Saturday, August 20, 2011

Happy Trails Chris Drury

Well it is a pretty dreary day here in Nova Scotia. Just wrapped up a 3.5 hour thunder storm and I feel safe having my desktop computer on once again.

Well it shouldn't come as a huge surprise to some that Chris Drury has decided to call it a career. He like many others was lured to New York with the promise of a big contract and the hopes that they are the "missing piece" only to underachieve and find themselves homeless (not figuratively of course) after a couple of seasons.

I think any player signing a contract with the Rangers should take out an insurance policy on their talent as it seems to disappear more often than not when they arrive. Jagr is pretty much the only exception I can think of in the last 15 years. Holik, Gomez, Drury, Redden, Lindros and countless others showed up to NY with the hopes of Cups and playoff appearances only to find themselves failing.

Chris Drury was a winner however in his previous life first winning the Calder Trophy in 1999 with the Avalanche. He will be best remembered by me for great 2001 Playoff performance with the Avs which contributed to the Devils not being repeat Champs. I think he made the right choice retiring on his own terms and not embarrassing himself by trying out with other clubs and finding himself on a 4th line or being scratched occasionally on a non-contending team.

I don't have many Drury cards in my collection, but I do have his 05-06 Parkhurst card which does picture him during his best offensive days.

Final career numbers for Drury are:

892 gms, 255 goals, 360 assists and 615 points.

His best season was in 06-07 (which lead the the huge contract with the Strangers)

37 goals, 32 assists for 39 points

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