NEW YORK — Noise and the New York Rangers seem to go together. It was a constant throughout their tumultuous 2024-25 season, so naturally it continued into the summer. Executives around the league wondered what would come next for the team that tumbled from the 2023-24 Presidents’ Trophy champions to out of the playoffs.

President and general manager Chris Drury did not hesitate to make changes. First he fired coach Peter Laviolette early in the offseason, then hired Mike Sullivan in the hopes that the two-time Stanley Cup champion can bring stability behind the bench. In June, Drury traded away Chris Kreider, the Rangers’ longest-tenured player and a link to the 2014 Eastern Conference championship team.

The offseason bustle culminated on July 1, the first day of NHL free agency, with a pair of big splashes from Drury: signing Vladislav Gavrikov, arguably the best defenseman on the open market, and subsequently trading K’Andre Miller to the division rival Hurricanes. The result is a projected lineup that looks almost exactly the same as it did when the 2024-25 season ended. But the switch of blueliners — signing a more established one and shipping out a younger one — signaled to opponents that the Rangers intend on returning to contention sooner rather than later. Mika Zibanejad, J.T. Miller, Vincent Trocheck and Artemi Panarin will all be at least 32 years old by the time next season starts in October, and Drury seems set on maximizing the team’s ceiling while they are still capable players.

The day Drury signed Gavrikov and moved on from Miller could end up being one of the more consequential ones in his tenure. Here’s how it all went down.

The potential marriage of Gavrikov and the Rangers was one of the NHL’s worst-kept secrets. Reports linking the team and player swirled in the week leading up to free agency, and other clubs around the league began assuming a deal would eventually get done on July 1.

Indeed, Gavrikov, who started his career in Columbus before going to the Kings at the 2023 deadline, viewed New York as an ideal destination from early in the offseason until he eventually signed July 1, according to a league source. He and Panarin were teammates for Russia at the 2017 world championships, and then again when Gavrikov joined the Blue Jackets for the 2019 playoffs. The two are friends, and Panarin answered questions about playing in New York for Gavrikov before he agreed to a contract, according to a league source.

Drury, meanwhile, was shopping for a left-shot defenseman after deciding not to commit long-term to Ryan Lindgren, whom he traded to Colorado at the March trade deadline. The Rangers’ front office made a wish list early in the offseason, and Gavrikov encapsulated what they were looking for after a defensively porous season: The 29-year-old was one of league’s best shutdown defensemen with the Kings in 2024-25.

The Rangers’ front office has liked Gavrikov’s game dating back to his Columbus days, Drury later explained on July 2. The Blue Jackets shopped him at the 2023 trade deadline, but New York did not have the salary cap space to pursue him. Two years later, the Rangers got another chance, this time with the flexibility they needed.

Gavrikov wasn’t opposed to rejoining the Kings, but they weren’t his top choice. Along with the Rangers, he was also interested in the Panthers, according to a league source. Going to Florida would not have worked from a salary cap perspective, though, especially after the repeat Stanley Cup champions re-signed defenseman Aaron Ekblad.

The Kings negotiated with Gavrikov’s camp through June 30 but could not reach a deal. General manager Ken Holland pivoted to other defensemen on the market, signing Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci when free agency opened.

“We were involved in negotiations (with Gavrikov) since I got here,” said Holland, who took over as Kings’ general manager in May. “Ultimately we couldn’t find, obviously, anything that worked for both sides.”

Forty-nine minutes after free agency opened July 1, The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported Gavrikov and the Rangers had reached a seven-year contract with a $7 million average annual value. Gavrikov could have made more from other teams, including some playoff clubs, according to a league source. Ivan Provorov, perhaps the most comparable free-agent defenseman to Gavrikov, got a seven-year, $8.5 million AAV contract to stay in Columbus.

With Gavrikov likely sacrificing on AAV, the Rangers frontloaded his contract: He gets an $8 million signing bonus each of the first two years of the deal on top of a $1 million annual base salary, so he will get $18 million of his $49 million total by July 1, 2027. For comparison, that’s slightly more than Provorov ($17.5 million) in the first two years.

The signing also had a domino effect on New York’s roster. Drury had no interest in saying goodbye to restricted free agent Will Cuylle, who is coming off a promising 45-point season as a second-year player. That left a 25-year-old defenseman who skates well, can average nearly 22 minutes a night and can contribute offense as the odd man out.

