Earlier today the New York Rangers traded pending UFA Reilly Smith to the Vegas Golden Knights for prospect Brendan Brisson and a 2025 3rd round pick belonging to the San Jose Sharks. We’ve added that trade to this earlier posting and revised the grades.
The New York Rangers President and General Manager Chris Drury left no doubt that he didn’t trust his Presidents’ Trophy winning team to contend in 2024-25 as previously constituted, when he sent out a memo to the rest of the NHL on November 25th saying the “New York Rangers were open for business”. Considering the Rangers won 4 of their next 17 games, I would give Drury an “F” for putting that in writing, where it quickly leaked to the media, the fans and his fragile locker room.
Having said that, since that memo, Drury has put in the work. 11 days later he shipped his captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks and hasn’t stopped making moves since. With the trading deadline coming up Friday at 3p ET, Drury has already made 6 trades, involving 18 players and 7 draft picks. Let’s look at Drury’s combined efforts to this point broken down by categories.
FORWARDS
The Rangers traded:
Filip Chytil
Kaapo Kakko
Ryder Korczak (AHL)
Reilly Smith
Jimmy Vesey
The Rangers acquired:
Brendan Brisson
Lucas Edmonds (AHL)
JT Miller
Juuso Parssinen
Drury Grade: A
Broken down like this, you’ve replaced Kakko with Miller and Chytil with Parssinen. Despite this blogger’s affinity for Kakko, it’s impossible not to give Drury an A.
DEFENSEMEN
The Rangers traded:
Ryan Lindgren
Victor Mancini
Hank Kempf (NCAA)
Jacob Trouba
The Rangers acquired:
Will Borgen
Erik Brannstrom (AHL)
Calvin de Haan
Jackson Dorrington (NCAA)
Urho Vaakanainen
Drury Grade: B
Broken down like this, you’ve replaced Trouba with Borgen, and then signed Borgen to a 5-year deal at $4.1m per year (Trouba was earning $8m per year). Vaakanainen has now replaced Lindgren in the top 4. Despite this blogger’s affinity for Lindgren (who could be re-signed in the summer if his price drops), it would be ridiculous to not give Drury at least a B.
DRAFT PICKS
The Rangers traded:
2025 1st Round Pick (if Top 13, it becomes an unconditional 2026 1st)
The Rangers acquired:
2025 2nd Round Pick (better of Carolina or New York Rangers)
2025 3rd Round Pick (Seattle)
2025 3rd Round Pick (San Jose)
2025 4th Round Pick (lower of Anaheim or Detroit)
2025 4th Round Pick (better of Colorado or Vancouver)
2025 6th Round Pick (Seattle)
Drury Grade: B
The good news is that when the season started, the Rangers only had 4 draft picks with none in 2nd, 3rd or 4th rounds. Now they have 9 picks. Realistically, acquiring a player of Miller’s caliber requires giving up a first-round selection. I would’ve preferred that the “Top 13” condition carried over to 2026, but I think it reflects the confidence that Drury has that this was a one-year blip, and the Rangers will be comfortably back in the playoffs in 2025-26. All-in-all, trading a first for a second, two thirds, two fourths and a sixth is enough to earn Drury a B.
