How Jamie Drysdale plays in the 2025-26 season will, for better or worse, alter the path of this rebuilding Philadelphia Flyers team.
Drysdale, 23, was drafted sixth overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2020 NHL Draft with the expectation that the Erie Otters would eventually blossom into a franchise defenseman.
After all, Drysdale was blessed with elite skating ability, and his strong (relative) hockey IQ allowed him to use that skating to his advantage to dominate the junior ranks.
At the NHL level, though, there's been little to write home about so far.
Traded to the Flyers alongside a second-round pick (Jack Murtagh) for Cutter Gauthier in Jan. 2024, Drysdale has played more than 34 games in an NHL season just twice since 2020-21.
In his only two full seasons, the 23-year-old has finished the year with plus-minus ratings of -26 and -32, respectively. Excelling defensively has, unfortunately, proven to be as great a challenge as staying on the ice for the young Drysdale.
His -32 rating last season was the seventh-worst in the NHL, ahead of only Steven Stamkos, Connor Bedard, Barclay Goodrow, Rasmus Andersson, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Mason Lohrei.
For reference, the closest Flyers player was Matvei Michkov at -18, and the closest defenseman was Egor Zamula at -14.
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And, for the sake of further comparison, a rookie defenseman like Emil Andrae finished with a -5 in 42 games, even with all the struggles he endured towards the end of his time in the NHL last season.
If Drysdale continues to struggle to this degree defensively, his career-high 32 points, as a watermark reference, won't be good enough to erase those crucial deficiencies.
There's hope, though, starting with an improved power play.
Drysdale played 152 minutes on the power play for the Flyers last season; Rasmus Ristolainen, Travis Sanheim, and Andrae each played between 54 and 65 minutes, comparatively.
In those 152 minutes, Drysdale was second to Ristolainen in on-ice shot attempts for per 60 minutes (84.87 for Drysdale, 93.71 for Ristolainen), and narrowly led all Flyers defensemen in expected goals for per 60 minutes (6.57 expected goals to Sanheim's 6.47), per Natural Stat Trick.
The key is that Drysdale is far younger than both Ristolainen and Sanheim and a much more fluid skater.
It should be noted that, in all scenarios, Drysdale finished the 2024-25 season with just 63 shots on goal in 70 games, despite scoring 7 times (11.1% shooting percentage).
To become the most effective proprietor of offense he can be, the former No. 6 pick must become more aggressive and decisive and continue to work at getting pucks through traffic if he isn't using his legs to create for himself as he should be.
Drysdale, like Cam York and Andrae, tends to defer. A more aggressive approach and an improved shot would do wonders for his offensive production.
Away from the power play is where Drysdale must improve the most, however.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Drysdale allowed 2.52 expected goals per 60 minutes. For comparison, Luke Hughes (2.53), and Roman Josi (2.54) were in that same neighborhood.
The difference is that Drysdale was on the ice for 54.81 shot attempts per 60 minutes and 63.77 shot attempts against per 60 minutes.
For Hughes, it was 60.51 shots per 60 and 54.06 shots against per 60, and for Josi, it was 68.22 shots per 60 and 56.15 shots against per 60.
Hughes is no finished product, either, but for Drysdale to even reach that level, he must improve as a shot-suppressor and as a shot-creator.
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Some responsibility falls on the Flyers' forwards, too, but the fact that Drysdale's plus-minus was so much worse than every other Flyers defender is enough to rule out coincidences and bad luck.
Looking ahead to the 2025-26 season, Drysdale will have, for better or worse, another fresh start under new head coach Rick Tocchet and his assistant, Todd Reirden.
Before their new Flyers venture, Tocchet and Reirden had names like Jakob Chychrun, John Carlson, Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin, Marcus Pettersson, John Marino, and Jamie Oleksiak on their resumes.
And, while Tocchet has never directly been involved with coaching defensemen, he ran the power play in Pittsburgh for two Stanley Cup wins.
In Tocchet's two full seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, captain Quinn Hughes erupted for 92 points in 82 games and a Norris Trophy in 2023-24, then followed that up with 76 points in 68 games in an injury-marred 2024-25.
Before Tocchet arrived, Hughes's career-high in points was 68.
Now-departed associate coach Brad Shaw was regarded as a defensive savant during his time in Philadelphia, but I'd be remiss to not note that Sanheim, York, and Drysdale all stalled out or took backward steps last season.
We can't reasonably expect Drysdale to turn into a Hughes brother, Chychrun, or Letang overnight, but there's still hope for further development.
With one year remaining on his contract at a $2.3 million cap hit, the onus is on Drysdale to cement himself in the Flyers' future, or management will be right back to square one on defense.