A Look at Jamie Drysdale’s Recent Offensive Aggression

After the Philadelphia Flyers’ 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, head coach John Tortorella said Jamie Drysdale won’t make it in the NHL if he tries to be a defensive defenseman. Instead, Tortorella wants to see him become a rover and be more aggressive on offense.

That is nothing new for Drysdale nor the Flyers. They knew exactly what kind of player they were getting in Drysdale–a project. The Flyers will have an absolute monster if he can reach his ceiling. He has the ability to run the point on the power play, but can also elevate offensive play as a puck-moving and scoring defenseman.

Obviously, Drysdale still has ways to go. He will never be a defensive defenseman, but he still has steps to take to tighten up his defensive game. As for his strength, his offense, Drysdale still has much to work on, but things have been improving lately.

Since the 4 Nations break, Drysdale has seemingly picked up that offensive intensity. While it has not particularly shown up on the scoresheet, Drysdale has strung together many impressive shifts during this stint of games, flashing his potential. Let’s look at some of his big plays.

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Drysdale’s Goal vs. New Jersey (3/9)

This might have been Drysdale’s best play in a Flyers uniform.

Starting in the defensive zone, Drysdale found Travis Konecny with space in the neutral zone. That was the right move. Rather than taking the puck up the ice himself, he opted to pass it to the open man. Konecny made the smart move, waiting for a play to develop rather than pushing it further up the ice.

Drysdale then heads up along the right side, and notices a gap in the Devils’ defense at the point. He splits that gap as Konecny finds him for the zone entry, and Drysdale uses his speed to get in front of the defense and have nobody but the goaltender to beat, which he did.

That is the play the Flyers hope Drysdale can consistently make. Everything from his speed, shot, and IQ showed a flash of his potential.

Drysdale’s Goal vs. Winnipeg (3/1)

I could not find the goal on YouTube, so an X post will have to do.

This was another example of Drysdale’s elite use of vision and spacing.

Drysdale receives the puck along the boards at the top of the offensive zone. Instead of trying to force something to happen, he gives the puck right back to Noah Cates at the point.

Drysdale sees he has nowhere to go with Gabe Vilardi in front of him, so he skates forward. Vilardi stays up top to keep a man on Cates with the puck. Drysdale notices Vilardi did not stick with him, so he heads towards the middle of the ice. Cates saw Drysdale with space, and fed him the puck right back.

His spacing gave him all the time in the world, allowing him to find his shot and put one past the best goalie in the NHL.

Drysdale’s Assist on Tyson Foerster’s Goal (2/25)

Again, could not find a YouTube clip with the goal, so the video is via the Flyers’ X.

The clip does not show Drysdale’s entire shift, but this may have been his best shift with the Flyers. Before the video begins, Drysdale rips a shot from the right face-off circle, which is blocked by Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic.

He then does a great job getting back to the defensive zone, making a great play with his stick to break up the Pittsburgh rush. He then finds Bobby Brink who takes it up the boards for a relatively clean zone entry.

Brink feeds Drysdale a nice little drop pass, giving him a great opportunity to score. It quickly draws the attention of the Penguins defense, including Nedeljkovic. Drysdale picks that up, and instead of taking what would have been a tight shot with the bodies he drew in front, he sent a seed cross-ice to Tyson Foerster who buried the one-timer.

This play put Drysdale’s vision on display. The offensive zone play was great, but this might have been Drysdale’s best full shift in Philadelphia.

Jamie Drysdale by the Numbers

Overall this season, Jamie Drysdale has four goals and 11 assists (15 total points) in 53 games. While he is not tracking his career high in points, he is already tied for his career high in goals.

Since the 4 Nations break, Drysdale has two goals and an assist in eight games. That would put him on pace for 20 goals and 10 assists (30 points) per 82 games.

In his 45 games before the break, Drysdale has two goals and 10 assists. That would have him on pace for three goals and 18 assists (21 total points) per 82 games. Obviously, he cannot control much when it comes to his assist numbers, as he is banking on his teammates scoring. The difference between his numbers in the previous eight games vs. the 45 before that: he is much more aggressive.

The numbers are by no means great. You would want to see those numbers much higher for an offensive defenseman. However, he is just 22 years old (23 on 4/8). He still has ways to go regarding his offensive and overall development. However, the increased offensive aggression and the slight production increase have been something to note, as Jamie Drysdale has looked impressive since the break.

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