Per NHL.com:

After 12 seasons and more than 600 points, Chris Drury has retired from the NHL according to a release Friday from the NHL Players Association.

Drury played in 892 games for the Colorado Avalanche, Calgary Flames, Buffalo Sabres and the New York Rangers, and he finished his career with 255 goals and 615 points.

A third-round pick in the 1994 Entry Draft, Drury starred at Boston University for four seasons before joining the Colorado franchise for the 1998-99 season. Drury won the Hobey Baker Award in 1997-98 as the top player in college hockey, and captured the Calder Memorial Trophy with the Avalanche the next season.

Drury won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2001, and after a year in Calgary he had his best offensive seasons with Buffalo after arriving in a trade before the 2003-04 season. He had 30 goals and 67 points in 2005-06 and topped that with 37 goals and 69 points the next season.

He was also known as a strong defensive forward, and for his production in the postseason. Drury had 11 goals and 16 points during the Avalanche’s Cup run in 2001, and finished with 47 goals and 89 points in 135 career postseason contests.

Drury signed a five-year, $35.25 million contract with the Rangers on July 1, 2007 and had 25 goals and 58 points in his first season, but those numbers slipped to 14 goals and 32 points by the 2009-10 campaign and he was only able to play 24 games this past season because of multiple injuries.

“Throughout his career, Chris Drury was always a great competitor, a tremendous leader and teammate, and the heart and soul type of player that every team would love to have,” Rangers GM Glen Sather. “His commitment, determination and will to win were apparent each and every day. Those characteristics will have a lasting impact on all those who were fortunate enough to learn from Chris over his 12 years in the National Hockey League.”

The Rangers bought out the final two years of Drury’s contract, and made him an unrestricted free agent. He was expected to miss the entire 2011-12 season because of a knee injury.

Drury represented the United States in three Olympics, winning silver medals in 2002 and 2010. He also won a bronze medal in the 2004 world championships, and played for the U.S. in the World Cup of Hockey in 2004.

A Trumbull, Conn., native, Drury earned national recognition first in baseball when he pitched Trumball to the Little League World Series title in 1989.

Per ESPN:

Chris Drury thanked the New York Rangers for giving him an opportunity to live out a childhood dream on the day his career with the team came to an end.

His buyout with the Rangers becomes official Wednesday, the New York Post reported, ending a four-year stint in New York for the 34-year-old.

“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 emailed to The Post.

“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.”

A broken finger and knee surgery limited the Connecticut native to only 24 games last season, in which he registered only five points.

Drury will receive $3.333 million to buy out the final year of his five-year, $35.25 million contract with the Rangers, according to The Post. He could have been declared medically unable to perform for the final season and received his full $5 million salary, but Drury wants to continue his career and will become an unrestricted free agent, the newspaper reported.

His best season in New York was his first when he scored 25 goals and added 33 assists. He was named a captain for the following season.

Drury has also played for Colorado, Calgary and Buffalo in a 12-year career.

Per Puck Daddy:

Last week, it was reported that the New York Rangers would mercifully buy out the last season of Chris Drury’s lamentable 5-year, $35.25 million contract, taking part of that cap space-devouring deal off the books this summer.What, you really thought it was going to be that easy?

Larry Brooks of the NY Post broke the news today that the Rangers won’t be buying out Drury because they can’t buy out Drury: He reportedly has a “degenerative condition” in his left knee and can’t have his contract bought out as an injured player, per the CBA.

From the Post:

The inability to buy out an injured player means that Drury’s full $7.05 million charge will remain on the Blueshirts’ summer cap, which can exceed the 2011-12 season cap by 10 percent. Under terms of the CBA, the captain will have to report to training camp in September for the team physical. If Drury fails, as would be expected, he would qualify for a long-term injury (LTI) exemption when the season begins and the roster is set.

But in order to gain the full value of the $7.05 million exemption, the Rangers would have to go that far over the cap. In other words, if the cap is $62.5 million (an estimation before it is officially established by June 30), the team would have to get to $69.5 million (including Drury) before the season-opener in Stockholm to reap the full LTI benefit.

In other words, unless they break the bank on someone like Brad Richards, they may not get the full benefit of a Drury LTI.

Is retirement an option if Drury’s condition is that dire? Please recall Markus Naslund retiring instead of taking a buy out in 2009, saving the Rangers an extra $1 million in cap space that summer.

