The buyout ending Chris Drury’s career as a Ranger will become official today, The Post has learned.
The 34-year-old who played four seasons on Broadway, the last three of them as team captain, will become an unrestricted free agent after deciding against applying for a medical exception due to a left knee condition.
It is believed Drury, who would have received the full $5 million due for the final season of his five-year, $35.25 million contract had he been declared medically unable to perform as opposed to the $3.333 million he will collect on the buyout, will seek to continue his career, perhaps in Buffalo, from whence he came on July 1, 2007.
Drury, who spent a majority of last season on Injured Reserve coping with a twice-broken finger and arthroscopic knee surgery that combined to limit him to 24 games of part-time duty in which he recorded just five points (1-4), is eligible to sign a one-year contract with bonuses because he was on IR for more than 100 days.
The Rangers, meanwhile, will be cap-charged approximately $3.717 million for the buyout this season and $1.667 million next year, though the obligation for 2012-13 could be erased pending negotiations of a new labor agreement.
Because Drury had a no-move clause in his contract, he was able to elect not to go on unconditional waivers preceding the buyout.
“It was a great honor and privilege to be a New York Ranger for the past four years, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity to fulfill that childhood dream,” Drury said in a statement that was sent to The Post by e-mail. “The Rangers are a first-class organization with great people in the hockey, public relations, team services and community relations departments.
“I would also like to thank Ranger fans. They always inspired me to do the best I could in whatever role I was asked to play. Playing before them in the Garden was a thrill of a lifetime. I wish all the fans and the entire Ranger organization the best of luck in the future.”
It was all but impossible to foresee this type of ending when Drury became a Ranger four years ago. Known for his intensity, dedication and uncanny ability to rise to the occasion in the clutch, the Big Moment Kid from Trumbull, Conn., signed with the Blueshirts the same day the team also signed Scott Gomez to a lucrative long-term deal.
The plan was for one or the other to center Jaromir Jagr’s line. Gomez did not fit and Jagr essentially refused to fit with Drury, who scored 25 goals with 33 assists that year.
Drury recorded 56 points (22-34) in 2008-09, his first year as captain, the year Tom Renney was fired in late February and replaced by John Tortorella.
Tortorella moved Drury out of an offensive role and off the power play into a checking role in 2009-10, shifting him primarily to the wing, using him most often as a penalty-killer and faceoff specialist. Drury’s knee became an issue last year, further limiting his playing time and effectiveness.
His Rangers career thus ends after 264 regular-season games in which he recorded 151 points (62-89) and 16 playoff matches in which he registered seven points (3-4).
And it ends in a way hardly befitting the three-time U.S. Olympian.