Hurricanes Draft Jack Drury with 42nd-Overall Draft Pick

With their first selection on day two of the 2018 NHL Draft (42nd-overall), the Carolina Hurricanes selected American center Jack Drury.

The Winnetka, Illinois native played in the USHL for the Waterloo Black Hawks last season. As their team captain, he tallied 65 points in 56 games. He is committed to play collegiate hockey at Harvard next year.

He comes from a line of hockey lineage. His father, Ted Drury, was a long-time center in the NHL, and his uncle, Chris Drury, logged north of 600 points over his 892-game NHL career.

The newest Drury to don an NHL jersey also had some kind words for Hurricanes second-overall pick Andrei Svechnikov.

Both players played in the USHL in 2016-17.

The Hurricanes will select again with the 96th-overall pick.

Scouting Analysis

Drury is a high-character, well-rounded prospect who could be a culture setter for the Canes in the future. He has a constant motor, and willingly plays in all three zones and can slot in up and down the lineup.

Offensively, Drury will continue to grow as he takes his next step towards NCAA hockey in the fall. His skating can improve, as can his offensive output, but the foundation is there for an NHL future, likely in the middle-six. He will be a player who the organization will feel comfortable putting on the ice in any situation. - Kevin LeBlanc

They Said It

Drury, meeting the media:

I take a lot of pride [defensively]. I think that’s how you win hockey games. If you watch in the playoffs, you win games playing in both ends. The top players in the league can all play on both sides of the ice. That’s just something that I’ve always naturally been carried towards.

It’s going to be awesome. Obviously a phenomenal place to be, great coaches and the kids there seem awesome. It’s going to push me toward getting better and being ready for the NHL.

[On lessons learned from his dad and uncle:] Enjoy every minute of it. You don’t get to play hockey forever, so you’ve got to work your tail off. You have to be ready to compete every single day. It’s not a business where you can take a day off.

It helps being able to learn from them, but I want to create something of my own. I don’t want to just be known as Ted Drury’s son or Chris Drury’s nephew. I want to be known as Jack Drury, and that’s something they appreciate and something they’ve supported me with.

Tony’s Take

Hurricanes scouting director Tony MacDonald:

We were real pleased to get a kid like Drury where we did at 42. We had him rated pretty high on our list for the express purpose of getting him at 42. We were hoping we would get him there. There were a couple of other guys we were looking at too, but we are really, really happy with Jack. He’s a tremendous young man, a great person, a good player, a gritty, smart kid who understands the game well.

With the bloodlines there, there’s some hockey in this kid. He’s a natural leader who’s been in a leadership role with some of the teams he’s been on. He’s the kind of player who will be a couple of years away before he’s ready to think about playing in the NHL, but we think he’s on track to do that.

Physically he needs to get a little bigger and stronger. But he knows how to train, he knows how to prepare, and he’s very professional in his approach to the game. We’re quite pleased.