Chris Drury in Colorado

[whcanuck]

Chris Drury was such a clutch player in Colorado, I used to joke that the only kind of goals he scored were of the highlight reel variety. But man, he might not have put up Sakic or Forsberg point totals, but he was a darn good player for Colorado and put up pretty good numbers and scored a lot of big goals for them in the playoffs, 3 of them OT winners and he added one more as a Buffalo Sabre.

Of course he was traded to Calgary and the Avs didn't get much for him. He only played that one year in Calgary and then moved on to Buffalo and then the Rangers.

Why was he traded again? If he had stayed in Colorado, what impact do you think hes has on those '02-
03 and '03-'04 teams? It's interesting that each year he plays for the Avalanche, they make it to the Conference final 3 times (each time to game 7) and win the Stanley Cup in '01. He leaves, they're out in the first round in 2003 and the second round in 2004.

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[MarkusKetterer]

He was traded for Derek Morris. The Avs were looking for an offensive Dman to replace Bourque. Who was acquired to replace Ozolinsh

 

[Sticks and Pucks]

Both times when he was traded it was because the team needed some depth on D.

 

[FerrisRox]

Of course he was traded to Calgary and the Avs didn't get much for him.

Derek Morris is "not much?"

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Chris Drury was such a clutch player in Colorado, I used to joke that the only kind of goals he scored were of the highlight reel variety. But man, he might not have put up Sakic or Forsberg point totals, but he was a darn good player for Colorado and put up pretty good numbers and scored a lot of big goals for them in the playoffs, 3 of them OT winners and he added one more as a Buffalo Sabre.

He was traded for Derek Morris. The Avs were looking for an offensive Dman to replace Bourque. Who was acquired to replace Ozolinsh

drury was clutch as hell. he replaced adam deadmarsh in that respect.

funnily enough, the avs traded away owen nolan for sandis ozolinsh because they had deadmarsh. they won the cup in '96. the avs traded away deadmarsh for rob blake because they had drury. they won the cup in '01. the avs traded away drury for derek morris. oops, they didn't have a clutch winger to replace him.

but i think the idea was that tanguay would have grown into the deadmarsh/drury red wings killer role and reinprecht would be the new tanguay. iirc, radim vrbata was the other young guy they had high hopes for.

Why was he traded again? If he had stayed in Colorado, what impact do you think hes has on those '02-
03 and '03-'04 teams? It's interesting that each year he plays for the Avalanche, they make it to the Conference final 3 times (each time to game 7) and win the Stanley Cup in '01. He leaves, they're out in the first round in 2003 and the second round in 2004.

in '03, the avs were up 3-1 in the series then lost three straight 3-2 games, the last two in OT. being that drury scored three playoff OT goals in an avs uniform and added another in buffalo, and had three more "true" playoff GWGs in his career,* i have to think he makes the difference in that series.

in 2004, that team was just broken from some combination of deep run fatigue, superteam bad karma, and tony granato. they were flat out outclassed by the sharks and i don't think drury could have made a different.


* a true playoff GWG meaning a goal in the second half of the third period that breaks a tied game and holds up as the eventual game winner

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

the other thing about drury is that there were two druries.

the avs drury was a scoring winger, usually with forsberg but sometimes with sakic. i don't think he played much center at all except after forsberg went down after the LA series in 2001. and you can see the difference: 7 goals, 10 points in 11 games through the LA series, mostly on a line with forsberg and ville nieminen; 4 goals, 6 points in 12 games the rest of the way, centering hinote and nieminen.

then there was the buffalo drury, who (while somewhat overrated imo) was an excellent 1a center, probably most comparable to a slightly lesser brind'amour.

 

[Admiral Awesome]

the other thing about drury is that there were two druries.

the avs drury was a scoring winger, usually with forsberg but sometimes with sakic. i don't think he played much center at all except after forsberg went down after the LA series in 2001. and you can see the difference: 7 goals, 10 points in 11 games through the LA series, mostly on a line with forsberg and ville nieminen; 4 goals, 6 points in 12 games the rest of the way, centering hinote and nieminen.

then there was the buffalo drury, who (while somewhat overrated imo) was an excellent 1a center, probably most comparable to a slightly lesser brind'amour.

Actually, Hartley would often have Drury at center with Forsberg on his left.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Actually, Hartley would often have Drury at center with Forsberg on his left.

really? why?

 

[Admiral Awesome]

really? why?

Bear in mind that it’s been a long time, but I believe I read somewhere that Hartley would put Forsberg on the wing at times so he wouldn’t have so many responsibilities and could stay a bit more fresh.

 

[Brodeur]

The Derek Morris hype train was at/near its peak in the summer of 2002. He was a 24 year old defenseman who was playing 24-25 minutes a night. Maybe not the exact comparison, but imagine how much Matt Dumba might be worth in a trade right now. It's easier with hindsight to know that Morris ended up kinda peaking early.

The Avs were missing Ray Bourque from their Cup defense team, plus Rob Blake was 32 and Adam Foote was 30. The team thought they had some extra forward depth and thought it was a good idea to acquire a young defenseman. I believe Avs GM Pierre Lacroix said something to the effect of "Our blue line is safe for the next ten years."

