Prospect Info: Hurricanes select C Jack Drury #42 OA

[The Stranger]

Jack Drury kinda going off lately. Now has 10g and 11a in 15 games at Harvard this year.

He had two goals last night against Colgate.



Harvard is playing Cornell (#1 team in the country) tonight.

 

[GoldiFox]

Drury has the only goal so far in a 1-0 game against #1 Cornell (13-1-3 on the year)



edit: Cornell ties it on a Drury penalty with less than 2 minutes left. 1-1

 

[The Stranger]

Drury puts Harvard up 1-0 with 4:05 left in the 3rd.

He centers the top line and plays on top PP and PK units.

He's pretty good at finding the right spots to receive passes...you might say that is hockey IQ.

Someone with a Canes jersey in the crowd.

 

[The Stranger]

Drury with 2 goals and 2 assists last night against Union.

He's now averaging 1.53 PPG as a 19 year old vs Cotton at 1.26 PPG as a 22 year old.

Drury does play with some very good wingers that help boost his stats...not sure on Cotton. The Beanpot is coming up and we might get a Harvard v Boston College matchup.

 

[bleedgreen]

His Dad did exactly the same things against the same competition. Was captain of Harvard and the US Olympic team. He scored 2pts a game his last year in college. Seriously. Jack is pretty much identical to his Dad. Drafted in the same spot, following almost every footstep. They skate the same way, they play the same way, they lead the same way. They’re Drury’s, which is basically New England sports royalty.

Teddy made it to the NHL about as decorated as you can be from the NCAA. Once there he couldn’t outsmart or outwork everyone anymore because he wasn’t big enough, fast enough or skilled enough. He was mostly a fourth line center with some third line duties, and a journeyman. Jack could be a third center and a coaches dream, bloodlines alone will get him a shot, he may only be a fourth line center but even that’s something.

Watching all these highlights is building him up too high too fast. It’s weak competition. We’re hoping we drafted Chris but we most likely drafted Ted. You saw how he was used in the WJC’s. That’s how he’s going to be used in the NHL, presuming he makes it. Though being a Drury even if we didn’t give him a job someone will. Rod is going to love him.

NCAA offensive success is really misleading though. You’re not seeing the maturation and explosion of an under rated prospect. One we saw something in that no one else did. His Dad literally got two points a game playing against the same teams. He’s not a very good skater, he doesn’t have amazing skills. He’s all heart, smarts and hustle....just like his dad. You need the other things to be a good NHL player.

Ps. I’m annoyed at myself for coming off like I don’t think he’s player, because he is a player. He’s our prospect and I’m absolutely rooting for the guy. We go overboard as a group trying to find diamonds in the rough. Jack hits a bit of a soft spot for me because the Drury’s have been around my whole life. I’m a huge fan of the kids style, and it’s a total flashback.

 

[The Stranger]

Probably best to avoid heavily weighting his last name when evaluating him as a prospect.

When I saw the evals that his skating was poor...and the subsequent thoughts that he was a poor draft choice...it piqued my interest to watch more of him.

I've been trying to watch all his games and post for each one with some highlights...give him a fair shake. No intention of building him up.

I wouldn't be so quick to say he's just heart an hustle...his endurance and agility marks at the combine were great. The hockey IQ is there. If he pieces things together with heart and hustle I can see a nice NHL player.

 

[bleedgreen]

Probably best to avoid heavily weighting his last name when evaluating him as a prospect.

When I saw the evals that his skating was poor...and the subsequent thoughts that he was a poor draft choice...it piqued my interest to watch more of him.

I've been trying to watch all his games and post for each one with some highlights...give him a fair shake. No intention of building him up.

I wouldn't be so quick to say he's just heart an hustle...his endurance and agility marks at the combine were great. The hockey IQ is there. If he pieces things together with heart and hustle I can see a nice NHL player.

Smarts is part of what I said. He goes to Harvard, and being hockey smart is absolutely a family trait. I expect his hockey IQ to be off the charts, it’ll likely be his calling card.

 

[geehaad]

True, my first thought after reading above about his 2G/2A game was: “yeah...but, college hockey”. At the same time, while taking bleed’s input into consideration, college hockey is arguably stronger than it was 30 years ago, no? Probably not enough to say that Jack’s performance is better than his dad’s, though.

Now I’m not sure why I’m wrote this, but too proud to delete it. It must be Sunday morning.

 

[DaveG]

True, my first thought after reading above about his 2G/2A game was: “yeah...but, college hockey”. At the same time, while taking bleed’s input into consideration, college hockey is arguably stronger than it was 30 years ago, no? Probably not enough to say that Jack’s performance is better than his dad’s, though.

Now I’m not sure why I’m wrote this, but too proud to delete it. It must be Sunday morning.

A lot still depends on competition level. He had a decent WJC IMO since he was mostly in a defensive role for the US. The real test will be seeing how he can do against one of the other Boston teams: they start off against a Top 10 caliber team in Northeastern then would likely draw a top 5 BC team in the final if they advance.

