Staple: Drury was a sure shot as U.S. Olympic pick

Lifetime achievement award? That is not why Chris Drury is on the U.S. Olympic team.

"We picked Chris Drury because he's Chris Drury," U.S. general manager Brian Burke said Friday. "He's been involved from the get-go. I don't have to say anything else about Chris Drury except he's Chris Drury. He represents a lot of things we need to be successful there."

There you have it. Rangers fans have been down on their captain for a lot of reasons this season and last - the $8 million he'll be paid the next two years, the 14 points he's posted so far - but he still means something, both to the Rangers and to U.S. hockey.

He's shown, through a first half this season marred by three lost weeks to a concussion and being bounced by John Tortorella to fourth-line duty, that he's willing to do anything to win. He showed Tortorella that last spring, playing the playoff series against the Capitals with a broken thumb.

Tortorella is an assistant coach for the U.S. team in Vancouver next month, and it wouldn't be a stretch to think that he endorsed Drury's selection just as much as he endorsed that of Ryan Callahan, a young American who fits in a bit better with what the Olympic team looks like. "I don't know that he had anything to do with it," Drury said, "but if he did, great."

Scott Gomez, Keith Tkachuk, Bill Guerin and Mike Modano were all possible choices among the very few veteran spots on this squad. But Drury, whom Burke sounds ready to name captain of the Olympic team, beat out those other guys because of that whatever-it-takes attitude. So Drury, with only five goals and nine assists, goes to Vancouver with a young, relatively unheralded American team.

And after Friday's selection announcement, it's forgotten until mid-February.

"I've always tried to keep it pretty simple. For me, it's just the next game," he said.

And even if he barely plays in Vancouver, he'll be a valuable part of the U.S. Olympic effort.

Some of the omissions by Burke and company seem less forgivable - the Hawks' Dustin Byfuglien and the Isles' Kyle Okposo were more deserving, perhaps, than the Blues' David Backes - but clearly, Drury was on the team before this season began, before the Olympic orientation camp in the summer, even.

"I'm not the GM, but they're not picking this team for career validations or anything like that," Drury said Friday night. "They want to win."