The Carolina Hurricanes and forward Jack Drury have agreed to a two-year, $3.45MM contract. The deal, first announced by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, will pay Drury a salary of $1.775MM in 2024-25, and a salary of $1.675MM in 2025-26 with an AAV of $1.725MM.
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 $1.675MM 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 42nd 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.