Rangers captain Chris Drury has been told by general manager Glen Sather that he will be bought out of the final season of the five-year, $32.05 million contract he signed as a free agent on July 1, 2007, multiple sources have told The Post.
The buyout, which had been anticipated since coach John Tortorella made his feelings known publicly on breakup day, will become official during the proscribed June 15-30 window for such transactions.
The move will open $3,333,333 of 2011-12 cap space while costing the team $1,666,667 in dead space the following season. Drury, who was due $5 million under his contract for next year, will be paid a buyout settlement of $3,335,000 over the next two years.
There would be a second buyout period in mid-August if either the Rangers or any of their impending Group II free agents file for salary arbitration, but the Blueshirts have no intention of waiting, for doing so would keep Drury on the cap at the full $7.05 million throughout July and limit the team’s options to make roster moves.
That would completely defeat the purpose of the buyout.
The Post has learned the team does not intend to buy out Wojtek Wolski in the initial June window — the winger carries a $3.8 million charge — but the possibility remains under consideration if deemed necessary in August.
Drury, who will turn 35 in August, played in only 24 games last year, nearly all as a fourth-line right wing who specialized in penalty killing and defensive zone faceoffs. In a season ruined by injuries, the captain missed 31 of the first 32 games with a twice-broken finger before returning to the lineup on Dec. 15. He then played 22 matches before leaving the lineup for arthroscopic surgery on his left knee during the first week of February.
Indeed, Tortorella referred to Drury’s “chronic knee [condition]” during his breakup day remarks.
Believed out for the remainder of the year, Drury rehabbed so strenuously (What else?) that he was able to rejoin the lineup for the final game of the regular season against the Devils. He scored the Blueshirts’ first goal in the 5-2 victory on Apr. 9 that enabled the club to make the playoffs when the Hurricanes were defeated by the Lightning later in the day. It was his only goal of the season.
The captain then played all five games of the first-round loss to the Capitals, with diminishing returns on a knee that began to give out. Drury played just 5:58 in the elimination match and did not get on the ice for the final 13:15.
Known as “Captain Clutch” for his uncanny ability to score big goals at big moments (such as the tying goal with 7.7 seconds to play against the Rangers in Game 5 of the 2007 second round while a Sabre, allowing Buffalo to win in OT before taking the series in six), Drury has recorded 615 points (255-360) in 892 games, winning the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2001.
The Boston University product was a three-time U.S. Olympian, winning silver in both 2002 and 2010. His selection for the 2010 club was a surprise but in announcing the roster, U.S. general manager Brian Burke said, “I picked Chris Drury because he’s Chris Drury.”
And everyone understood what he meant.