Thus, Sweden.
Drury knocked that challenge out of the park, posting 30 points in 41 games and an additional 11 in 14 post-season contests, despite all of the obstacles and hurdles that he was faced with. It was no longer navigating classroom to classroom at a prestigious institution and balancing the life of being a student athlete, it was adapting to playing hockey at the highest level in a foreign country, thousands of miles from home in the midst of a global pandemic.
With the world taking some strides back toward normalcy, the young man's journey was able to come back to playing in North America this season, beginning the campaign with the Chicago Wolves, the team's American Hockey League affiliate. To say he left an impression there in his first 23 games would be an understatement, as shown clearly by the way others speak of him.
"He's just a true pro on and off the ice. He's a great kid," Andrew Poturalski, who had quite the night of his own on Thursday remarked glowingly of his teammate. "I can't say enough about the little things that he does right. He does everything the right way. He stays after it, he works hard, he does workouts when they're not mandatory and he does all the right stuff that you can't teach when guys are that young. He's faster on the learning curve than most guys his age and in his position."
Maturity and an enthusiasm to get better are two common factors when you ask anybody about Drury. Whether that has been a fabric of him, he's already learned it through influence of the organizational culture curated by Rod Brind'Amour, somewhere in the middle, or both, no matter how you slice it, the fit already appears to be clear.
"His willingness to do it right all over the ice, that's a big part," the head coach began when speaking on some of the tools showcased by the latest prospect to make the jump. "He already plays the right way, he's competitive, he wants to learn and that's all positive stuff that makes you think that he's going to be around a long time. He already has the skill set. He knows how to play. He knows where he should be."
