The Carolina Hurricanes added another top prospect to the organization, signing Jack Drury to a three-year, entry-level contract. The deal will carry an average annual value of $925K. Hurricanes GM Don Waddell released a short statement:
"Jack is an outstanding two-way forward who perfectly fits our system and plays the right way. We expect him to be an important piece for the Hurricanes in the very near future."
Drury, 21, was the 42nd overall pick in 2018 and spent two seasons at Harvard, becoming a star for the school in 2019-20 with a 39-point season. This year, though, Drury followed an unusual path to the professional ranks. He left Harvard but didn’t sign with Carolina, taking his talents to Sweden to play for Vaxjo HC instead. It guaranteed him a full season of development after the Ivy League school announced it wouldn’t play and the AHL was still in flux.
That decision turned out to be a good one. Drury scored 30 points in 41 regular-season games, 11 more in 14 playoff matches en route to a league championship and finished second in the SHL Rookie of the Year voting. That performance landed him a spot on the U.S. World Championship squad, where he took home a bronze and got his first taste of playing against NHL competition.
Now, he signs his entry-level deal with the potential to step directly into the Carolina lineup next season. The nephew of New York Rangers GM Chris Drury, he isn’t quite the same player as his uncle but still has a commitment to the defensive end that is sometimes difficult to find from such talented offensive players. His ceiling may not be quite as high as some of the other young players already on the Hurricanes roster, but he should quickly become a valuable piece to plug in to a lineup that continues to improve.
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