Jack Drury has his sights set on being the 3C for the Colorado Avalanche this season

While once regarded as the “other guy” in the Mikko Rantanen trade with the Carolina Hurricanes, Jack Drury quickly won over Colorado Avalanche fans, media, teammates, and coaches alike with his work ethic, positive attitude, and easygoing personality. He gained coach Jared Bednar’s trust and found himself playing valuable minutes in the Avs‘ bottom-six.

Hard work breeds success…

Jack Drury is no stranger to hard work. He played hockey for Harvard University for two years before playing in the SHL during the pandemic, where he helped his team win the championship. He followed that up by signing his ELC and contributing to the Chicago Wolves winning the Calder Cup in 2022. The following season, he split time with both the Wolves and the Carolina Hurricanes before finally cementing himself as a regular in the Canes’ lineup during 2023-24. Throughout all of this, he finished his Harvard degree in psychology in the summer of 2023.

Jack Drury is betting on himself

Drury is a player who is grounded enough to know his limits, yet smart enough to put himself in a position to maximize his own potential. During his time with the Hurricanes, he was intentional about working on the finer points of a bottom-six center, including skills like faceoffs, hard forechecking, and strong two-way play.

After the 2023-24 season that saw him split time between AHL Chicago and NHL Carolina, it was reported that Drury requested a trade because he believed his path to achieving a larger role was blocked by the centers ahead of him in the lineup. While no trade emerged at that time, it’s possible that it led to him being part of the deal for Mikko Rantanen. Despite a shaky first couple of games, Drury soon settled in with his new team and was willing to fill whichever role was asked of him by Jared Bednar and the coaching staff.

Opportunity unlocked

After learning the Avs’ systems and gaining the trust of the coaches, Drury now finds himself in a position to claim the 3C role. While he, Parker Kelly, and Logan O’Connor made an elite fourth line, Drury now has the opportunity to show that he can handle bigger responsibilities. If he does start the season in that position, his linemates would perhaps be Ross Colton and Victor Olofsson.

The balance of skill that that trio would bring to the table is intriguing. Drury would be the play driver and defensive conscience of that group, distributing the puck to his shot-happy linemates. His faceoff and forechecking skills would give the line more puck possession and minimize their opponents’ scoring chances.

Room to Grow

While the foundations of Drury’s game are solid, there are areas that he can round out a little more in order to cement himself as the team’s 3C and not make them feel like an upgrade is needed by the trade deadline. The first is added punch on offense. He has been good at shutting down other teams’ lines, but the production from him needs to be higher if he is to be trusted with more minutes on the ice. Next, he needs to be stronger in his positioning to avoid taking penalties.

According to Natural Stat Trick, he had eleven in the regular season and two in the playoffs. An especially untimely one happened at the end of Game 7 against the Stars. Finally, he needs to grow his role on the penalty kill. While this skill does not directly impact his 5v5 deployment, gaining additional minutes in this role will translate that trust into time against other teams’ more skilled lines, something a third line tends to do more than a fourth line. Drury already got experience on the Avs’ penalty kill last season but was a backup option in most cases. This season, he can work to take on a bigger role and help spell top-6 players like Nichushkin and Lehkonen from needing to eat so many minutes.

Overall, there is a lot to be excited about with Drury spending this season fully in an Avs uniform. It is a contract year for him, though as an RFA under team control, and he has a lot of motivation to prove that his next contract should reflect his role as the team’s established 3C rather than their trusted 4C.