Drury 'Excited and Honored' to Serve as GM of U.S. Men's National Team

Last week, Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton stopped by Chris Drury's office and mentioned that he might be receiving a call from former Ranger and current assistant executive director of USA Hockey John Vanbiesbrouck.
When the call came, it was certainly a welcome one: Drury, the third-year assistant GM of the Blueshirts, had been selected to serve as the general manager of the 2019 U.S. Men's National Team.

"I was obviously very excited and honored and certainly humbled," Drury told NYRangers.com. "There's a lot of good assistant GMs who are American, and to be asked to do it now, after they had a lot of success last year and won the bronze medal, I'm obviously really excited and honored."
Drury was picked by Vanbiesbrouck and the rest of the U.S. Men's National Team Advisory Group, composed of seven NHL general managers including Gorton, David Poile (Nashville), Don Waddell (Carolina), Ray Shero (New Jersey), Dale Tallon (Florida), Stan Bowman (Chicago) and Paul Fenton (Minnesota).
One especially compelling element of Drury's resume was the deep expertise he brings to the table in international competition, having served on the U.S. Men's National Team as both an executive and a player. He suited up for Team USA in three Olympics (2002, 2006, 2010), three IIHF Men's World Championships (1997, 1998, 2004), one World Cup of Hockey (2004) and one IIHF World Junior Championship (1996).
Additionally, he was a part of the U.S. Men's National Team management group in both 2016 and 2017.
That experience will prove critical in the next several weeks as Drury and his advisory group begin to compile the U.S. roster for the 2019 IIHF World Championship, which begins May 10th in Slovakia.
Right now, there's still a bit of a holding pattern as the management group waits for clarity on which NHL teams will be eliminated from playoff contention and, as a result, which players will become available to compete on the international stage in May.
"Right now, it's just looking at the player pool as a whole," Drury said. "Obviously there's a few teams that have been eliminated, and we're maybe looking at them a little closer, but still a lot to play out in these next nine, 10 games for teams. I think as the picture comes clearer and the calendar gets to April and end of the first week of April, you're trying to firm things up. But right now, it's kind of just a deep look at the whole entire pool and see how things shake out in the next few weeks."
One difference this year in comparison to years past: The World Championship will begin a full week later, so players who have been eliminated from the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoff will be available to join their national teams before each one departs for Europe on May 4th.
A significant part of the management and coaching staff's job will be to help players turn the page from the singular goal of competing for the Stanley Cup and transition the mindset to winning a medal in international competition.
"I think for a lot of players, it is definitely a reset button," Drury said. "You're obviously trying to make the playoffs all year, and whether you're eliminated now or you lose in the first round, it's kind of just transitioning your mind and your body to a different place and a different kind of hockey.
"From my experience on the management side of it, and as a player, I think once everyone gets there and the team is actually physically together for the first time, I think everyone agrees and kind of comes up with a plan and the idea that you're there, you came all this way - now you're there for one goal, and it's to win and to play well. I don't think that's going to be any different this year, either."
It's certainly Drury's hope that in about six weeks, when he looks at the final Team USA roster, he'll see a few players who are quite familiar to him.
"I think we have some real good Americans [on the Rangers]," he said, "so we'll figure that out as well as we go, here, but guys have been before and have done well and won a medal, so we'll see how that shakes out in the next few weeks."
Among the Blueshirts who competed in last year's IIHF World Championship - in which Sweden prevailed over Switzerland in the gold medal game and the U.S. took bronze - are Chris Kreider (U.S.), Neal Pionk (U.S.), Mika Zibanejad (Sweden), Lias Andersson (Sweden), Pavel Buchnevich (Russia) and Filip Chytil (Czech Republic).
The year prior, Henrik Lundqvist and Jesper Fast helped to lead Sweden to its first of two successive gold medals in the tournament. Additionally, Rangers goaltending prospect Igor Shesterkin competed for Russia in 2018.
"There are so many good teams and good countries," Drury said. "I think if we just look at the medal winners the last few years - obviously Sweden is always very strong, Finland, Russia, Canada - they bring a powerhouse every year. There's a lot of good teams, and we're going to have to put together a really good team and play really well to have success there."
Assuming some of the Rangers' non-American players will compete, Drury will have the unique experience of gameplanning against some of his own club's top talent.
"It's the old adage," he said with a grin. "You want them to do well, but certainly you don't want to lose to their country."
For Drury, compiling the U.S. roster will be about much more than stacking up superstars, although there are certainly plenty of those to choose from. He will need to compile a complete lineup of skill players, role players, defensive-minded players and, perhaps most importantly, leaders who are capable of paving the path toward gold.
"You're trying to find guys to play in certain roles, and certainly one of those huge roles in a short tournament like this is going to be leadership," Drury said. "You definitely try to identify guys along the way while you're picking the team so when you hit the ground running, you have guys in place who can carry that leadership load."
Drury has played in enough international tournaments to know that they require a certain focus, a certain commitment - and that's not a given after playing 82-plus games. The NHL season can be grueling, but even at the end of it, there are plenty of players who still feel they have more to give, more to play for, more to achieve. There are players who just aren't done yet, even after the NHL season, because hockey is fun and they just want to keep going.
Those are precisely the players Drury wants on his roster.
"It's a big commitment, personally and professionally, for these guys to go over after a long season," he said. "There's always something going on, whether it's weddings, your wife's pregnant, nagging little injuries, whatever it is - and I think having the one common goal of winning a gold medal is obviously huge for everyone involved.
"But also, I want guys to have fun and be able to enjoy themselves and not only take a lot of pride in what's going on on the ice, but just enjoy the entire experience while playing well and going for our ultimate goal."