Rangers reader survey: GM Chris Drury is losing the faith of the fan base

New York Times

26-04-2025

The New York Rangers' disastrous season took a toll on everyone. That includes fans, who booed the New York players off the ice multiple times.
We put together a survey to give you all a chance to share your feelings about the season, including the good, the bad and what you want to see next. We had more than 1,500 responses, plus explanations for votes in the comment section.
Here are the results.
It's safe to say Chris Drury's fan approval rating dipped after a disastrous 2024-25. The most frequent answer was a C, and just under 45 percent said D or F. Only seven total responses out of 1,504 gave Drury an A.
Drury had the much-discussed trade memo in November, in which he mentioned then-captain Jacob Trouba and longest-tenured Ranger Chris Kreider by name. He proceeded to trade roster players Trouba, Kaapo Kakko, Filip Chytil, Ryan Lindgren and Jimmy Vesey from there. The team was a seller at the deadline — that's when it moved Lindgren, Vesey and Smith — so it recouped some draft capital, and Drury also acquired J.T. Miller, Will Borgen, Carson Soucy and Urho Vaakanainen. All of them are set to play plenty in 2025-26.
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'Drury should be fired because of what he did between the end of the playoffs last season to this season's deadline,' Ty M. commented. 'Not excusing the ultra-sensitive players, but Drury's actions with the memo to the 31 clubs, along with the Kakko trade, are more than enough to require him being sacked.'
'I think Drury was shrewd and made decent moves with what he was given and also was able to get out of bad decisions he made,' Matthew R. commented. 'But this revolving door of coaches I think is the problem. The players are essentially given a pass every two years if they don't like the style the coach is telling them to play. That's gotta stop. Throw confidence behind a coach.'
Drury fired Peter Laviolette in his first offseason move, and multiple people commented that it was hard to grade the coach's tenure. They would have given him a high grade in 2023-24, when the team won the Presidents' Trophy and made the Eastern Conference final, then a low grade this year.
'It's a year where everything went right, to a year where things didn't go right,' Laviolette said himself after the team was eliminated.
'I had to average (the grade) out and go with something in between, but I feel that didn't accurately depict the drop off from last year to this,' commenter A C. said.
Given comments in that vein, most fans giving him a C made sense.
'His preferred play style is generally good, but this team proved itself incapable of working with it,' Nick P. commented. 'Laviolette refused to adjust anything and couldn't stop or even slow the December freefall or the slump towards elimination at the end. Probably the thing that angered fans the most was continuing to heavily rely on the veterans responsible for the decline in the first place, instead of the young players who were the only bright spot this year.'
Mike Sullivan, who has won two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins, was the most common response here. Asked after the season about his plans with the Penguins beyond this season, though, Sullivan said, 'My intentions are to be the head coach moving forward.' He's under contract through 2027, so something would have to change if the Rangers are going to have a chance to pounce. They seemingly would love the chance.
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David Carle from the University of Denver finished second in this poll. Drury said the Rangers planned to approach the coaching search with eyes wide open, but Carle would be a break from the team's normal hiring practices. As colleague Arthur Staple pointed out, in James Dolan's 26 years owning the club, he's hired only two coaches with no NHL head coaching experience.
Sullivan and Carle were the only two names that received more than 10 percent of votes.
The comment section allowed fans to suggest other names. Posters mentioned Tampa Bay Lightning assistant Jeff Halpern and Hershey Bears head coach Todd Nelson.
'Plucking someone from one of the most successful staffs in recent memory would be far more preferable (to) another straight from NCAA (David Quinn) or another retread (Gerard Gallant/Laviolette),' Anthony S. said.
Alexis Lafrenière led the way on this question. The 2020 No. 1 overall pick looked like he'd had a breakthrough in 2023-24, scoring 28 goals and 57 points, almost all at even strength. He then had eight goals and 14 points in 16 playoff games. The Rangers saw enough to sign him to a seven-year, $7.45 million average annual value contract extension during the season.
But then Lafrenière's production dipped mightily. He had 45 points, only 17 of which were goals.
'I had a good start and then struggled to be consistent in my game and didn't really make a difference,' Lafrenière said. 'I'm obviously disappointed in my year. We can have a long summer, we can work on a lot of stuff and come back next year and have a big year.'
Mika Zibanejad and Kreider each received more than 20 percent of the vote, as well. Zibanejad had 10 fewer points than 2023-24 and particularly struggled the first few months of the season. Kreider struggled with injury and illness and played 14 fewer games than last season. He had a 45-point dip and had only eight assists on the season.
