‘Young and hungry’: Carolina Hurricanes’ Jack Drury is proving he belongs in the NHL
Jack Drury of the Carolina Hurricanes made a quick move to the front of the net, took a feed from Stefan Noesen, and scored.
Not that it was quite that simple or routine. Noesen was behind the Los Angeles Kings net, facing the end boards. He slid the puck back through his legs to Drury, who had position on defenseman Jordan Spence and lifted a backhander that beat goalie David Rittich under the glove.
It wasn’t a game-winner — the Kings beat the Canes 5-2 on Monday. But it was Drury’s eighth goal of the season and came on a play his teammates and coaches — and Canes fans — are getting accustomed to seeing in Drury’s play.
“He wants to get better every day and works at it every day,” Noesen said this week. “He’s good, young and hungry, and that’s what you need to be in this league.”
Drury, 23, has centered Noesen quite a bit this season, although he had Brendan Lemieux and Jesper Fast on his line Monday to start the game against the Kings at PNC Arena. But Drury and Noesen were together in the third period, when Drury’s goal pulled the Canes within 4-2 with 11 minutes left in regulation.
“The way he reads things and the way that he learns, I just tell him, ‘If you get open I’m going to find you’ kind of thing,” Noesen said of the play. “I kind of always know where he’s going to be and we have some pretty good chemistry together.”
At Wednesday’s practice, Noesen and Martin Necas were the wingers on Drury’s line as Necas looks to return from an upper-body injury Friday against the Detroit Red Wings after missing the past five games.
Necas has been a top-six forward for the Canes and was the team’s top scorer last season, but said he has enjoyed the times he has played with Drury.
“I’ve always felt like he was a really good player,” Necas said Wednesday. “He didn’t really get the chance to play here and finally now he’s proving he’s much better than playing in the AHL or playing here a little bit and then being sent down.
“The past 15 to 20 games he’s been really good. He’s really good on faceoffs and he’s playing good defensively and playing on the power play. I’m happy for him and he definitely deserves this.”
Drury’s journey to the NHL
Most Hurricanes fans know the essential facts about Drury: Played at Harvard (and has a degree in psychology). Second-round draft pick by Carolina in 2018. His father, Ted, and uncle, Chris Drury, played in the NHL.
Not as widely known: Drury had an affinity for another sport — “ I always loved baseball,” he said. The lefthander pitched, played first base and center field before leaving high school to play junior hockey. Drury, with a slight smile, said he was a good contact hitter with “some” speed and a sound-enough arm in the outfield.
But given his family pedigree, hockey had to be his sport, didn’t it? He did put on skates for the first time at age 2.
“I always loved it and being around it so much at a young age fueled that passion for the game,” Drury said.
He played in the USHL. He went to Harvard. When the pandemic began, he left Harvard and went to the Swedish Hockey League for a season. He came back and played in the AHL while making his NHL debut — two games, two goals — for Carolina in 2021-22 and won a Calder Cup.
When training camp began for the 2023-24 season, the feeling was Vasily Ponomarev might emerge as the Canes’ fourth center. But Ponomarev was injured. Drury claimed the spot and No. 18 has become a fixture in the lineup.
Thinking the game
In 43 games, Drury has eight goals and 19 points — roughly the same numbers as center Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Two of Drury’s goals have come on the power play, where he’s often in the important “bumper” position in the center of the ice.
“He’s playing more and he’s earned it,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said this week. “I don’t know that he’s doing anything differently but the puck’s been going in a little more. I’ve given him a little more opportunity, so he’s getting power play goals and he’s getting more ice time.
“But I don’t think his game has changed and that’s been the key. He’s been pretty consistent, with his effort, for sure. “
Noesen first played with Drury in Chicago, with the AHL’s Wolves. They won the Calder Cup in 2022, Drury finishing with nine goals and 24 points in the 18 playoff games,
A year later, both were with the Canes and in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“You could tell a couple of years ago that he was going to be a good player,” Noesen said. ”It’s the way he thinks the game. He’s wise beyond his years.
“The way he learns and wants to understand the game, I think he gets that from his old man, right? He’s bred into that.”
Not that Drury, called “Jacko” by his teammates, likes to talk about himself. He prefers to quietly goes about his business.
“Just stay in the present,” he said. “I can’t worry about the future or past too much, especially in this profession. I’ve just always had a lot of confidence in myself and the group here.”
And in Brind’Amour. Drury clearly enjoys being coached by a man who won a Stanley Cup with the Canes, who once competed against his father and uncle as a player and now, as head coach, has made the Hurricanes Cup contenders.
“He sets the standard so high and he’s at it himself,” Drury said.
