did win a Presidents' Trophy in 2023-2024 with Peter Laviolette at the helm, there have been many mistakes made along the way. That includes an overly rich deal for Igor Shesterkin, and keeping the same core of players around who couldn't win in the Eastern Conference Finals twice.

It's a toss-up of how he'll come out of July, whether behind or ahead, we'll know soon enough when Mike Sullivan takes control in October.