New York Rangers: Fourth Line a Fit For Captain Drury

Twice this year, Rangers' Captain Chris Drury has been moved to the bottom offensive line. Both times, the veteran forward played his best hockey this season—scoring goals and proving to be defensively responsible.

It is well known that Chris has not once lived up to his $7.5 million contract but, when getting fourth line duty, he has at least shown that he can somewhat produce on this hockey team—even though being a captain is not always about scoring.

I know we do not talk about Drury all that much here on the site and that, quite honestly, it's because all conversation usually goes back to how he underachieves while being payed such a large sum of money.

I cannot blame anyone, being that it is the truth.

Nine goals on the season while making over $7 million just isn't going to cut it, but you also must keep in mind that it isn't his fault he was handed such a dense contract. GM Glen Sather offered to him the contract and all he had to do was sign. Would you pass up that opportunity?

Anyway, you have to give the guy credit for everything he does do out on the ice on a nightly basis to help this team win.

As of late, his effort on the penalty kill has been tremendous.

Take the Washington game last Thursday, for example, as the Connecticut native took two slap shots to the leg on one Capitals' power play. One of them, shot by Alex Ovechkin, sent the Blueshirts' Captain gliding through the slot area in severe pain. However, he got up and was right back out there for the next penalty kill.

If you're going to tell me that is not dedication, then that is absurd.

Chris is always one of the first players out of the forwards on the backcheck.

A lot of the star players in the National Hockey League do not feel it is necessary to do everything in their power to make a defensive play.  I think that makes the difference between a selfish player and one that takes the ice representing the logo on the front—not the name on the back.

There is no question Drury takes pride in the seven letters that run diagonally across his sweater, as well as the "C" sewn to his chest. That results in him giving it his all in his own end and being a resilient individual when it comes to shutting someone down.

On the offense is obviously where Drury has struggled.

The puck is just simply not going in the net for him like it did in prior years with Colorado and Buffalo. He gets the opportunities—but not the luck.  The fact that he no longer seems to possess all of the pure skill that he used to does not help the cause either.

But, like I mentioned above, when head coach John Tortorella has downgraded Drury to the fourth line, he has gotten a pretty hefty response.

The first time Torts took this approach was against the Islanders in December. Drury ended up scoring a goal in that game and displayed the best all-around performance he had all season long.

Now with the recent struggles, Tortorella has done it again—this time against the Devils. Drury responded with a goal and yet another solid outing against a rival team.

Why is this? Why can't he do this while playing in the top nine?

Well, I think it comes down to pressure and confidence.

I think he knows fans are fed up with the poor numbers he has been putting up season after season, but he also realizes that they appreciate, for the most part, what he contributes as a leader. There is a great amount of pressure involved in that, and it is especially difficult to overcome all of the pressure when your confidence level is near the floor.

This leads me to believe that, when Drury is moved to the bottom threesome, a lot of that pressure is released. 

He knows he can focus solely on playing defensive hockey with some offense mixed in here and there. That essentially is what Drury is—a role player. He feels like he can be just that while playing on the fourth line. When he plays on the top six, he feels like he has to play beyond his limits.  That does nothing but hurt a player's game.