The Rangers finally did what the Daily News first reported they would on June 9, buying out the final season of Chris Drury’s five-year, $35.25 million contract.
 
The 34-year-old center had one goal and four assists in 24 games in his final campaign with the Blueshirts, sidelined at the start of the season by a broken finger, which he broke again in the home opener, before undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in February and returning for the regular-season finale and playoffs.
 
“Chris is a consummate professional, a tremendous competitor and an even better person,” GM Glen Sather said in a statement. “He gave his heart and soul to the Rangers organization in his time here and we wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
 
A three-time U.S. Olympian and a Little League World Series hero for Trumbull, Conn., Drury was captain of the Rangers for the past three seasons. In his time with the Rangers, he scored 62 goals with 99 assists.
 
Cutting ties with Drury will save the Rangers $3,333,333 against the 2011-12 cap, but cost them $1,666,667 the following season. The road to the buyout proved bumpy, as sources said that Drury planned to file paperwork with the league to block it, citing his chronic knee problems and the league rule that an injured player cannot be bought out. That did not happen, and Drury presumably will seek to continue his NHL career, with the Bruins and Sabres having been mentioned as possible landing points.
 

According to the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, a player must clear waivers before he can be bought out of a contract. The process, though, is fraught with confusion, especially in the case of Rangers captain Chris Drury.
 
Drury did not go on waivers today, which apparently means the Rangers have one more chance tomorrow to make him available to the entire league if they intend to buy him out by Thursday’s deadline. I say apparently because of the case of the one player who did go on waivers today, Minnesota Wild defenseman Cam Barker.
 
According to a pair of tweets from Bob McKenzie of TSN, “Barker’s waiver price is $26,250. Can’t be bought out unless it’s a waiver price of $125. So this is the first pass to see if anyone wants him. If he clears tomorrow at noon, MIN would have to put him back on $125 waivers if they want to buy him out.”
 
Further to that, Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wrote, “(Wild GM Chuck) Fletcher won’t comment today, but the Wild will only say this doesn’t mean it’s definitely buying him out because he’s just on regular waivers.”
 
The not-so-regular waivers, if you will, are unconditional waivers. According to an agent who I spoke to this afternoon, those are the waivers that need to be cleared for a buyout to take place. The belief is that the Rangers could put Drury on unconditional waivers tomorrow, and buy him out on Thursday if he clears. Why it might be necessary (or might not be necessary) for the Wild to put Barker on regular waivers before unconditional waivers, but not for the Rangers to do so with Drury, is not entirely clear.

At 23 and having graduated from the University of Michigan, Carl Hagelin is something of an elder statesman at the Rangers’ prospect development camp, something that the left wing readily recognizes, especially among the Swedish contingent.
 
“I’ve been here for four years, and I’m a bit older than them, too,” Hagelin said. “So it’s important for me to be a good leader for them and mentor them here.”
 
Hagelin has gotten his own similar help before – not in the move from Sweden to North America, but from college to the pros. After finishing his college career, he joined the Connecticut Whale for five playoff games, scoring a goal with an assist after posting a line of 18-31-49 for the Wolverines. In the AHL, Hagelin was reunited with Chad Kolarik, who was a senior at Michigan when Hagelin was a freshman.
 
“He was my assistant captain when I was a freshman,” Hagelin said. “He helped me a lot in the transition. He told me to just play your game and things should work out.”
 
Hagelin’s next hope will be to play his game well enough to earn a job in the NHL. If the Rangers were to draw up their roster today, Hagelin probably would not be on it, but it is not inconceivable that he could make the team out of training camp. That would also mean a return home to Sweden, of course, for the beginning of the season.
 
“It would be a great experience,” Hagelin said. “If that happens, you can’t ask for a better start with a team, going over to your home country to play a game. That would be an amazing feeling, and that’s why I work hard every day to maybe have a chance to make that team.”
 

Except for the select few prospects who will jump right into the NHL, this weekend’s draft represented the beginning of a long road toward success as a professional hockey player. I had my own long road, to and from the Twin Cities.
 
Ever the company man, when I booked my travel to the draft, I sought out the least expensive way possible. It turned out that to get to Minneapolis-St. Paul, the cheapest way to go was to connect in Kansas City. The only catch was that the flight to Kansas City went through Minneapolis-St. Paul. Apparently, Joseph Heller wrote the software for Delta Airlines’ ticketing computer.
 
Flying from New York to Minneapolis, to Kansas City and back to Minneapolis, was less expensive than going from New York to Minneapolis. The apparent loophole in the whole thing was that the layover in Minneapolis was 32 minutes, meaning that with any delay whatsoever, I would have no chance of catching that flight to Kansas City.
 
When I woke up on Thursday to foggy skies in Queens, I was oddly happy that this likely meant a delay. It certainly did. A three-hour delay, which I got to spend in an atmosphere at LaGuardia Airport that differed from rush hour on the 6 train only in the availability of a restroom. But at least I wasn’t going to have to go to Kansas City.
 
While in the air, thanks to the miracle of onboard wireless Internet on the small portion of the flight that was smooth enough that I could read a computer screen without feeling ill, I found out that I had been automatically rebooked on a new flight to Missouri. Not to worry, I figured. When I got to Minneapolis, I would go to a gate agent, explain that I was already at my final destination, and did not need this courtesy of a new flight. Logic would come into play, and I would begin settling in for the weekend in the Twin Cities, having not taken a same-day round trip flight to Kansas City.