from Dana Wakiji of DetroitRedWings.com,

When NHL Central Scouting released its final rankings on April 8, there was only one defenseman among the top three North American skaters.

Among international skaters, no defenseman cracked the top five.

That leaves Erie Otters defenseman Jamie Drysdale in good company, just behind forwards Alexis Lafrenière and Quinton Byfield on the list of top North American skaters....

Jamie Drysdale is the kind of player that every team is looking for, very smart puck-moving defenseman who can beat you with his vision, beat you with his hockey sense, able to use that great quickness and thinking to defense and strip a puck and turn it around and before you know it it's going the other way and can find the open man on the attack, makes him too tough to pass up if he's available when you're picking," NHL Central Scouting's David Gregory said on the April 8 video conference call.

reas on...