2020 NHL Entry Draft: Profiles. Jamie Drysdale

Coming in as the highest-ranked defender in the 2020 Draft, Jamie Drysdale also checks two of the three criteria for the Ducks’ needs.

1. He shoots right – regardless of position
2. He is a power play specialist defenceman

The minor controversy and concern surrounding Drysdale is where he should be selected given the large number of talented forwards that pad out the top end of the draft. Any team that steps up to take him is going to be potentially labelled as “reaching” – much like Yzerman did with Mortitz Seider last year.

Drysdale is described as the next in a line of “modern” defenders that are more than taking over the game thanks to rule changes that emphasize speed, skill and transition.

He burst onto the scene in the OHL as a 17 year old, debuting with 40 points in 63 games with the Erie Otters in his rookie season. He followed that up with 47 points in 49 games this past season as well as a respectable 3 points in 7 games for Team Canada at the World Juniors.

Skating

This kid can really fly, I mean really fly. He has explosive power from a low center of gravity and uses quick feet to gain several strides in a short amount of time.

He uses this stride to not only rush the puck on his own on the breakout, but to force forwards to back up or just straight up blow by them on a zone entry. His ability to pinch without risk due to being able to get back with his speed also causes havoc in the offensive zone.

He also utilities elite edge-work to evade defenders at the blue-line on a zone-entry or walk-the-line on the Power Play. Speaking of the man-advantage, he loves to keep things in constant motion – a strategy that a lot of NHL teams with top Power Play units are deploying with great success in recent years. Drysdale uses his natural skating ability to keep defenders guessing and is just as capable skating backward as forward.

Skill

A lot of Drysdale’s skill comes from his skating, and most of the clips I saw of him creating offense were from plays where he was skating backward. But he can also make that breakout pass to an open man at the opposing team’s blueline or slow things down in his zone before finding an open passing lane for an effective counter-attack. Additionally, he also sees the ice incredibly well, finding ways to get the puck to his forwards in any which way that he can. One clip that Corey Pronman shared on the Athletic showed him taking the puck from behind his own net and deliberately icing it – seeing that his winger was going to get there first.

Shot

His shot isn’t heavy, but he uses it smartly and effectively to find team-mates for deflections. Again, his speed helps with the shooting part of his game as he surprises both defenders and goaltenders with how quickly he can come at them before getting his shot away. Overall, think Cam Fowler with his sneaky wrist shot and slap-pass-shot.

Defense

Being an offensive-minded defender, he can get caught out of position but again, his speed and skating are generally his saving grace and he can close on odd-man rushing forwards skating in full flight with seemingly unnatural ease. His edgework means he can also recover from an over-commit on the wrong forward to break up a play. Perhaps the best part of his defensive game is his offensive; he excels at the breakout and transition – something Ducks fans have missed consistently across all three pairings since… well before they traded away Vatanen, Theodore and Montour.

Conclusion

Some scouts have concerns over his ceiling given his shot or stick-handling does not stand out as above average compared to others in this draft class, and from watching the various clips and highlights on him I have my own doubts. The most niggling of which is that although its unique and logical to skate backwards in order to set up a team-mate or find a seam, it also leads one open to a nasty hit that he may not see coming; particularly when skating as fast as Drysdale can. I worry how quickly NHL defenders will get wise to his tendency to skate on his blindside in the offensive zone.

Ultimately the conundrum is this: how hard is it to find a “modern” puck-moving defender these days? I guess in the Ducks case, that would become – how hard is it to find a “modern” puck-moving defender that also shoots right?

If teams believe these types of players are harder to come by then you might see Drysdale going earlier that many have anticipated, such that he may not even be available when the Ducks select sixth. The only scenario I would wish the Ducks to select Drysdale at sixth is if Stutzle is already gone in the top three and both Holtz and Rossi are also gone by the time they are able to select.