Prominent NHL insider Pierre Lebrun has confirmed that New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury will not be losing his job when the season comes to an end next week.![New York Rangers general manager Chris Drury #nhl #rangers]()
Many have speculated on the future of Drury along with his management staff as the Rangers are on the verge of missing the playoffs after being crowned the Presidents trophy last season.
Drury's job appears safe unlike head coach Peter Laviolette
«My sense there is that he should be okay. I think there's a lot of loyalty from Jim Dolan, the owner,» TSN's Pierre LeBrun said. «Chris Drury was pretty busy out of the trade deadline, too, really kind of setting up his offseason with a lot of moves he made. I think Chris Drury plans to be aggressive in trying to retool the Rangers again
here this summer.» - Pierre Lebrun
here this summer.» - Pierre Lebrun
Drury made it a goal during last offseason and this year that he had every intention to retool the Rangers as he was not satisfied with their outcome in the Eastern Conference final against the Florida Panthers.
Several major changes took place over the course of the year which also caused severe disruption in the dressing room and a staggering loss of games in the months of November and December which likely were the cause of the Rangers missing the playoffs.
Drury decided to move players like Barclay Goodrow, captain Jacob Trouba, Kappo Kakko, Ryan Lindgren, Reilly Smith Jimmy Vesey and Filip Chytil. He did bring back former Rangers top draft pick JT Miller from the Vancouver Canucks along with players like William Borgen, Urho Vaakanainen, Carson Soucy and Calvin De Haan.
Lebrun feels less confident about the safety of Peter Laviolette's job
«I can tell you that there's absolutely no word out of the Rangers, themselves,» LeBrun said. «Very tight-lipped about what might transpire here over the next week, or so. But in talking to other people around the League, the low-hanging fruit, the expectations from a lot of people I've talked to is that Peter Laviolette could get fired.
«He's got another year on his deal, so certainly not a sure thing. But when you look at the body language and the performance of the team over the last month, again, when I've talked to other people around the League, that's probably the easiest conclusion, and so, we'll see whether or not that happens.» - Pierre Lebrun
«He's got another year on his deal, so certainly not a sure thing. But when you look at the body language and the performance of the team over the last month, again, when I've talked to other people around the League, that's probably the easiest conclusion, and so, we'll see whether or not that happens.» - Pierre Lebrun
With all that being said, the Rangers have three games remaining in their schedule which includes matchups against the Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers and their final game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday April 17th. Game time will be 7:00 PM eastern.
