The 2024-25 season was a miserable one for Rangers GM Chris Drury, but he seems to be having a pretty good summer so far.

First, Drury finally got the coach he wanted all along when he hired Mike Sullivan last month, then was able to clear some much-needed salary cap space when he traded Chris Kreider to Anaheim.

And then on Tuesday, everything fell into place for the Rangers on the first day of the NHL free agent signing period.

Drury landed his No. 1 target, defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, re-signed restricted free agent winger Will Cuylle, and shipped out defenseman K’Andre Miller in a sign-and-trade deal with Carolina.

The 6-3, 220-pound Gavrikov, who played all 82 games last season for the L.A. Kings and was second on the team in ice time (23 minutes, five seconds per game), signed a seven-year deal that a source said carries an average annual value of $7 million. He scored five goals and had 25 assists, with a plus-26 plus/minus rating, and will help improve a Rangers defense that, frankly, was bad last season.

Gavrikov’s AAV comes in under what most expected, especially after Columbus re-signed defenseman Ivan Provorov Monday for an AAV of $8.5 million. Gavrikov also apparently will make less than Miller, who reportedly was poised to sign an eight-year deal with the Rangers worth $60 million ($7.5 million per) before being sent to the Metropolitan Division rival Hurricanes for a conditional first round pick in 2026, a second rounder in 2026, and defenseman Scott Morrow, a 6-2, 210-pound, righthanded shot who played 14 games for Carolina in 2024-25, scoring one goal with five assists and a plus-4 rating.

The first round pick will be the better of Carolina’s own or Dallas’, if both picks fall outside the top 10. If one of the picks is in the top 10 and the other is not, the Rangers will get the one that is not. If both the picks are in the top 10, then the Rangers get the better of the two picks in 2027.

Cuylle, 23, was one of the few Rangers who had a good year in 2024-25, building off an impressive rookie season and producing 20 goals and 25 assists, while also breaking the team record for hits (301) in a season. His strong play earned him a spot on Canada’s star-studded roster for the World Championships, where he produced two goals and two assists in eight games.

According to reports, Cuylle’s new deal with the Rangers is for two years, carrying an average annual value of $3.9 million.

“I think individually, I definitely took a big step forward,’’ Cuylle said at the Rangers’ Breakup Day on April 21. “I earned more ice time throughout the year, and production went up and obviously (I added) the role on the penalty kill.’’

Late in the afternoon reports had the Rangers signing 34-year-old Justin Dowling, who spent the last two seasons with the Devils. Dowling, who according to the website PuckPedia agreed to a two-year deal that pays $775,000 at the NHL level, had two goals and five assists in 52 games for New Jersey last season.

With the signings of Gavrikov and Cuylle, the Rangers now have about $4.75 million available under the salary cap of $95.5 million, with a roster of 11 forwards, six defensemen and two goalies. That doesn’t include any of the young forwards – Gabe Perreault, Brennan Othmann and Brett Berard. Adding one of the three would leave them with just under $4 million to add a seventh defenseman and any other pieces Drury wants to bring in.

PuckPedia reported Gavrikov’s deal includes a full no-move clause in the first five years of the deal, a 20-team no-trade clause in Year 6 and a 15-team no-trade clause in Year 7.

The contract also calls for base salaries of $1 million in each of the first five years, with signing bonuses of $8 million in each of the first two years, $6.65 million in Year 3, $5.5 million in Year 4, and $5 million in Year 5. The final two years call for $3.4 million in base salary and a $2 million signing bonus in Year 6, and $5.4 million in salary, and no signing bonus, in Year 7.

A lefthanded shot who played both the left and right side for the Kings, Gavrikov shores up the generally underwhelming left side of the Rangers defense, and he could be the answer to the question of who will partner with No. 1 defenseman Adam Fox. Fox has been in need of a new partner since the Rangers traded Ryan Lindgren to Colorado at the deadline.

Miller, a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, had an up-and-down season in 2024-25, scoring seven goals with 20 assists and an even plus/minus rating in 74 games. He logged the second-most ice time on the team (an average of 21 minutes and 57 seconds), but he had a penchant for costly turnovers and mistakes in his own end of the ice, and he suffered an upper-body injury in midseason that required offseason surgery to repair.

“There were a lot of ups and downs throughout the year, and I was obviously a big part of that,’’ he said at Breakup Day.

Miller has been on the trading block all summer, and once the Rangers landed Gavrikov there was no way they could fit both Gavrikov and Miller under the salary cap. The 6-5, 210-pound Miller leaves the Rangers after five years, during which he scored 36 goals and had 132 points in 368 games.