Chris Drury will have some more former NHL players joining him in the New York Rangers front office this year.
The Rangers announced Monday they were adding former NHLers Blake Wheeler and Ryane Clowe to their major-league front office, while also promoting AHL front-office members Jim Sullivan and Ryan Martin in Hartford, the latter of whom will serve as general manager of the Wolf Pack.
Wheeler has been named hockey operations adviser, and Clowe was named assistant general manager to Drury. Clowe had been in the Rangers hockey-ops department as an operations advisor and co-senior advisor for three seasons but took the job as San Jose Sharks assistant general manager to Mike Grier last year.
Why Did The Rangers Hire Blake Wheeler and Ryane Clowe?
Clowe has been building to this and is likely to be a general manager in the NHL in the not-so-distant future.
The soon-to-be 43-year-old native of St. John’s, Newfoundland has been on a path to general managership since he joined the New Jersey Devils coaching staff after it was recommended he retire due to head injuries in the fall of 2015.
So returning to the Rangers front office, where he started his front-office journey in 2021, continues that upward trajectory. Clowe played 12 games with the Rangers in the lockout-shortened 2013 season, and his return gives Drury more contemporary eyes and ears to the front office.
Wheeler does the same, since he was playing in the NHL, for the Rangers, just two seasons ago. Wheeler announced his retirement from the NHL in July, and his presence seems likely to improve communication between the Rangers players and front office, which was a huge point of contentiousness during their un-Rangers-like 85-point season where they missed the playoffs in 2024-25.
Yet, Wheeler also extends the USA Hockey culture that Drury has cultivated, since like Drury, Wheeler represented the United States at the Winter Olympics. Wheeler helped the U.S. finish fourth at the 2014 Sochi Games.
Sullivan and Martin, likewise, each has had a hand in furthering Drury’s American influence, since each has also served for USA Hockey. Martin was the GM of the IIHF World Championship in 2022, and Sullivan is in his 17th year with the Rangers and is a Boston College graduate.
They join an American-laden coaching staff spearheaded by Mike Sullivan, no relation to Jim, David Quinn, Joe Sacco and Ty Hennes. Sullivan, Quinn, Sacco and Hennes each is American and hails, again like Drury, from New England — though Drury is from Connecticut and the coaches are from Massachusetts.
When Does The Rangers Preseason Start?
The Rangers’ centennial season opens Wednesday with their rookie camp, and the vets will report next week. Their first preseason game will be against the Devils on Sept. 21 at Prudential Center.
The Rangers will play six preseason games, two apiece against the Devils, Boston Bruins and rival New York Islanders.
New York will drop the puck on its 100th NHL season at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 7 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who Mike Sullivan coached for the past 10 seasons.
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