My memory is a little fuzzy, but I think most people liked Morris more than Drury at the time.

Colorado had a 20 year old Radim Vrbata put up 18 goals in 52 games as a rookie, so perhaps they thought he'd make up for Drury's offense. Vaclav Nedorost (acquired from the picks received in the Sandis Ozolinsh trade) had put up reasonably good AHL numbers as a 19 year old.

Also, I believe there were some contract squabbles with Drury.

 

[Ivan13]

Lacroix didn't trade Drury because he wanted to shore up the D, he traded him because Drury dared to ask for more money than PL thought he deserved. A familiar pattern that showed its ugly head far too often, most notably with Ozo, Tangs and O'Reilly. Not to mention that his view on the bottom 6 players as cannon fodder costed the Avs dearly at times. He let go of Keane who later because a torn in their side with the Stars, dumped Yelle in the Drury deal etc. But his biggest failing was the coaches, while other powerhouses were coached by the likes of Burns, Big Bird, Hitchcock, Lemaire and Bowman we had the likes of Heartley, Craw and Granato. I feel grateful to him for the two Cup winners he helped build, but I feel they should've won more.

Also, he got raked over the coals so bad in each deal he made with Calgary it's mind-boggling, he basically gave away three-star players (Tangs, Drury and Regher) and a great 4th line center in an era when they were worth quite a bit for a bandaid in Leopold, Morris, McAmmond, Shantz, two 2nd rounders (used to draft C Cody Burki and G Trevor Cann who both flopped spectacularly), Chris Dingman and 33 games of Theo Fleury. Getting that return for any of the three guys the Avs traded is horrible, getting that junk for the three combined is just awful beyond belief and along with the horrible drafting and development system (in particular goalies and D) has set the Avs spiraling out of control and they still haven't recovered from it.

Anyway, since the PL discussion is OT I'll create a new thread where we can discuss his legacy and how he should be viewed around the league to avoid further derailing this thread. I'm also interested in hearing what outsiders think about his moves and legacy.

And yes, Drury did play C with Foppa on his wing.

 

[quoipourquoi]

Bear in mind that it’s been a long time, but I believe I read somewhere that Hartley would put Forsberg on the wing at times so he wouldn’t have so many responsibilities and could stay a bit more fresh.

I think it started with the off-season 1999 shoulder surgery. He was doing 54.4% that year, but I want to say he was limited as soon as he came back - as well as throughout 2000-01 and he basically took none in the 2002 playoffs.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

another q, bc i legitimately do not remember this—did they just have drury take the draws, or did he take on all of forsberg’s center responsibilities?

i ask bc i remember early drury as primarily a LW, though maybe that was just residual from his rookie year? also, forsberg still seems to be primarily the playmaker and drury the goal scorer, though that’s not necessarily an indication of c/w l.

 

[FerrisRox]

Lacroix didn't trade Drury because he wanted to shore up the D, he traded him because Drury dared to ask for more money than PL thought he deserved.

While this might have been a factor in using Drury to get a blueliner, the trade was clearly about shoring up the defense and bringing in a key piece for their defense on the right side of thirty.

 

[Doctor No]

Yes, but the decision to trade Drury for cost reasons came first - then Lacroix decided what he wanted to get for him.

Drury was my favorite Avalanche from the day he stepped on the ice to the day he left (so I'm biased), but I remember the situation quite clearly.

 

[Ivan13]

While this might have been a factor in using Drury to get a blueliner, the trade was clearly about shoring up the defense and bringing in a key piece for their defense on the right side of thirty.

The good doctor hit the nail on the proverbial head. First came the desire to move him, the target to move him for came later on.

 

[quoipourquoi]

another q, bc i legitimately do not remember this—did they just have drury take the draws, or did he take on all of forsberg’s center responsibilities?

i ask bc i remember early drury as primarily a LW, though maybe that was just residual from his rookie year? also, forsberg still seems to be primarily the playmaker and drury the goal scorer, though that’s not necessarily an indication of c/w l.

Just the faceoff as I recall. All-Star voting for 2000-01 is a pretty strong indication that no one really perceived him as anything but a Center, despite starting left of Drury/Nieminen pretty regularly.

 

[Ivan13]

another q, bc i legitimately do not remember this—did they just have drury take the draws, or did he take on all of forsberg’s center responsibilities?

i ask bc i remember early drury as primarily a LW, though maybe that was just residual from his rookie year? also, forsberg still seems to be primarily the playmaker and drury the goal scorer, though that’s not necessarily an indication of c/w l.

He played center, and not the role of Steve Ott, a winger who just took the draws. AA is right in his assesment that they wanted to cut down on the wear on Foppa. Drury played the role of the center in the defensive zone, while Foppa had more freedome in the offensive zone.

That's a lot similar to the role Landeskog played for the Avs first line this season. He took the center tasks in the D zone and allowed Mikko and Nate to do his thing. Same thing with Duchene and O'Reilly on the same line in the past etc.

PS

At least that's how I remember it. I could be wrong as it's been some time since I watched those games.