Rangers GM Chris Drury addresses questions about core, other key offseason decisions

It's been less than a week since the Rangers were eliminated by the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference Final, but the offseason wheels are already turning for team president Chris Drury.

"There's been enough time," Drury said on a Zoom call with reporters Friday afternoon. "It's something we're always constantly looking at and thinking about. We had a 55-win regular season. We were fortunate enough to make it to the conference final. Certainly, it was a disappointing end to the season, but definitely still lots of positives to take away."

At the crux of that evaluation is a question that will hang over the Blueshirts and their front-office boss all summer.

Is this core, which led the franchise to its fourth-ever Presidents' Trophy this season and has reached the conference final in two of the last three years, good enough to take the next step and bring the Stanley Cup back to New York?

Even the usually guarded Drury acknowledged the importance of making that determination.

"Now is the part of the job to figure out if this group collectively can get us to where we want to be," he said. "That 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."

Drury's tenure as team president and general manager will be judged based on how he proceeds.

He navigated his first three seasons by leaning on a roster that was largely in place when he took over, with 13 of the 20 players who dressed for Saturday's Game 6 loss in Florida either signed, drafted or traded for by previous GM Jeff Gorton. That number jumps to 14 if you include Matt Rempe, one of four players from Gorton's final draft in 2020 who made an impact this season, along with Alexis Lafrenière, Braden Schneider and Will Cuylle.

Drury was here as assistant GM for many of those acquisitions and has doubled down by dishing out contract extensions to a handful of them, most notably long-term pacts for Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad.

He maintained that faith Friday, albeit with a couple caveats.

"I do believe in our players individually," he said. "We have a lot of really good players here, and a lot of players that had great seasons. A number of them have been very good Rangers for a long time."

The decision he's facing now is whether to continue down that path, hoping with enough cracks at it this group will eventually breakthrough. Or, if he's having doubts, then it may be time to think outside the box and put a bigger stamp on this roster with bolder action.

Which way he's leaning is anyone's guess. But with the NHL Draft coming up on June 28 and 29, followed immediately by the first day of free agency on July 1, the answers will be revealed soon enough.

"We're always trying to find different ways to be better," he said. "Whether that's to help the players we have already to reach their potential and to play to the best of their ability, while also looking outside the organization to see if there's pieces that we can get, whether to trade, call-up internally or free agent externally – whatever it is to try and find the right fits to help us move forward."

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'Good internal candidates'

Drury is expected to be seeking at least one top-six forward, particularly a right winger to finally solve the top-line puzzle next to Chris Kreider and Zibanejad.

"We certainly tried a lot in the last three years," he said, an acknowledgment of the 20-plus players who have been used in that spot since 2021.

Finding a proven scorer to take some offensive burden off the likes of Kreider, Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin − none of whom registered a five-on-five goal in six games against Florida − is a high priority, but Drury also spoke about his desire to become "a heavier, more physical team."

The Panthers grinded the Rangers down with their size, strength and tenacity, so don't be surprised to see New York look to add more of those elements. And while it's likely that includes at least one or two trades or signings, Drury stressed his belief that "we have some good internal candidates."

There could be some posturing involved there, but a group of young forwards who could fit the bill are coming off a year of grooming with AHL Hartford.

The 6-foot-8 Rempe and 6-foot-7 Adam Edström top that list, with both getting a taste of the NHL this season, while other gritty prospects such as Jaroslav Chmelař and Adam Sýkora also fit that hard-to-play-against mold. Even Brett Berard and Brennan Othmann, who ranked No. 1 and 2 for the Wolf Pack with 25 and 21 goals this season, respectively, bring an edge to go along with their scoring upside.

By the sound of it, a couple should be in the mix to break training camp with the Rangers.

Free agency talk (or lack thereof)

It's become an annual tradition that any questions about New York's pending free agents are met with a similar Drury response.

"I’m not going to get into contract thoughts or details about specific players," he said Friday, a carbon copy of what was said last year, and the year before, and so on.

That means no update on the progress of possible negotiations with goalie Igor Shesterkin, who was easily the Rangers' best player in the playoffs and is due for a substantial raise as he enters the final year of a four-year, $22.667 million deal.

It also meant no word on where they stand with a small crop of unrestricted free agents that includes trade-deadline additions Jack Roslovic, Chad Ruhwedel and Alex Wennberg, although it would be a surprise if any re-signed, or a trio of restricted free agents in Schneider, Kaapo Kakko and Ryan Lindgren.

The RFAs are a higher priority than the UFAs, with Kakko a particularly intriguing one.

The No. 2 overall pick from the 2019 draft followed up last year's 40-point campaign with a disappointing 19 points (13 goals and six assists) in 61 games this season. A healthy scratch in Game 2 of the conference final fueled speculation that his days in New York may be numbered.

The odds of Drury revealing his thinking on that situation were worse than me winning the lotto, but he did call for patience while drawing a comparison with another young player who took off this season.

"We were talking about Laf at this time last year and refuting rumors that I was out there shopping him around or trying to trade him. A year later, look at what he’s done," Drury said. "Kaapo Kakko is a young player. He’s still only 23. … We’re going to continue to try and find everything we can do to help him reach his potential."

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.