Injuries and buyouts have a nasty little history since the lockout. Glen Murray fought a Boston Bruins buyout in 2008, claiming he was still recovering from a major ankle injury at the time. That fight went on for a year before an arbitrator sided with the Bruins. Defenseman David Tanabe of the Carolina Hurricanes was given a buy out in 2008 but the NHLPA filed a grievance saying he was still suffering from a concussion. Tanabe and the Canes reached a settlement that October.

As for Drury … boy, just when you thought that contract couldn’t become more regrettable …

Per NY Daily News:

Glen Sather left Wednesday’s general managers meeting without addressing the media, but the Daily News has learned the Rangers boss plans to buy out the final season of captain Chris Drury’s five-year, $35.25 million contract.”He’s gone,” the source said of Drury, who had one goal and four assists this season as he sat out 58 games with finger and knee injuries – more time than he had missed in his 11 previous NHL campaigns combined.

The NHL’s contract buyout window is June 15-30, and the Rangers have been expected to part ways with Drury since John Tortorella’s read-between-the-lines comment on April 25 that “We have to make decisions for what’s best for the organization moving on… It’s certainly not mine, my total decision, but I have my thoughts.

“These are all conversations we have to have.”

Buying out Drury would save the Rangers $3.3 million against next year’s salary cap, with a $1.6 million charge to the Blueshirts’ ledger in 2012-13. The Blueshirts also appear likely to buy out the remaining year on midseason pickup Wojtek Wolski’s deal, saving another $3.3 million next season while incurring a $666,667 charge in 2012-13.

The salary-cap space that the Rangers create during the buyout window will be vital to their pursuit of top free agent Brad Richards, or other upgrades should they fail to land the All-Star center.

While the cap is expected to rise from $59.4 million to $60 million-$63 million, the Rangers have seven restricted free agents, with all but defenseman Matt Gilroy expected to be in line for significant raises, most notably Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky.

Per NorthJersey.com:

The worst season of Chris Drury’s career continues to get worse.

The Ranges’ Chris Drury could return with about eight regular-season games remaining if he misses six weeks.

The Rangers captain requires surgery on his left knee and coach John Tortorella said Wednesday he expects the 34-year-old Drury to miss six weeks.

“They’re going to go in, scrape his knee, take a look at it,” Tortorella said. “They haven’t really pinpointed anything. That guy has played hard for a long time and I just think it’s worn on him. It certainly hasn’t been getting better.”

Drury missed the last two games for the Rangers, who will take a season-high five-game losing streak to Atlanta as they conclude a three-game road trip Friday.

Drury, in the fourth season of a five-year, $35.25 million deal, has four assists in 23 games as he will set career lows in goals, assists, points and games played. He broke his left index finger blocking a shot in training camp, then re-broke it in the Rangers’ third game of the season. He missed 31 of the first 32 games.

If he misses six weeks, Drury could return with about eight regular-season games remaining.

“He tried to keep on playing but it’s just gotten to the point where he can’t,” Tortorella said.

Tortorella took issue with any suggestion Drury’s sore knee was exaggerated to get Erik Christensen back in the lineup for Saturday’s 2-0 loss at Montreal after he missed 16 games with a sprained right MCL. Or that Drury was in danger of being a healthy scratch.

“It [ticks] me off that some things come out about Chris Drury, about him thinking he might be out of the lineup and thinking he’s given in here a little bit,” Tortorella said. “If you guys knew him as well as I do, it’s killing him.

“It bothered me,” Tortorella added. “Because he’s not built that way.”

Per A Gross Record:

Chris Drury out six weeks with broken left index finger. Same finger as before.

Marian Gaborik, separated left shoulder, out 2-3 weeks.

Vinny Prospal will undergo surgery on his knee on Tuesday and is out indefinitely. Whispers are he’s done for the season.

Per NHL.com:

Rangers captain Chris Drury broke a finger during a Monday morning scrimmage and will miss four weeks.

Drury struggled last season with career-lows of 14 goals and 32 points, but said recently the days leading into training camp and the first days of conditioning and practices had him feeling positive for the season.

“The guys are committed to reaching our goals,” Drury told the team’s Web site. “I think we have already seen it, too. Guys have been here early. They are committed to these (conditioning) tests and being in the best shape we can be in. It’s always a good sign to get off in the right direction, and I think that’s what we’ve done.”

If Drury misses a full month, he’ll miss the first four games of the regular season — road games against the Sabres and Islanders, and home contests with the Maple Leafs and Avalanche.