If there’s one thing Chris Drury dislikes more than having to trade away his best player, it’s likely answering questions from reporters. But the New York Rangers general manager actually did each of those things in the same day on Wednesday.
First, Drury traded Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for forward prospect Liam Greentree and a pair of mid-round conditional draft picks — a third-rounder in 2026 and a fourth-round selection in 2028.
Less than five hours after finishing that unpleasant task, Drury spoke with the media to discuss details of the Panarin trade — and a whole lot more.
The overriding theme of his press conference was that there’s a plan in place for this Rangers retool.
“Our fans deserve a Stanley Cup, not a team just hoping to get in as the last wild card. So we felt it was best to start this organizational shift sooner than later,” Drury explained. “That will be the guiding principle of every decision we make as an organization. How does this help us return to a Stanley Cup contender? We are going to work tirelessly at this every day to continue to improve and push towards that goal.”
Drury accepted blame for the Rangers’ nosedive into the cellar of the Eastern Conference this season, which will be their second straight missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The massively disappointing season prompted Drury to send a letter to the fans a few weeks ago signaling a pivot into a retool phase.
“As I stated in the letter to our fans, no one is happy with the way we have performed this year. As the president and GM, this is ultimately my responsibility,” he stated Wednesday. “Coming into this year, we were viewed collectively, internally and externally, as a playoff-caliber team, and we have underachieved. I have great faith in ‘Sully’ [Mike Sullivan], he is one of the premiere coaches in this League, also a very accomplished group of assistants. It’s my job to work with them to fully understand why we have underachieved and how we all improve moving forward.”
Key takeaways from Chris Drury’s comments after Rangers trade Artemi Panarin
Peter Carr/The Journal News / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Rangers basically had no leverage in Artemi Panarin trade
Panarin’s no-movement clause in his current contract — and his desire to have an extension in place with the team he chose to be traded to — pretty much wiped out any leverage the Rangers had when dealing away one of the most dynamic offensive players in franchise history.
Faced with an NHL roster freeze for the Olympic break at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday, Drury faced another obstacle in prying away a respectable package in return for Panarin. He explained that waiting until before the NHL Trade Deadline on March 6 wouldn’t help land a sexier package for the Breadman.
“With that no-move [clause], he’s got a lot of control over the situation. As I said, he earned it and deserved it. Late this morning, I was informed the only place he was willing to sign and willing to move to — as he had an extension done with L.A. — was L.A.,” Drury stated. “Whether that was at today’s 3 p.m. deadline, or on March 6. After a long few weeks of trying to figure out the best spot for him and where he wanted to go, like I said, I was alerted this morning, and excited with the return we got with Liam and a draft pick.”
For all the highlight-reel plays, countless smiles and unforgettable moments – thank you, Bread, for seven outstanding seasons as a New York Ranger. pic.twitter.com/ca8A0MvVta
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 4, 2026
Whether the GM is pissed off with Panarin about his lack of control or lack of trade options, he said all the right things about the star forward afterward.
“Artemi’s an incredible player, arguably the best free agent signing in the 100-year history of the franchise. He deserves a chance to win and we wanted to give him that chance as we retool the team,” he said. “It’s never easy to move a player of Artemi’s caliber, but it’s provided us an opportunity to accumulate valuable assets for the future.”
What did the Rangers get in Liam Greentree?
Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
Greentree fits the mold of the type player the Rangers are hungry to add more of to the organization. He’s 20 years old, has the pedigree of being a first-round pick (No. 26 overall) in the 2024 NHL Draft, is a skilled forward who scored 49 goals in the OHL last season, and appears to be on the cusp of being NHL-ready as soon as next season.
He also has good size (6-foot-2, 207 pounds) and is captain of the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL. His upside is intriguing, even if his scouting profile projects him to be a top-nine forward as opposed to a top-line one.
“We valued him, a prospect like him, higher than a ’26 or ’27 first-round pick. He’s an ’06 birth year and ready to turn pro and wrapping up on his junior career,” Drury explained.
In a barren prospect pool, it’s likely Greentree is now No. 1 in the Rangers pipeline. That makes him more valuable to the Rangers right away, best fitting the plan for a quicker retool more than a future first-round pick.
Remember, it’s a retool, not a rebuild
Drury emphasized that point several times. There’s a distinct difference in this being a retool, and not a rebuild. Like trading Panarin ahead of this roster freeze as opposed to waiting another month, sooner rather than later is a big part of the Rangers’ overall game plan. That’s what makes Greentree so attractive to the Rangers.
“I think there’s a difference in a retool and a rebuild. As we said in the letter, it is a retool,” Drury explained. “We’re certainly not going to sit here and put a timeline on it right now. We’re going to try to do everything we can to get back to being a contending team as quickly as we can. We have identified and continue to identity players that we want here and want to stay here and go forward and build around and move forward with.”
What’s next, and are Braden Schneider & Alexis Lafreniere part of Rangers core moving forward?
Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
As expected, Drury didn’t get into specifics about who might get traded next, or even how many more moves could be on the horizon as part of the first phase of the retool ahead of this year’s trade deadline. Veterans like Vincent Trocheck, Sam Carrick, and Taylor Raddysh sure feel like options to be traded. Then there are all those trade rumors swirling around younger players like Braden Schneider, Alexis Lafreniere and Brennan Othmann.
Drury actually sounded pretty upbeat about the Rangers roster.
“I’m not going to go player by player on our team, or players we’re going to target in the League, obviously. Again, I think we have a lot of really good players at key positions. It has not worked out the way we had hoped. We’re going to continue to look back at decisions we made and choices we make and try to make better ones,” Drury said. “But I can tell you, I still believe in a lot of players in that room. We’re going to try to build around some of them and try keep pushing this thing forward. As I said in the letter, try to be a contender as soon as we can.”
Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Asked specifically about Schneider and Lafreniere, the GM also spun positive. Whether that’s because he views each as a core piece moving forward, or to maintain whatever trade value each has, is open for debate.
“I still believe in them as players and as people. As I said, I’m not singling them out. I think there’s been a number of areas and different spots where we’ve underachieved this year. I know they’re continually working on their individual games, those two individual players, and trying to find ways to be more impactful,” he explained. “They’re still young players even though it feels like they’ve been around for a number of years now, but we’re going to continue to work with them.
“We think they both have bright futures in this League, and I know Sully and his staff and me and my management staff are excited to have them here and keep trying to help them reach their potential.”
Jim Cerny is Executive Editor at Forever Blueshirts and Managing Editor at Sportsnaut, with more than 30 years of … More about Jim Cerny
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