Draft Profile: Jamie Drysdale
Jamie Drysdale is one of the best defensemen in this NHL draft. The 5’11”, 170 lb, right-handed shot made his mark on the OHL this past season along with shining at the World Juniors due to his fluid and effortless skating stride. His skating allow him to defend the opposition’s transition game and move the puck out of his own zone to push the play towards the opposing net.
Looking at his offensive numbers from his last season in the OHL, you can see that he is a gifted playmaker, putting up nine goals and 38 assists for 47 points in 49 games. For some perspective, that point per game total is good for 11th in the past 20 years for draft-eligible seasons by a defenseman. One player that finished with a similar point per game total was Cam Fowler. In his draft season, Fowler finished with eight goals and 47 assists for 55 points in 55 games.
As you can imagine, Drysdale’s biggest strength is his skating. You can see in the video below that he can generate speed with his crossovers, whether he is going forwards or backward, and has the ability to do that with the puck on his stick. There is one shift partially captured by the above video where Drysdale circles the entire offensive zone with the puck on his stick while skating backward.
The entire time during this video he is accelerating and eventually creates a goal. Drysdale uses this strength to his benefit all over the ice. He can close down forwards in the transition game to prevent dangerous chances against, he can skate his way out of trouble when there is a would-be forechecker on his hip and then make a breakout pass, or he can lead the team on a rush up the ice to eventually lead to a high danger chance. The modern-day NHL defenseman must be able to skate well, which is why Drysdale is rated so highly.
The main issue with him is that even though the point totals were impressive, they were not at the level of what you would want from a number one defenseman. Drysdale was on pace for that at one point in the season, amassing 17 points in the Erie Otters first 12 games of the OHL season. If he had continued that pace, he would have blown Ryan Ellis’ 89 points out of the water, which is the most points by a draft-eligible defenseman in the past 20 years. That did not happen though, and his scoring fell off. Due to this, I am not sure if he will become the powerplay quarterback everyone thinks he will become. He could become someone you put on the second powerplay unit, but he will not be dynamic enough offensively to be the focal point of an entire man-advantage.
A great comparison for Drysdale is Cam Fowler. Not only did they have similar point production in their draft-eligible season, but they are similar players overall. They both have effortless strides with fantastic edgework, they both are very good at exiting the zone with possession due to their skating, and they both can create chances offensively in transition. But they both lack that final ability in the offensive zone to really be a big-time point producer. For Drysdale, that last point is not absolute and he could prove me wrong, but the similarities are uncanny.
Drysdale projects to be a potential number one defenseman to top pairing guy that is somewhat partner-dependent. If the Ducks were to draft Drysdale, fans should expect to get a defenseman that could be patrolling the blue line for a long time and provide a steady presence in their own end that could clean up a lot of mistakes. However, they should not expect to get an offensive dynamo like Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes. It is possible that Drysdale has that in him, but it is more likely that he hovers around the 30-40 point mark in the peak of his career.
If you want to swoon over more clips of Drysdale’s smooth skating check out the video below: