Hurricanes keeping intriguing forward on roster with new contract

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Carolina Hurricanes and forward Jack Drury have agreed to a two-year, $3.45M contract. The deal will pay Drury a salary of $1.775M in 2024-25, and a salary of $1.675M in 2025-26 with an AAV of $1.725M.

In a follow-up report, PuckPedia shares that upon expiration of this contract for Drury, he will be RFA-eligible with arbitration rights and will be one year away from unrestricted free agency. The Hurricanes will only be on the hook for a $1.675M qualifying offer to Drury due to the lower salary in the second year of the contract.

It is a reasonable price for Carolina and Drury as the latter projects to be a middle-six option with the organization next year. It took a few years for the Harvard University alum to make it to the NHL after being selected with the No. 42 overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, but Drury has become a solid contributor.

This past season marked his first full NHL campaign with the young center scoring eight goals and 27 points in 74 games. Drury primarily played on a line with Martin Necas during the regular season with Michael Bunting or Stefan Noesen flanking him as the other wing. He deserves a lot of the credit for the possession metrics produced by his line as Drury achieved a 55.3% success rate in the faceoff dot with 63.6% of his starts coming in the offensive zone.

After averaging 11:51 of ice time per night with the Hurricanes over the past three years, the team could get aggressive with his deployment in the 2024-25 season. The team may end up keeping Necas after a summer full of trade rumors and Drury could continue playing next to him on the team’s second line. Carolina could then use newcomer Jack Roslovic as the second-line left wing while moving Jesperi Kotkaniemi back to center on the team’s fourth line.