While the Carolina Hurricanes season ended in disappointment, the team had a lot to be proud of. Now in the offseason, tough decisions will be made, and management will work to put the team in a place to succeed next season. In the meantime, we will take a look back at individual players’ seasons and see how they did. For the Carolina Hurricanes offseason grades, today we look at Jack Drury.
Carolina Hurricanes Offseason Grade: Jack Drury
The Carolina Hurricanes took Jack Drury in the Second Round of the 2018 NHL Draft. After playing at Harvard University and then overseas in Sweden, Drury made his way back to North America to play in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves in 2021. Drury is a very responsible, two-way forward who is typically a centre but also plays on the wing. He does the little things right and has had team success over his career. He won the Swedish Hockey League Championship with Vaxjo and then returned to the United States to win the Calder Cup with the Chicago Wolves. Carolina has utilized him in a bottom-six role mostly but has aspirations for him to develop into a permanent fixture on the team or be a decent trade chip if it comes to that.
Jack Drury’s Regular Season
Drury split this regular season almost equally between Chicago in the AHL and Carolina in the NHL. After a fairly successful AHL season last year and scoring two goals in two NHL games, many expected Drury to be a lock for a spot with Carolina. However, he started the year slow and Carolina sent him back to Chicago. Once injuries hit, Carolina called up Drury and he played in 38 games.
Over that span, Drury scored two goals and six assists. He never really played with one line consistently but was utilized mostly on a revolving assortment of a fourth-line as well as some with Jordan Staal on the third line. He is another player that Carolina was able to utilize in multiple situations including the powerplay and up and down the lineup. Unfortunately, he never really exploded offensively. He fit in and was not very noticeable, which is not always a bad thing. His Corsi and Fenwick scores of 66% were top four on the team for players playing over 100 minutes but his other advanced and more nuanced stats were not anything noteworthy. While spending most of his time on the wing, he did spend some time in the middle and was 53.2% in faceoffs. Once Carolina’s forwards got heathy, Drury was sent back to the AHL.
Jack Drury’s Playoffs
After Teuvo Teravainen broke his wrist in game two of the First Round of the playoffs against the New York Islanders, the Hurricanes called up Drury. Much like his regular season, Drury did not look out of place and fit in well, but also did not turn heads. He had three assists in 13 playoff games. His advanced and more nuanced stats largely followed those during his regular season.
The coaching staff showed confidence in Drury and dressed him in every playoff game following his call-up. This confidence also resulted in Drury spending time on the first-line with Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis as well as a new look third line with Staal and Martin Necas in addition to the fourth-line with Paul Stastny and Derek Stepan. Much like his regular season, Drury fit in and was not a liability, but did not provide much more than expected.
The Verdict
As a depth forward and call-up option, Drury did what Carolina would largely expect. He skated hard and didn’t look out of place. But as a younger forward with slightly elevated expectations following last season, Drury did not really jump on the stat sheet. Drury still has time to progress and could be a great player for Carolina. Realistically, expectations for Drury are probably around a decent third-line forward. Barring something unforeseen or a trade, Drury should have a place in Carolina’s bottom six next season.
Grade: C
Main Photo: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