Like many young players at his position, K’Andre Miller struggled at points with consistency over his Rangers tenure. But while New York was not ready to commit to the restricted free agent with a long-term deal, Carolina was — and it knew New York was exploring trades for him in the months leading up to free agency. According to a league source, talks between the Hurricanes and Rangers picked up steam in the week leading up to the July 1 move.

“We’d been working on it for a while,” Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky told reporters in Raleigh that day.

Multiple clubs had expressed interest in Miller, and the Rangers were in touch with his camp about teams with whom he’d want to play, according to a league source. Teams can also speak directly with restricted free agents starting at 7:01 p.m. Eastern Time on June 30, so Carolina was able to gauge his interest ahead of Noon on July 1, when free agents are allowed to start signing deals. The Hurricanes knowing they’d have a chance to extend Miller long-term potentially impacted how much they were willing to give up to acquire him.

Sitting in Tulsky’s office July 1, Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour told the room of staffers that Miller reminded him of former Carolina defenseman Brady Skjei, as shown in a video the Hurricanes posted on social media. Brind’Amour cited Miller’s ability to skate and join the rush while making the Skjei comparison. Tulsky did not want to subtract a sizable piece from a Hurricanes team that reached the Eastern Conference final this season, so he gave up a 2026 first-round pick (the best of Carolina’s or Dallas’, assuming neither is in the lottery), a 2026 second-round pick and defenseman Scott Morrow to get Miller.

As part of the deal, Miller signed an eight-year, $7.5 million-AAV extension.

“The way you skate and close out is just going to fit the way we play,” Tulsky told the defenseman on the phone after acquiring him.

Ian Pulver, Miller’s agent, credited Drury for how the GM handled the situation. Speaking on the PuckPedia Hockey Show, he said the Rangers’ general manager “was completely aboveboard the whole time with the Miller situation and very professional.”

Though there’s risk with trading a promising young player in-division, the Rangers were happy with the trade. New York wanted Gavrikov more than Miller, and the deal with Carolina ended any threat of a team presenting Miller or Cuylle with an offer sheet. Drury knew that might’ve been possible otherwise, saying “it’s within the rules, so it’s certainly not something you can ignore.”

Had the Hurricanes signed Miller to an offer sheet with the same $7.5 million AAV as they ended up paying for an extension, they would have been forced to give first-, second- and third-round picks to the Rangers. By getting two picks and Morrow, a 22-year-old prospect, the Rangers believe they surpassed the value they would have gotten as offer sheet compensation.

“We just felt at this time it was best to allow him to explore another opportunity,” Drury said. “Another piece, obviously, is salary cap space and ice time and roster space, and we felt comfortable with being able to move him in a trade and essentially replace some of his ice in the free-agent market (with Gavrikov).”

With Gavrikov signed and Miller traded away, the Rangers had the space to sign Cuylle to a two-year, $3.9 million AAV deal, ending any speculation he’d receive an offer sheet. They also added bottom-six winger Taylor Raddysh.

After one day of free agency, Drury had accomplished most of his offseason business. His two biggest transactions — signing a top-pair defenseman and trading a potential one away — made that possible.

Sullivan could potentially pair Gavrikov with Adam Fox, a former Norris Trophy winner. With Gavrikov’s defensive acumen and Fox’s playmaking ability, the duo would likely immediately become one of the best pairings in the league. Sullivan could also choose to split them up, perhaps by using Gavrikov with Will Borgen to make a shutdown pairing that could go against other teams’ top lines. Gavrikov can also play on the right side, so he has positional versatility. If he can replicate his most recent season, he’ll provide an upgrade from how Miller played in 2024-25.

Cuylle, 23, will have a chance to continue improving. He was one of the Rangers’ bright spots in a difficult 2024-25, and his role could continue to grow as he ages. Raddysh will likely play on the third line. The 27-year-old has some offensive touch, having scored 20 goals on a bottom-feeder Chicago team in 2022-23, but has also shown he can contribute to a good team. He played 80 games last season for the Capitals, who had the best record in the East last year, then seven of the team’s 10 playoff contests. Washington used him primarily on the fourth line.

“Not flashy but doesn’t make a ton of mistakes,” said one scout who frequently saw Raddysh play with Washington.

The changes don’t solve all the problems on the roster. New York’s bottom-six forward group remains shaky, and none of the defensemen aside from Fox and Gavrikov have ever averaged more than 18 minutes a game in a season. Still, Drury certainly improved the roster July 1. And with Gavrikov and January trade addition J.T. Miller in the fold, he’s continued to put his stamp on it as his own.

(Photos: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images and Jared Silber / NHLI via Getty Images)