4 Superstars Rangers GM Chris Drury Failed to Acquire

One of the reasons why the New York Rangers are heading into a retool is due to the team not having enough star power. While Igor Shesterkin and Adam Fox are great players, they can’t do it on their own, and with Artemi Panarin now gone, they don’t have any offensive superstars that scare the opposition. Superstar players have been traded over the years, and while general manager Chris Drury might have been in the running, he could never get a deal across the finish line. In this piece, we are going to look at four superstars Drury failed to acquire when they were made available.

Jack Eichel: 2021 Offseason

When it became clear that Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres were heading towards a split, all 31 other teams should have done whatever it took to acquire him. Even on bad teams, Eichel was still a consistent 25-30 goal scorer and could easily put up 70-80 points. So, when the Sabres prevented him from getting the surgery he wanted, he requested out of Buffalo, and one of the teams that was heavily interested in him was the Rangers. At the time, they were at the tail end of the rebuild and had lots of young players and prospects that could have interested Buffalo in a potential trade.

An Eichel trade also made sense because it would have resulted in a center core consisting of Eichel and Mika Zibanejad, which would have been a deadly combination. However, a trade never got done, and there could be multiple reasons why. Did Drury not want to give up certain players in the trade, or did the Sabres simply not want to trade him within the conference? When it was all said and done, Eichel became a Vegas Golden Knight and helped lead them to a Stanley Cup in 2023.

Matthew Tkachuk: 2022 Offseason

The Calgary Flames were one of the top teams in the league during the 2021-22 season. They had an elite top line that consisted of Elias Lindholm, Johnny Gaudreau, and Matthew Tkachuk. Each of these players scored 40 goals during the regular season, but an embarrassing five-game second-round loss to their rival Edmonton Oilers, meant changes needed to be made. Gaudreau was a free agent that offseason and opted to sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was not long after that Tkachuk went to Flames management and told them he didn’t want to be there anymore and wouldn’t sign long-term, and thus, he was made available for trade.

The Rangers were coming off an Eastern Conference Final run, and adding a player like Tkachuk could have been a massive boost to the roster. They still had all of their young players and prospects since they didn’t give them up for Eichel. However, Drury once again could not get a deal done, and Tkachuk was traded to the Florida Panthers. He has gone on to help change the culture for the Panthers and has led them to three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances and two Stanley Cup victories. The Rangers could really use a player like him on the team right now.

J.T. Miller: 2022 Trade Deadline

Now, while Drury did eventually trade for J.T. Miller in 2025, he had been connected to Miller in rumors for years prior. Around the 2022 Trade Deadline, the Vancouver Canucks were not a good team and needed to make some changes. Their top three forwards at the time were Miller, Elias Pettersson, and Bo Horvat. All three of these players could play center, and both Miller and Horvat were going to be eligible to sign extensions that offseason. It became clear they were not going to be able to keep all of these players, and Miller’s name was out there in rumors, and the Rangers were very interested.

A trade at the time would have made more sense than when Drury actually traded for him because Miller was still in his prime, and the Rangers were playoff contenders. However, a deal likely did not happen because Drury did not want to give up Braden Schneider in the trade. He also did not want to give him up in the trade they made in 2025, and it seems Schneider might be out the door soon anyway. Miller at the time would have been a big addition to a Rangers team heading back to the playoffs for the first time in five seasons, but it never came to be.

Jake Guentzel: 2024 Trade Deadline

The most recent name on this list is Jake Guentzel, when he was made available for trade by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins, at the time, were heading into a rebuild, and Guentzel was going to be a free agent that offseason, so the team decided to trade him off for assets. The Rangers were one of the top teams in the league and were looking to add another top-six winger, which is why trading for Guentzel made perfect sense. In the end, it came down to the Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes, and the Penguins ended up trading him to Carolina instead.