The Carolina Hurricanes and forward Jack Drury have avoided an arbitration hearing and have settled on a two-year contract.
The new deal will pay Drury $1.77 million for the 2024-25 season, $1.67 million in 2025-26, and carries a $1.72 million average annual value.
Drury, 24, appeared in 74 games last season for the Hurricanes, recording eight goals and 27 points. He also chipped in with another five points in 11 Stanley Cup Playoff games. It was essentially Drury’s first full NHL season in Carolina as he went on to post career highs in games played, goals, assists, points, and penalty minutes.
Drury was originally a 2018 second-round pick of the ‘Canes and has played a total of 114 NHL games since. The Harvard University alum has carved himself out a defensive role down the middle in Carolina, among their bottom-six, and should get another crack at centering the team’s third line come training camp in September.
The New York, NY native averaged just over 12 minutes of ice time a game last season and saw some time on both sides of the Hurricanes’ special teams units. He won 55.2% of his faceoffs and it’s his attention to the 200-foot game which could lead to more opportunity to make an impact in Carolina. Once Drury’s new deal expires, he will have one season left as a restricted free agent.
As for the Hurricanes, they have been busy of late, as the team will be terminating Evgeny Kuznetsov’s final year of his contract, which frees up roughly $6 million in additional cap space this summer. Drury takes a small chunk out of the finances with his new deal, which leaves the Hurricanes with roughly $13.8 million in cap space. Now the attention of general manager Eric Tulsky turns to the team’s remaining restricted free agents, Martin Necas and Seth Jarvis.
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