Jack Drury has been a man possessed this offseason.
And he has every reason to be. The 25-year-old Drury enters the final year of a contract that pays him $1.725 million. With a pay raise as a Restricted Free Agent looming at season’s end, every shift, every touch of the puck becomes an audition for greater compensation. Based on his performance during Tuesday morning’s optional skate at Family Sports Center, Drury left little doubt about his value. On the ice, he demonstrated the skill, poise, and
competitiveness that suggest he is more than ready to play a pivotal role for the Avalanche this upcoming season.
Drury Was On Fire
From the moment he stepped onto the ice, Drury played with the force and inevitability of a locomotive. Newly-acquired forward Victor Olofsson wasted little time making an impression of his own, threading a perfectly timed pass that Drury converted with a blistering one-timer, the puck snapping into the back of the net with authority.
If that opening strike set the tone, his next opportunity cemented it. This time it was Nikita Prishchepov—who logged 10 games with the Avalanche last season—providing the setup from behind the net. Drury read the play seamlessly, drifting into the right slot and releasing another decisive shot, and it was a scintillating one indeed.
And he wasn’t just scoring goals, either. Drury was penetrating the defensive zone setting up beautiful passes for his teammates, including Prishchepov, and while this particular play didn’t result in a goal, it exhibited Drury’s offensive creativity and puck control.
Drury would strike again in a masterful sequence, snapping a shot from the left circle into the net and punctuating the moment with an exuberant, “Woooo!”
Naturally, there will be those who dismiss Drury’s effort in this skate. It’s just practice, they’ll say, reducing the significance of the moment to something fleeting, inconsequential. And yes, on paper, it is just practice. No score will be recorded, no standings altered. Yet for Drury, it carries weight.
The value lies not in the official tally but in the lived experience. For a young athlete, practice is less rehearsal than crucible. Consider a boxing prospect, deep in training camp, sparring a former world champion. The bout doesn’t appear on their professional records, but the lessons absorbed in those moments prove transformative. The same principle applies here: the hidden work, the repetitions, the private battles against higher competition—these are the quiet accelerants of development.
It is in practices, in offseason labor, in the sweat that never meets the spotlight, where much of an athlete’s true growth occurs. These are the chapters of the story the public rarely sees, but without them, the triumphs on the biggest stages would never be possible.
Drury Wants to Honor His Family’s Legacy
Equally important is understanding who Jack Drury is and the legacy that precedes him. His father, Ted Drury, enjoyed eight seasons in the NHL, while his uncle, Chris Drury, not only captured a Stanley Cup with the Avalanche but now serves as the general manager of the New York Rangers. Jack has chosen to wear the same number—#18—that his uncle donned during Colorado’s 2001–02 season, signaling both homage and ambition.
For a player with such lineage, stepping onto the ice in an Avalanche uniform carries stakes far beyond personal statistics or contractual ambitions. This is a young athlete asserting his own identity while honoring a family legacy, motivated not merely by professional advancement but by a desire to sustain and elevate his family’s honor within the sport of hockey. Jack Drury is, in every sense, a fighter: measured, disciplined, and resolutely determined to leave his own mark on hockey’s storied narrative.
Last season, Drury tallied 18 points—eight goals and 10 assists—across 72 games split between two teams, including the Hurricanes, who traded him to Colorado as part of the Mikko Rantanen deal. His most productive NHL campaign came in 2023–24 with Carolina, when he posted 27 points, comprised of eight goals and 19 assists, over 74 games. In 31 career playoff appearances, Drury has added 10 points, including two goals and eight assists.
Upon his arrival in Colorado, Drury initially assumed the role of third-line center, albeit briefly, before the Avalanche acquired Brock Nelson and moved Casey Mittelstadt to the Bruins in exchange for Charlie Coyle. Despite this shift, Drury distinguished himself as a fourth-line center, demonstrating skill and adaptability for the position. With Coyle now a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Drury has been afforded the most significant opportunity of his professional career: the potential to anchor Colorado’s third line permanently—contingent, of course, upon his continued presence with the team.
The trade involving Rantanen ignited a spectrum of reactions among both the roster and the fanbase. Any animosity that may or may not have been directed at Drury in the aftermath has, presumably, been tempered by the offseason’s passage. Should he approach the forthcoming season with the same vigor and enthusiasm displayed in recent skates, there is every reason to anticipate that this campaign could be his best yet.
