2020 NHL Draft prospect profile: Jamie Drysdale scouting report
By Kyle Pereira
Drysdale’s Tendencies
Before I get into the scouting report, I just want to give a big thanks to ProspectShifts for providing the shift-by-shift film on a bunch of 2020 draft prospects, including Drysdale.
Drysdale is very offensively driven. He is always keeping his head up and looking for options to gain entry in the offensive zone. He’s also not afraid to skate it all the way up the ice and lead a rush. He shows a lot of confidence when he does so as well, as he is a dominant transitional player and isn’t afraid to put it on full display.
Also in the offensive zone, his shot of choice is the slapshot. Whenever he gets into an open space and there’s no passing option, he looks towards the net. If a shooting lane is open for him to take, he goes with his heavy slapshot, as opposed to a quick wrist or snapshot. However, he doesn’t let off a whole lot of shots as he trusts his passing ability more than anything else in the offensive zone.
In transition, when he has the puck, teams tend to attack with aggression. This really isn’t much of a surprise because of how dangerous he is with the puck on his stick. However, with many prospects I’ve watched, players tend to force passes or try to quickly dangle past the forechecker.
In Drysdale’s case, he remains calm and makes a smart play, whether it’s a bank pass up ice or sending it back to his defensive partner. He’s very good when under pressure and very rarely crumbles or forces plays.
Drysdale isn’t a physical player. That’s not to say he shies away from hits or tries to avoid board battles, but he doesn’t initiate any battles himself, and he doesn’t step up and connect with big hits when the opposing team is attacking. He does support board battles and jumps in if necessary, and he does win battles as well.
When Drysdale is facing an odd-man rush, he tends to hurt himself more often than not. Countless times I watched Drysdale drop to a knee or down on his stomach to take away a passing lane, which takes away his mobility if any adjustments need to be made after he goes down.
Once the defender drops down to his stomach, it’s easy for the puck carrier to make a simple saucer pass over the defender and to a teammate for a one-time opportunity. Drysdale needs to get this bad habit out of his game because it will cost him big time if he’s in a situation to defend an odd-man rush at the NHL level.
On the power play, Drysdale sets up shop at the top of the umbrella formation (meaning he is the only player at the point). He’s able to move left-to-right at the top of the offensive zone while being able to see the entire zone and every passing option from that spot. This allows him to be the quarterback of the PP.
On the penalty kill, Drysdale plays on the bottom-right of the box formation. That leaves him in charge of covering the left-wing and, at times, the center, depending upon the positioning of the opposition.