Will Cuylle was the most common answer by a landslide. He was a respectable bottom-six player as a rookie in 2023-24, then took another leap in 2024-25, scoring 20 goals and 45 points. His willingness to lean into the physical side of the game has quickly endeared him to the fanbase. Plus, he's only 23, so there's reason to believe he could keep improving.
Drury named Kreider in the November memo, so the general manager clearly would consider a trade. The longest-tenured Rangers' future is very much up in the air after a disappointing season, but most fans appear hesitant to trade him. More than 68 percent either don't want to trade him at all or only want to trade him if the Rangers can get a decent return. That might be difficult given Kreider's partial no-trade clause (15-team no-trade list), cap hit ($6.5 million for the next two seasons) and how this past season went.
Kreider, who might need surgery for a hand injury, said on break-up day that he views New York as his home. Entering the offseason, he said he is focused only on what he can control: getting as healthy as possible for 2025-26.
Let's revisit the complete trade. Drury landed Miller (as well as Jackson Dorrington and Erik Brännström) for a first-round pick, Filip Chytil and Victor Mancini. The Rangers are counting on the 32-year-old Miller being an effective top-line center for the coming years.
Most people feel generally positive about the move, with more than half of voters giving it a B. Matthew R. mentioned in the comments how he liked Miller's impact on Zibanejad.
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Miller had an eventful season. In Vancouver, he took a midseason leave of absence, and his rift with teammate Elias Pettersson became public. In 72 games between Vancouver and New York, the veteran finished with 22 goals and 70 points. He produced at an 89.68-point pace after coming to New York.
'In a vacuum, it was a good trade, but we're not in a vacuum,' wrote Zach V., who commented that he gave the move a C. 'The Rangers are old, slow, expensive, and lack leadership. Drury decided the answer to this was to trade a first-round pick in a non-playoff year for a 32-year-old who quit on his prior team because he didn't like his teammate. Miller is still talented but players typically don't get better as they age and he's been known to have attitude problems.'
Most fans want the Rangers to keep K'Andre Miller, but not so many are ready to give him a long-term contract. Miller did not comment on his negotiations as an RFA at exit interviews, but said he loves New York and being a Ranger. Laviolette paired him with Borgen much of the second half of the season.
If the Rangers were to trade Miller, which more than 30 percent of readers want them to do, they would need someone who can play nearly 22 minutes per night in a top-four role. At 25, Miller still likely has more untapped potential. He already has a 43-point season (2022-23) in his career.
Igor Shesterkin, Lafrenière and Borgen all have extensions that will kick in after this season, which means the Rangers won't have a ton of cap flexibility. A large chunk of those responding to this survey want New York to prioritize a top-pair defenseman to play with Adam Fox. New York might have a difficult time doing that given the cost of top-pair defensemen and the team's limited cap space. K'Andre Miller is an internal candidate.
Dolan backed Drury with the recent multi-year contract extension. The owner does not appear to be the most popular among the fanbase, with more than 70 percent answering this question with either a one or a two.
'Dolan is to blame,' one commenter wrote.
Back in July, more than 80 percent of you answered this question with at least a three, with 43.7 percent answering with a four or five. Now, nearly 70 percent of you answered one or two.
That's telling about how a dysfunctional season like 2024-25 can change public perception.
Some folks commented that they wanted an 'all of the above' answer, but more than half of the responses blamed the season most on management.
'The entire Ranger organization got overconfident after 2023-24 success,' Richard B. commented. 'Drury then made bad personnel decisions. Lavy's and his coaches' strategies became highly predictable, and the players got comfy instead of hungry for the Stanley Cup. Plenty of blame to go around. The question is whether Drury can change the culture and increase the hunger. I'm not convinced he can.'
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'Failure was coaching not getting a solid defensive game plan together,' Kyle W. wrote. 'It all starts with good defense. Their inability to play solid D and get the puck out of their zone with purpose is the root of all of their issues. Scheme did not align with the skillset.'
'Whether you blame the GM, the coach, or the players for this, you're right,' Jim S. said. 'But ultimately, this whole mess started when the GM threw a grenade in the locker room. How everyone handled what came after was almost as bad.'
'I went 'Management,' as the lack of any meaningful offseason moves, knowing where the team needed improvement, was inexcusable,' Adam G. wrote. 'Looking at the Caps offseason compared to ours is nauseating.'