The New York Rangers made their first move of the offseason last week. No, it did not involve any players, but it did involve their general manager (GM). It was announced that Chris Drury signed a multi-year extension to remain Rangers’ GM, and it shows that the top of the organization still has faith in him to turn the team around after the disastrous season they just had. Whether fans like it or not, Drury is here for the long haul, and now, it will be up to him to figure out what needs to be done to get this team back into the playoffs. There were so many things that went wrong this season for the Rangers. You can blame it on Drury himself, the players for not showing up, or a combination of the two, but this team definitely needs a shakeup on the ice going into next season. Drury needs to prioritize which areas need fixing the most and try to do the best he can to fix them. Here, we’ ll look at three priorities for Drury to address this offseason. Finding a New Head Coach Again This will now be the third coaching search Drury has had to conduct entering his sixth season as GM. It will be the fourth coach that has been with the team during his tenure. You can’t really count David Quinn as a coach as he was with the Rangers for the first few days of Drury’s tenure before being let go. His first real hire was Gerard Gallant, and while he had a great first season, leading the team to an Eastern Conference Final, he was fired after his second season after a first-round loss to the New Jersey Devils. Then, he hired Peter Laviolette, and he had an amazing first season, leading the team to the Presidents’ Trophy and another Eastern Conference Final. But, just like Gallant, he had a bad second season and was let go. There seems to be a pattern here, and the big question is, were the coaches the problem or were the players that seem to tune out the coach after the first season? Mike Sullivan, Pittsburgh Penguins Head Coach (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers) This will likely be the last head coach Drury gets to hire, and he needs to make the right choice. Well, as of this morning, one of the top options that Drury has been rumored to have major interest in, and a guy he has connections to, just became available. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Mike Sullivan have parted ways, and now, it seems like a no-brainer that he will become the next head coach for the Rangers. He and Drury went to Boston University together, and they were both part of Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off. There have been rumors going back to when Drury hired Gallant that Sullivan was his top choice, but the Penguins did not let him go until now. Now, it looks like all the pieces are in place for Sullivan to finally become the Rangers’ head coach, and if he decides to take the job, should be seen as an upgrade over the two previous coaches. Finding a Defensive Partner for Adam Fox One of the Rangers’ biggest issues for years now has been their poor play in the defensive zone. While Igor Shesterkin has been able to cover up for some of those issues in the past, this season was the worst the defense has looked in a long time. Going forward, this defensive group looks very uninspiring. Five of seven defenders who played this season are locked up for at least next season: Adam Fox, Will Borgen, Urho Vaakanainen, Braden Schneider, and Carson Soucy. Of them, only Fox can be seen as a legitimate top-pairing player. The rest are bottom-pairing players at best, or can play in the top four if necessary but should not be relied upon to play that role. What Drury needs to do this summer is find a partner for Fox that can help take some of the burden off of him. Related: Chris Kreider’s Top Moments as a New York Ranger You can say the Rangers might already have the player who can play with Fox in K’Andre Miller, but his play has been too inconsistent over the past few seasons, and he can’t be relied upon to play those top minutes. Miller also isn’t signed to a contract for next season and could be moved in a trade this summer. Looking at the upcoming free agent market, there are not many options left after Jakob Chychrun signed an extension in with the Washington Capitals. Ivan Provorov, Vladislav Gavrikov, Dmitri Orlov, and Aaron Ekblad could be interesting names, but how much are they going to cost on the open market, and would the Rangers want to overpay for players already in or about to be in their 30s? If Drury wants to find the perfect partner for Fox, he may need to wait it out and find a trade. Maybe he can find a player who isn’t being talked about and make a trade for them. One trade in recent memory that was similar to this was the Mikhail Sergachev trade from last offseason. His name was not in rumors at all, and the trade came as a surprise to everyone. Drury might need to make that kind of trade to find a partner for Fox because right now, the Rangers don’t have a player who is good enough to be in that role. Figure Out What to do With Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad? If Drury wants to shake up this team going into next season, two players that should be involved in trade talks are Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Both of these players saw a drop in production, and it seemed as if they were checked out mentally for the majority of the campaign. One of the issues in moving Zibanejad is that he has a full no-move clause until the final year of his deal, which doesn’t end until the 2029-30 season. So, if Drury even wanted to move him, it would be up to Zibanejad if he wants to go, and he hasn’t given any indication he wants to go anywhere despite the struggles he had this season. Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers celebrates after a goal during the third period against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Six of the Second Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs (Photo by Josh Lavallee/NHLI via Getty Images) Kreider would be an easier move because he has limited trade protection and only has two years left on a deal paying him $6.5 million. He was already in trade rumors earlier this season when Drury sent out the memo to other teams naming him and Jacob Trouba as players he wanted to move. With Kreider having a down season offensively and dealing with different injuries to different parts of his body, the trade market was not there for him during the season. Now, with an offseason to fully recover and get healthy, teams could be lining up to get a player like Kreider, who is a proven playoff performer. While it would be sad to see a player who has been with the team for over a decade go, it seems that now is the perfect time to move on from him and look in a different direction. Drury will have a lot on his plate this offseason, and some of the choices he makes now could have an impact on the Rangers for many seasons to come. He needs to figure out what went wrong this season and has to bring in a new head coach and new players to help get this team back into the playoffs next season. Now is not the time for a rebuild, but a retool is necessary as the team as currently constructed is not good enough. It will be interesting to see what moves he makes because if this team fails again next season, his time in New York could come to an end despite his new contract.