Rangers' Chris Drury has transformed roster, but will it make club better?

A year ago, Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury decided that he wanted to change up the roster, and though his initial attempts were a little clumsy and not well-received, he seemed to get a little better at it this summer.

And though he wasn’t able to make all the changes he wanted to right away, Drury has managed to do quite an extensive renovation over the last 13 months.

When K’Andre Miller was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday — a little less than three weeks after Chris Kreider was sent to Anaheim — it completed a roster purge in which half the Rangers’ core turned over since they were eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in Game 6 of the 2024 Eastern Conference Final.

In fact, 10 of the players dressed for that game — plus forward Jimmy Vesey, who was injured and did not play — are no longer on the Rangers.

Trade deadline rentals Jack Roslovic and Alex Wennberg weren’t brought back after their contracts expired, and neither was defenseman Erik Gustafsson, who signed a one-year contract with the Rangers the summer before. Those weren’t core players, but Drury started chipping away at the core soon enough.

Little more than two weeks after that Game 6, he waived popular forward Barclay Goodrow, who was claimed by San Jose. Goodrow scored some key goals in the playoffs, but it was all about cap space. Drury needed it, and Goodrow had to go. Waiving him was a back-door way around the veteran’s partial no-trade contract.

Drury tried to trade captain Jacob Trouba a couple of weeks later but was unsuccessful. But when the Rangers’ fast start to the 2024-25 season dissipated into a season-killing swoon in late November, Drury restarted his makeover.

Trouba was traded to Anaheim in early December, forward Kaapo Kakko was dealt to Seattle in late December and Filip Chytil was sent to Vancouver as part of the return for J.T. Miller at the end of January. Defenseman Ryan Lindgren and Vesey — pending free agents — also were moved to Colorado before the trade deadline.

Finally, Kreider and K’Andre Miller were traded this summer. This time, the players were kept in the loop throughout the entire process, which made these two moves more palatable.

So now the Rangers look a lot different from the team that went to the conference finals in 2022 and 2024.

But are they better?

Terrance, Spence reunited

A number of prospects at various stages of development participated in the Rangers’ annual prospect development camp this past week, as did all but one of the Rangers’ picks from last weekend’s NHL Draft.

Malcolm Spence, their first pick last weekend (second round, No. 43 overall) attended but did not skate because of illness. Gabe Perreault, the club’s 2023 first-round pick, and Boston College teammate Drew Fortescue were present, as was 2024 first-rounder E.J. Emery. Jackson Dorrington and Carey Terrance, players acquired in the J.T. Miller and Chris Kreider trades, also were there.

Terrance, 20, played junior hockey for Erie of the OHL with Spence and Islanders No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer. Terrance said he considers the two among his closest friends and was ecstatic when Spence got picked by the Rangers.

“I was actually sitting on my bed the second day of the draft and I put on the second round and I saw the Islanders had to pick before the Rangers, and I’m like, oh, they might draft [Spence] with Schaefer. And I was like, please don’t,” Terrance said. “And it didn’t happen. So I was sitting there on the bed, like, come on, come on, come on! And I was really excited for him when he got drafted.’’

Terrance, who captained the team in Erie, was asked to describe his leadership style.

“I’m vocal,’’ he said. “I’m not a very easy guy on the ice. And I also lead by example. You know, whether it’s making some hits, big plays.’’

Not an easy guy on the ice?

He added: “I’m not scared to kind of get into them.”

Emery's development

Emery, a 6-3 right-shot defenseman, said project No. 1 in his first year of college at North Dakota was to put on some weight.

“I just realized that I’ve got to keep getting bigger and stronger, because, you know, when you’re playing against 25-year-olds, it’s a man’s game,’’ he said.

Emery, who was featured on the penalty kill and played against the opposing team’s No. 1 line most games, said he added about 10 pounds of muscle in his first year.

Emery’s statistics in 31 games — zero goals and one assist — weren’t concerning to the Rangers, according to director of player development Jed Ortmeyer.

“He had a really good year,’’ Ortmeyer said. “He’s one of the youngest defensemen in college hockey. He’s a true freshman . . . He was able to go in and step in and have a big role and play big minutes for them. I think his development is heading in the right direction.’’

Little money left

According to CapWages, the Rangers currently have $3.244 million available under the cap with their roster of 12 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders.

Adding a 13th forward (Gabe Perreault, Brennan Othmann or Brett Berard) and a seventh defenseman (Matthew Robertson, Connor Mackey or Derrick Pouliot) would reduce that space to between $1.527 million and $1.606 million.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

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.