"A year earlier than expected, Chris Drury's time with the Rangers is over.

The Blueshirts finalized a buyout of the final season of their captain's five-year, $35.25 million contract Wednesday, and he will receive $3,333,333 as per the buyout rules in the labor agreement.

The Rangers will incur a $3,176,667 cap charge for Drury this coming season - a savings of more than $3.3 million - and a $1,666,667 hit in 2012-13. The Daily News first reported on June 9 that the Rangers planned to cut ties with the 34-year-old, who was a Little League World Series hero for Trumbull, Conn., before embarking on a hockey career that has included a Stanley Cup and two Olympic silver medals.

Hobbled by a chronic knee problem and with his production dwindling, Drury could not fit into the Rangers' plans at an annual cap hit of $7.05 million.

As highly regarded as Drury was in the locker room and the organization, his contract stood in the way of the Rangers upgrading a team that finished eighth in the Eastern Conference this past season and was eliminated in five games by the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs."