Colin Stephenson: Rangers GM Chris Drury still has work left on his offseason to-do list
Rangers GM Chris Drury speaks to the media at Rangers training camp in Tarrytown on Sept. 17, 2025. Credit: Ed Quinn
So what’s left for Rangers general manager Chris Drury to do this summer now that he’s swung the trade to get the goal-scorer he needed in Pavel Dorofeyev, drafted an NHL-ready 18-year-old defenseman in Latvian Alberts Smits and finally moved Vincent Trocheck after nearly five months on the trading block?
Drury has checked all the boxes on his offseason to-do list, it seems. Besides getting Dorofeyev from Vegas and signing him to a seven-year, $77 million contract, he acquired two top-four defensemen, sending a first-round pick in 2030 to Vancouver for Marcus Pettersson and getting Sean Durzi from Utah — along with prospect Cole Beaudoin and a third-round pick — for Trocheck.
He also signed two free-agent forwards to one-year deals: six-time 20-goal scorer Oliver Bjorkstrand to round out the top six and speedy Joe Veleno as the fourth-line center.
And he got a backup goalie to replace the retired Jonathan Quick, trading for Joonas Korpisalo of Boston.
But there is work left to be done. For one thing, defenseman Braden Schneider, who reportedly has been on the trading block but hasn’t been traded, is a restricted free agent, so he’ll need to be signed (or traded). Fellow righthanded defensemen Scott Morrow and Vincent Iorio also are RFAs.
Drury also needs to sign Smits to an entry-level contract if he intends to have him play in North America this year (which he surely does).
“We’re always looking at different ways we could be better, and we’re certainly not gonna sit here and say, ‘The job’s done and complete, and move on,’ ’’ Drury said in his Zoom call with reporters Thursday. “We’re still tinkering, still looking, and you know, any which way we can help the team between now and opening night, we keep trying.’’
According to PuckPedia, the Rangers have about $7.9 million in space under the NHL’s $104 million salary cap. That ought to be just enough to sign all four young defensemen, given that only two of them, at most, can make the opening night roster. According to AFP Analytics, Schneider, 24, should get a contract in the $4 million range if it’s short term (one year) or the $6 million range if it’s long term (six years).
Shaiikov gets a surprise
Danai Shaiikov, the 19-year-old goalie the Rangers drafted last Saturday, was caught by surprise when the Rangers took him in the third round. He not only was not in Buffalo for the draft, he wasn’t even in front of the TV when his name got called.
“Honestly, I was in the bathroom when I got picked,’’ Shaiikov said Thursday at the Rangers’ prospect development camp. “We were in Miami — our agency did a pre-draft showcase — and it was in the conference hall in the hotel. And [when the] third round started, I went to the bathroom. I came back, everybody’s clapping, looking at me. And I was like, ‘What happened?’ ’’
Shaiikov, who is from Kazakhstan, went 18-26-2 with a 2.78 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage for Gatineau of the QMJHL in 2025-26. He expected to get drafted, he said, but thought it would happen later.
Instead, the Rangers — who hadn’t drafted a goalie since taking Talyn Boyko (whom they failed to qualify this summer, making him an unrestricted free agent) in the fourth round in 2021 — took Shaiikov with the third pick in the third round (No. 67 overall). He was the fourth of 32 goalies to be selected.
“He’s athletic; he’s very competitive; he doesn’t give up on pucks and he had a lot of work this year,’’ Rangers director of player personnel and amateur scouting John Lilley said. “He’s a battler, with a lot of skills and quickness. And I know Scott Clemmensen, the Rangers’ goalie scout] really pushed and really wanted him.’’
Shaiikov called Sergei Bobrovsky his idol but said his style of play is more similar to Igor Shesterkin. He said he hasn’t heard from Shesterkin since he was drafted by the Rangers but looks forward to meeting him.
When he didn’t get drafted last year, Shaiikov — who speaks impeccable English — decided to leave Russia, where he’d been playing junior, and go to Canada, where he thought he would get more exposure to NHL scouts. That part worked out for him, he said, but playing in Canada also introduced him to the North American game.
“It’s still different hockey,’’ he said. “Smaller rink. Faster. And it’s more dangerous chances. So yeah, my goalie coach helped me a lot, and I had to change some things to adapt to North American hockey.’’
Glass impressed by prospect Beaudoin
Cole Beaudoin, who will be starting his first professional season in the fall, had been at prospect development camp with Utah when he was traded. Rangers director of player development Tanner Glass spoke to him Wednesday night.
“He was great on the phone,’’ Glass said. “We watched him a little bit [at Barrie of the OHL] this year.
“I personally watched him a little bit this year because of [Rangers prospect Evan] Passmore being in Barrie. So that was nice, a little bit of familiarity with him . . . Just a really quality kid. You can hear the confidence in his voice on the phone, and everything that I’ve heard about him from our scouts . . . it sounds like we’re getting a great player.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
