Jack Is Back: Carolina Hurricanes Center Returns To Lineup Following Injury

The Carolina Hurricanes have been bitten by the injury bug as of late, but they'll at least be getting a little relief as center Jack Drury is slated to return tonight after missing the team's last 10 games due to a broken thumb.

"It was tough at the start," Drury said on the time he missed. "It stinks being hurt. Everyone in here loves playing hockey so you never want to be out, but I'm very lucky to have gotten a lot of help from a lot of really good people who helped me get back healthy. Feeling good. Excited to be back."

"He's a big part of what we do," said Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour. "Plays hard every night, is very reliable and just does a lot for us. Nice to see him be ready to go."

Drury, 24, suffered the injury on Dec. 10 against the San Jose Sharks. As San Jose forward Klim Kostin wound up for a slapshot from the point, Drury came out to challenge him and wound up blocking the puck with his hand.

Despite the thumb having broken in that moment, Drury did come back out for another shift before his night was shutdown.

"You usually try to make it to the end of the period before you tap out," Drury said with a smile. "I've played through some injuries before, so it wasn't anything crazy, but when you get that X-ray back and find out you're going to be out, it's a tough moment. But like I said, I've been surrounded by a lot of positivity and gotten a lot of help and that was big in getting me through it."

The center would have surgery two days later and spent the next three weeks recovering.

"Like I said, I was very lucky that the great training staff here helped me out a ton," Drury said. "Dr. Tuttle did an awesome job and then the physical therapist helped me out a lot too.

"I couldn't be on the ice for a little bit while it was healing, but Billy, our strength coach, did a great job keeping me in shape with a lot of really good workouts. When I did get back on the ice, the first couple of days you can't shoot too much, but it was just about ramping it up everyday to the point where you can shoot fully and then take a little bit of contact."

Drury, who leads the team in faceoff win percentage (56.2%), believes the key to staying consistent and getting back to his game when he returns is just to keep it simple.

"I'm surrounded by good players," Drury said. "Playing with [Jackson Blake] and [Eric Robinson] tonight, both been really good lately when I've been watching. I mean, I'm lucky that I'm coming in with the team having played one of their best games of the year last game. Just going to try to keep up with them."

Since his absence, the team has gone 5-4-1, but the overall 5v5 play has been getting better and a dependable defensive-minded forward should only aid in helping that along.

And will he be thinking twice now about going down to block shots?

"It's not going to change how I play the game. Everyone on the team does it. I watched the game against Florida and [Seth Jarvis], he's going to the Four Nations and he's selling out to block shots. So that's just part of the culture here and part of what we do as a team. It's not something you're really going to second guess."