Rangers draft Eric 'E.J.' Emery as Drury considers options (2024)

LAS VEGAS — Rangers general manager Chris Drury has a lot of work in front of him this summer as he tries to freshen up the roster and close the gap on the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

Free agency starts on Monday, and while Drury certainly is getting ready for that, it’s believed that he also is working hard at trying to make some trades, too. That includes possibly dealing away his captain, Jacob Trouba, to free up some cap space to bring in some high-end players.

On Friday, though, there was the matter of trying to build for the longer term, through the NHL Draft, which is being held at James Dolan’s glittering new Sphere. And Drury and his management team had to sit through almost the entire first round before their turn to pick arrived at No. 30.

While there was plenty of speculation that Drury might be working the phones during the night and maybe trying to make a deal and move up in the draft, the Rangers instead stayed pat for the evening. When their turn finally arrived, they took 6-3, 185-pound defenseman Eric “E.J.’’ Emery from the U.S. National Team Development Program.

A righthanded shooter headed for the University of North Dakota in the fall, Emery — who said he models his game after Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller — is considered a shutdown defenseman. John Lilley, the Rangers’ director of player personnel and amateur scouting, called him “an elite defender.’’

“He’s raw, very athletic, just starting to come into his own,’’ Lilley said late Friday. “He has a lot of work to do, putting on [weight], getting a little bit stronger. But the foundation is there. He’s an excellent skater and his defensive game, we found, as a staff, was one of the best in the entire draft. He ends plays, and just is, to me, an elite defender.’’

Emery, who had 16 points (no goals) and 61 penalty minutes in 61 games in 2023-24, couldn’t have been happier to join the same organization for which Miller plays.

“I’m not complaining about, you know, wearing this jersey now,’’ he said, wearing an ear-to-ear grin.

He hasn’t met Miller but hopes to soon, he said. And when he was asked about the possibility of someday playing with Miller, perhaps as a defense partner, he said, “That’d be a pretty cool experience. And obviously I can learn a lot from him.’’

Lilley said he can see some similarities between Emery and Miller.

“He can skate,’’ Lilley said of Emery. “Size-wise, they’re similar. But he’s his own person. But he’s similar [to Miller] for sure. Just the way he plays defense and can move and can skate . . . And it’s a good role model for him to have.’’

Emery, who is Black, was asked before the draft which player would be his dream teammate. He said it would be Willie O’Ree, the first Black man to play in the NHL.

“As a Black man, growing up, there’s not too many [Black players] in hockey, and he was one of those figures I was able to look up to,’’ he said. “And he’s the first person I got a signature from.’’

Emery’s father, Eric, a native of Shreveport, Louisiana, played football in the CFL, and E.J. was born and raised in Surrey, British Columbia. But he has dual citizenship with Canada and the United States and chose to move to the U.S. and join the NTDP.

After the completion of the first round Friday, rounds 2 through 7 will take place Saturday morning, but the Rangers, who won the Presidents’ Trophy as the team with the best record in the league in the regular season, have only three picks on Day 2, none in the second or third rounds. They have picks in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds and then don’t have a pick in the final round.

So Drury will have plenty of time to work the phones, if he wants, to try to make a trade. The Athletic reported Thursday that Drury had asked Trouba, who has a modified no-trade clause in his contract that kicks in on Monday, to submit his 15-team no-trade list, which suggests Drury will at least investigate trading him and his $8 million cap hit.

Drury also is believed to be willing to part with young forward Kaapo Kakko, who was the No. 2 overall pick in 2019 and who, at 23, looks like a young player in need of a fresh start.