Losing this player drastically hurts the Anaheim Ducks

The Anaheim Ducks will be without Jamie Drysdale for the foreseeable future, as he suffered a torn labrum during last Friday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Drysdale, who was drafted sixth overall by the Anaheim Ducks during the 2020 NHL Draft, is expected to miss four to six months with a shoulder injury.

Losing Jamie Drysdale drastically hurts the Anaheim Ducks.

Up to this point, Jamie Drysdale had played in eight games so far on the season for the Ducks. The 20-year-old defenseman was averaging 17:37 minutes of ice time a night and was still getting used to playing in the NHL.

One of the main positives of the Ducks signing John Klingberg this offseason was so that the Ducks could have him mentor Drysdale. Now he is going to be out for the foreseeable future.

This was going to be Drysdale’s second full year in the league. He played 81 games last season, putting up 32 points, including 4 goals, and played in 24 games during the 2020-21 season.

Drysdale is the future of the Anaheim Ducks blueline, and now he will be missing a lot of time early in his career, and a shoulder injury will require a lot of work to get back to 100 percent.

The Ducks were the bottom team in our power rankings this week, and they have struggled this season, going just 2-6-1 during their first nine games. While they were going to be near the bottom of the standings, the positive was that their young players would get another year of developing together in the league. Now that is not the case for Drysdale, who, at the earliest point, could be back with the team in March.

At least the Ducks are becoming more well-positioned to tank for Connor Bedard with the number one overall pick in 2023. The Ducks’ next game comes on Nov. 1, 2022, against their division rival, the San Jose Sharks.