Photo Credit: Our very own Michael Reaves
Jamie Drysdale’s tenure as a Flyer can be characterized as up and down. Low’s, the lows being on the injured list again, but he still remained a fan favorite in Philadelphia for good reason. He’s only 22-years-old, and the sky is the limit for this young defenseman who was thrusted into the NHL right away at the age of 18. For his efforts, he hasn’t been able to stay healthy, thus Drysdale hasn’t played many games in the NHL. He knows this, and he looks Forward to being healthy for an 82-game season, “I feel good, bodies feeling good for the first time in a while. Looking forward to a full 82,” Drysdale said following the bags gate yesterday.
Drysdale said his focus this past offseason was going to ensure that some of these injuries don’t happen again. The medical staff and he appeared to work on physical conditioning, while rehabilitating from his core muscle surgery that he had on April 29th or May 1st, “I’ve been in Philly since the surgery on April 29th or May 1st,” Drysdale said. “The staff (Medical Staff), I can’t thank them enough for the amount of work they put in. Full year job for them. Big thanks to them for making me feel the way I feel now.”
It’s great to hear the medical staff has improved, vastly, as opposed to a few years ago where it was a mess. Flyers’ General Manager Danny Briere and John Tortorella alike worked hard and tirelessly to bring in a medical staff that the players can trust, and rehabilitate properly to bring them back to the player they used to be. It’s great to hear good stories like this, as Drysdale thanked the entire medical staff and Athletic Trainers for their efforts this past offseason.
Everyone appreciates honesty, and maybe that’s why most fans are gravitating towards this young man. The surgery was a big one, but Drysdale skated just fine yesterday. It didn’t look like he was laboring or in any pain at all wearing the bag skate, “Your legs feel like stone…It’s mental. In the same token I think it brings everyone together, it sucks,” Drysdale said of the bag skate yesterday. Even Flyers’ Head Coach John Tortorella commended Drysdale for finishing the way he did.
Don’t write off Jamie Drysdale this season, a season in which he may struggle early after recovering from core surgery. Through all this, Drysdale has remained as happy as ever. Drysdale was seen walking throughout the Flyers locker room smiling and laughing last season. He just loves being a Flyer.
That’s the good thing, even with how well he has performed in his brief stint as a Flyer. He still has a lot to learn, and he wasn’t 100% last season. Just imagine if he was fully healthy. John Tortorella said that he believes he can be a rover in the future, so Drysdale has to keep on learning to make that possible.
A young Defenseman in Drysdale is a very good skater. Actually, that’s his top asset to his game. He can transition out of the zone and up the ice with the best of them, mainly due to his speed. He hits the neutral zone with speed, and when that happens he’s hard to stop. Drysdale can rush the puck up the ice, while making plays. He uses his skating and puck handling skills, to become strong in transition. Drysdale has a good hockey IQ and sees the ice well, thus he’s able to make the right place and passes two is open teammates. That is what makes him elusive on the Power Play, he always seems to find the open man.
His bread and butter is the Power Play, as the Flyers finally now have a quarterback on the top Power Play unit. Both Briere and Tortorella have said that Drysdale could become an integral part of the power play moving forward. Let’s hope he’s able to stay healthy to see this come to fruition.
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