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What is Going on With Chris Drury?
by Patrick Hoffman on 11/03/09 at 11:41 PM ET
Comments (6)
When the New York Rangers signed Chris Drury as a free agent in the summer of 2007, Drury was coming off a season in which he scored 37 goals.
Unfortunately, Drury, who was named the team captain in 2008, has not come close to reaching the level he did in 2007 and has looked out of place offensively this season. Through the team’s first 15 games, the Trumbull, CT-native has just 5 points (2g, 3a).
Yes, he’s done a tremendous job with the defensive side of the game, especially on the penalty kill but offensively, he’s been practically non-existent.
I’ve been trying to figure out why that is. In his first season, he had the chance to play with the likes of Scott Gomez, Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka, and Brendan Shanahan but never produced the way fans thought he would.
It was the same last season as well. Drury had the chance to play with guys like Markus Naslund, Nik Antropov, Gomez, Nikolai Zherdev, Ryan Callahan, and Brandon Dubinsky but only had 56 points.
I think what Ranger fans need to realize is that Drury is not a 75 - 90 point player. He’s good for about 50-60 points and I think if fans can accept that, they’ll stop worrying about Drury’s production.
He’s a great penalty killer, plays a great defensive game and is good for about 20-25 goals and 50-60 points. I know that the team signed him for more but it is what it is and it is time to accept that.
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Tags: Chris+Drury, New+York+Rangers,
Comments
It’s too bad, he really clicked on his old team.
On a fantasy angle, he just got his ass dropped to the wire in my league. I’m keeping an eye out. This guy will warm up some day.
Posted by Hippy Dave from Portland by way of Detroit on 11/04/09 at 01:58 AM ET
I think this season and last season proved that the Gomez and Drury signings were massive mistakes and they probably should have kept Jagr for 2-3 more years. Anaheim has had great success by keeping Selanne around, and Sakic was great in his latter years as well. Slats made a huge mistake there. That being said he made up for it a little by trading Gomez and signing Gaborik… but Higgins is terrible too.
Posted by bcrt on 11/04/09 at 05:26 AM ET
The Rangers have always been carreer killers…
Posted by NHLJeff from Pens fan in Chicago, IL on 11/04/09 at 11:10 AM ET
Yeah Drury has been a huge disappointment in my opinion. What makes it worse is his ridiculous salary. Though we’re only 15 games into the season, I’m hoping that Sather and Tort’s will talk to him during the off-season and explain that he’s just not in the picture when looking at the future of the Rangers. Once Drury hears that, hopefully he’ll waive his no-trade clause and perhaps Sather can pull another rabbit out of his hat like he did with the Gomez trade. If you trade Drury, and get rid of that salary, maybe the Rangers will be “in play” for the Kovalchuk sweepstakes. A lot has to perfectly fall in place…but a Kovalchuk-Prospal-Gaborik line looks good on paper.
Posted by GK on 11/04/09 at 03:22 PM ET
.....and he’s been nothing better than a third line checking center.
That’s what he’s always been. Except before it was on some good offensive teams and his production from the 3rd line was basically gravy. Now that he’s a top line center he’s counted on to produce every game and he’s still producing like a 3rd liner.
Also, you’re correct this is on the GM.
Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 11/04/09 at 05:02 PM ET
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Drury is the definition of making a living off of your 15 minutes (or 7.7 seconds, in his case) of fame. God damn whore is paid Ovechkin money and he’s been nothing better than a third line checking center.
He can’t score, and from what I’ve seen there is NOTHING that suggests to me that he’s a leader of any worth. Sure, we’re never behind closed doors, but again, NOTHING tells me that he’s the guy that will get a team fired up down a goal in the second intermission.
I wont question his effort. I wont question his heart. I can’t blame him for taking $7.1M per - that’s on Glen. But get the **** out of New York.
Posted by Rage on 11/03/09 at 11:48 PM ET