 

[Vagrant]

as i have reiterated a ton of times, my favorite evaluation tool is the "you vs. you yesterday" when thinking about how prospects project. when applying this to jack drury, you get a really impressive picture of a player that has significantly improved at every level in his second time around. he was abysmal in the ushl at 16-17, but demolished it the next season. he had a decent enough freshman season, but has taken it up another notch as a sophomore. all this in a league where exponential increases in production are uncommon and even top flight prospects don't come in right away and turn the screws. alex turcotte was a top 5 pick and he's doing like 17 in 22 right now. john beecher, first round pick of the bruins, 12 in 21. it used to be that the ncaa was for americans and major junior was for canadians and those were pretty exclusive. with the increased emphasis on developing home grown talent, there are very few elite americans that pass on the ncaa if they don't make it straight to the league. the level of competition, in my opinion only, now exceeds that of major junior because the difference between the haves and have-nots are not as pronounced because it's reasonable on any given night to see 23-24 year old players matched up against these elite prospects. guys with pedigrees, even, that just wanted to finish their degree and move on. the ncaa was viewed as the hedge betting option for the previous generation. if you weren't quite sure you were going to play hockey for a living, it was a good half step to get your education in an inferior hockey environment. that was the trade off from spurning interest from the chl. plus, the limitations that the cba put on major junior in terms of age restrictions for turning pro, the contract loopholes to give players more agency, and the advantages that the ncaa has in terms of facilities and coaching makes it an incredibly attractive destination as things currently stand. i fully expect some of those issues to be addressed eventually, but the ncaa is becoming the place where the playing field is more evenly distributed with nhl talent at a wide variety of developmental stages. it's not the same animal it was when jack's father was coming through. the two aren't even recognizable to one another.

ted was able to make it to the league for a significant amount of time because he embraced the elements of the game that he was asked to embrace in terms of motor, tenacity, and suppression. that was the way to the league for most players at the time, because your offense was viewed as inapplicable at higher levels. that's another change in the way development is understood. had ted come up in this generation, maybe his career looks a little different. not a guarantee obviously, but the differences in the game from the time these two started out are such that comparative tools to measure output are almost irrelevant.

 

[bleedgreen]

I agree the NHL is different. I don’t think the NCAA as a level of play is better than it was other than natural improvements of players being stronger and faster. Jack playing mostly mediocre smart kids vs playing tougher conferences, just like his Dad did is to me the same, just adjusted for the new generation. NCAA to me is at the same level below juniors (especially easier conferences) as it was. Doesn’t make it bad, both routes have their pro’s and cons.

Maybe Teddy would’ve been better in the NHL now, but the reality to me was that he wasn’t a pro shooter or skater and had no choice but embrace a defensive role using his smarts. In college he could throw the team on his back and impose his will, because especially against Yale or whoever he couldn’t be stopped. He wouldn’t have been a scorer even in the AHL as a young developing prospect imo, they wouldn’t have had a problem shutting him down individually. He did have some success later as a grizzled nhl vet playing down in the minors extending his career.

Maybe in this new world Jack can make more of an offensive impression, but that’s why I say maybe he’s the third line C. Ted was mostly a fourth liner. He’s not chained to his Dad’s legacy, he can be better but to this point he’s SO similar. It’s hard to imagine a drastically different outcome.

Still, a home grown third line center is a pretty great outcome for a second rounder...even if you think they should be aiming for a more skilled player in that spot. His intangibles and smarts likely even that out some if he makes it.

 

[geehaad]

Without doing a lot of easy research, I’m finding it hard to believe that the USA won U-18/U-20 juniors tournaments in the 80s and 90s, like they did in the new millennium, fueled by college stars and the NDP. I’m thinking of the ‘80 team that won gold, that those guys were a greater sum of parts, but as parts they weren’t stars.

Maybe I’m wrong...I wasn’t a fan back then so I’ll defer to you guys who were. It just seems like US players are better these days and a lot of ‘em play college ball, seemingly making college hockey stronger in respect to other amateur leagues.

 

[Vagrant]

Without doing a lot of easy research, I’m finding it hard to believe that the USA won U-18/U-20 juniors tournaments in the 80s and 90s, like they did in the new millennium, fueled by college stars and the NDP. I’m thinking of the ‘80 team that won gold, that those guys were a greater sum of parts, but as parts they weren’t stars.

Maybe I’m wrong...I wasn’t a fan back then so I’ll defer to you guys who were. It just seems like US players are better these days and a lot of ‘em play college ball, seemingly making college hockey stronger in respect to other amateur leagues.

this is my take as well. not only that, but the influx of european talent into the ncaa and even some elite canadian talent has blurred things a bit too. granted, the chl has the import draft which brings over a lot of talent. i just think the difference between the two is largely decided by how weak the bottom of major junior rosters are compared to how strong the bottom of ncaa rosters are. there's not many teams that are just total jokes because of how the ncaa teams are using the ushl now to build their programs and have kids take redshirt years. especially in goal. it's not uncommon for guys to play 2 years or more in the ushl before they move up a level. conversely, with major junior you have a lot of goalies that split start or start outright in their draft seasons. plus, with the regional limitations on territorial rights, the pools to draw from are thinner. ncaa teams can recruit nationally from a larger number of hockey players. the training and coaching has caught up and perhaps even surpassed major junior with university funds being allocated to these larger programs. americans have really closed the gap in the past 20 years to the extent that the age difference is much more pronounced at the ncaa level. there's just no chance that some of these 16 year olds playing in the chl would be able to take a regular shift in the ncaa in my opinion. and it's not even highly unusual that a team in the chl ices a few 16 year olds.

