March 12, 2026
Kyle Ross/Imagn Images
Jamie Drysdale has become a much more complete defenseman for the Flyers.
There was a spot in the second period Wednesday night when Jamie Drysdale was in complete control.
The Flyers defenseman took the puck in by the offensive blue line, and with Washington's Brandon Duhaime moving up to check, Drysdale shifted his feet and started chopping backwards across the top of the left faceoff circle.
Duhaime chased after him. Drysdale kept drifting back toward the wall, dangling the puck out like bait on a fishing line.
Then, Drysdale came to a sudden stop, taking a step forward just as quickly that sent the pursuing Duhaime sliding by.
In a split-second, it was like the entire ice opened up, and Drysdale used that to zip a clean pass through, straight to winger Matvei Michkov, who settled up in front of the net by the far-side post on the right.
It would've been a gimme of a goal if the sequence connected. Michkov just couldn't fully corral it.
But it was still a dangerous scoring chance that Drysdale used his skating to create all himself, and certainly wouldn't be the last of the problems he made for the visiting Capitals in an eventual 4-1 win for the Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
It was also another moment that was emblematic of the improvement Drysdale has made this season.
The Flyers were down, 1-0, at the point that Drysdale made that play, but momentum was shifting.
Travis Konecny scored the tying goal about a minute later. Owen Tippett, whose dominant downhill skating stole the show on Wednesday night, took the puck to begin a rush that catapulted Trevor Zegras to the go-ahead goal not long after.
Then in the third, and at 4-on-4 from matching roughing penalties to both teams, Drysdale took the extra space as a chance to sneak closer down to in between the offensive zone faceoff circles while the Flyers had possession.
Noah Cates wrapped around with the puck from behind the net and slid a pass back out to the front.
Drysdale cupped the puck with his stick blade as his strides carried him across the crease, pulling away the sight of Washington goaltender Logan Thompson, and with an opened up lane from it, Drysdale rifled in the goal that put the Flyers up two and all but put the game away.
It was another chance he used his skating to create, his shot, too, and this time, it counted.
Drysdale with a dart 🎯 pic.twitter.com/skNU70uEoL
— Sports on Prime Canada (@SportsOnPrimeCA) March 12, 2026
For the night, Drysdale skated 21:59 against the Caps, had his deciding goal late, went plus-1, and put three shots on goal that kept up with Zegras and Christian Dvorak, and was second only to Tippett's six shots for the Flyers, though in a game that the power forward pretty loudly took over.
Drysdale was quieter by comparison, but maybe just as impactful.
His skating on Wednesday night was fluid and deceptive, as Duhaime can probably attest to. His passes were crisp and calculated, and when he had his lanes to shoot, he took them, and just as key, they made their way to the net.
"Good things happen when you shoot the puck," Drysdale said in the Flyers' locker room afterward. "It's kinda been showing as of late, so I think it's a mindset we're developing as a group here."
And maybe part of Drysdale's lower-key evolution back on the blue line.
As of Thursday morning, Drysdale has taken 81 shots through 61 games, which has easily become the most he's made across his three seasons as a Flyer so far. It's also translated into seven goals, which tied his career-high set last year, and 27 points, which is just six away from clearing his career-best set during his second year with Anaheim in 2022.
But he's a much better player now compared to then, and a much more complete and calmer defenseman.
Jamie Drysdale has gotten much stronger at controlling and closing out gaps this season.
The signs were there when this season first started.
The point production wasn't necessarily overpowering, which was in the appeal of Drysdale's play style and projected ceiling, but his skating looked sharper and more controlled, and on the actual defensive side of the game, he was closing gaps to puck carriers a lot quicker and keeping the room they would've had to work with a lot tighter.
He started suppressing chances just as much as he was able to generate them, and just as crucial, without any panic if things went wrong.
Case in point: this week in South Philly.
Drysdale had a brutal night in the Flyers' 6-2 faceplant against the Rangers on Monday. He was getting pushed around and away from rebounds while trying to defend the front of his net, and was fumbling the puck all over in a situation where the rest of his teammates couldn't do much else right either.
That could've snowballed for him. Maybe if it were a year or two ago, it would've.
But now? Drysdale took the ice Wednesday against Washington and kept everything under control.
He used his feet, he took his shots, he created openings all himself, and the Flyers bounced back with a win and a much better effort because of it.
"I think guys are real good at getting into lanes in this league," Drysdale said postgame of what he managed to open up. "It's not fun hitting their shin pads all the time, so gotta figure out a way to get it through."
He ended up finding a few.
When Drysdale first came over from Anaheim more than two years ago now in the notorious Cutter Gauthier trade, he was a skilled young skater, but very much a work in progress as a defenseman who was maybe rushed into the NHL too soon.
There were growing pains through that season and the next, downward swings, but then in between, moments of puck-controlling brilliance that showed a flash of the type of player Drysdale could really be.
But now that work is more regularly starting to show for the 23-year-old, across this season, and Wednesday night especially.
He can create all his own.
"He's got a lot more confidence," Konecny said. "I think [the coaching staff has] been working with him a lot, sticking with him on the power play, really letting him feel himself.
"You can just see his confidence when he's breaking out pucks and everything. He's a big player for us. He does a lot of good things."
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