Centerman Will Report to Carolina’s AHL Affiliate

RALEIGH, N.C. – Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Eastern Conference champion Carolina Hurricanes, announced today that the team has claimed center Harold Druken (DROO-kehn) off of waivers from Toronto. Druken will report directly to the Hurricanes’ top minor-league affiliate, Lowell of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Druken (6’ 0’’, 200 lbs.) is in his fourth professional season and has scored 59 points (27g, 32a) in 133 career NHL games with Vancouver, Carolina and Toronto. The Hurricanes acquired Druken from Vancouver earlier this season in the Nov. 1 trade that also brought Jan Hlavac to Carolina. Druken played in 10 games and earned one assist and two penalty minutes with the Hurricanes before the Maple Leafs claimed him on waivers Dec. 11. He played in five of 16 games for Toronto between Dec. 12 and Jan. 14 and totaled two assists and two penalty minutes while averaging 12:50 in time on ice.

A second-round pick of the Canucks in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, Druken, 23, split last season between Vancouver and Manitoba of the American Hockey League (AHL). He tallied eight points (4g, 4a) in 27 games with Vancouver. The St. John’s, Nfld., native had two points (1g, 1a) in three games with the Canucks this season.

The Hurricanes are able to immediately assign Druken to Lowell because Carolina is the team that originally lost him via waivers. Druken has notched 27 goals and 43 assists (70 points) and accumulated 56 penalty minutes in his 73-game minor-league career with Syracuse and Manitoba of the AHL and Kansas City of the defunct International Hockey League.

The Hurricanes play the final game of a four-game home stand at RBC Center on Friday against New Jersey at 7 p.m. Tickets for Friday’s game and all Hurricanes games are available at the Dodge Box Office at RBC Center, by calling 919-834-4000 or by clicking here.