 

[The Stranger]

Harvard with 1-3 loss in opening Beanpot game against Northeastern.

Drury with lone goal for Harvard demonstrating some nice mitts.

Canes prospect Filipe with assist on empty netter.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

BTW @The Stranger I appreciate you taking the time / effort to gather all these highlights and information on Drury. This is more info than we are getting on most, if not all, of our prospects.

Are you sure you don't want to take this on for some more prospects?

 

[The Stranger]

BTW @The Stranger I appreciate you taking the time / effort to gather all these highlights and information on Drury. This is more info than we are getting on most, if not all, of our prospects.

Are you sure you don't want to take this on for some more prospects?

Thanks. Glad to hear others are getting some value from the posts.

I won't be doing this for other prospects though...Drury was an interesting guy to follow and I have access to watch most of his games.

If I get in enough Harvard games, I'll post a prospect grade at end of year.

Would be cool if HFcanes could divide and conquer for other prospects in the system. BBA - pick a prospect (anyone but Kuokkanen) you're interested in and start getting us highlights and thoughts.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Thanks. Glad to hear others are getting some value from the posts.

I won't be doing this for other prospects though...Drury was an interesting guy to follow and I have access to watch most of his games.

If I get in enough Harvard games, I'll post a prospect grade at end of year.

Would be cool if HFcanes could divide and conquer for other prospects in the system. BBA - pick a prospect (anyone but Kuokkanen) you're interested in and start getting us highlights and thoughts.

That would be cool. Unfortunately for me, I am in the process of trying to get my house ready to sell (doing all the work myself), downsizing and getting rid of 70% of our stuff, and moving into a new house, hopefully in May/June. I'll barely have enough time to follow the Canes the next couple of months as it gets to crunch time for me to finish all the painting, construction, repairs, etc.. on top of moving. I really do appreciate the input you've given though and look forward to your end of year analysis.

If others want to take on following a prospect, that would be great, I just wouldn't be able to do it justice right now.

 

[The Stranger]

Harvard beat Dartmouth last night 6-2.

Drury had 1 goal and 1 assist. The assist was a nice quick-decision cross-ice pass. His goal was a break-away.

One thing you can't see all that well in the highlights below is he did have a turnover in the d-zone that led to Dartmouth's first goal.

Drury now at 15-14-29 in 19 games.

 

[CandyCanes]

 

[Vagrant]

boy, would it ever make things really interesting if he could make an unexpected jump next season. if you guys want to hand wring over any of our prospects and signability, this is your guy. harvard educations are worth a lot and if we can't talk him into signing at the conclusion of this year it's going to get hairy. hopefully the adam fox influence didn't turn out to be the inverse of what we anticipated.

 

[Canes]

I think if he doesn't sign after this year, he'll be trade bait.

 

[A Star is Burns]

Yeah, I imagine they'll push to sign him this off season. I know some have speculated he'd be better off developing in college another year, and that's likely so. But we can't wait that long to get him with a contract. There's no reason to think he won't sign here yet that I know of, but I wouldn't want to risk losing the value he represents either.

 

[TheReelChuckFletcher]

I think Drury returns to Harvard in his junior year. The Fox and Drury situations are quite different in the sense that Fox was unwillingly traded here in the Hamilton/Lindholm/Hanifin deal, while Drury was hand-picked by our organization in the high-2nd round. For that reason, there's considerably more attachment between our organization and Drury than there ever was with Fox.

 

[Vagrant]

I think Drury returns to Harvard in his junior year. The Fox and Drury situations are quite different in the sense that Fox was unwillingly traded here in the Hamilton/Lindholm/Hanifin deal, while Drury was hand-picked by our organization in the high-2nd round. For that reason, there's considerably more attachment between our organization and Drury than there ever was with Fox.

i think you're right in that he'll return for his junior season and likely try to complete his degree early. that's an added layer of "danger" when drafting ivy league bound prospects. the degree is just so attractive that it almost doesn't make sense financially to start your professional career before completing it. not that going back isn't an option, but more and more players are realizing how temporary the game can be. we have a lot of players washed up at 32-33 now because of the skating demands increasing. it's really nice to be able to jump immediately from that career to another without having to complete an undergrad. unless drury is one of those underwater basket weaving type guys, he'll want that sheepskin. with an aggressive course load he could get that done in the summer of his junior year without having to pay for it the way he would if he came back post professional career. it's going to be interesting to see how it develops, but it's too early to make any kind of calls about it unless one of us knows the kid personally.

 

[Lempo]

Drury using family ties to grow his game

Yeah uncle Chris is the Rangers AGM.

Also,

2018 Draft prospect learning lessons from father Ted