Sanderson also plays against the USHL which is worse competition than the OHL. I dont see that as being a valid argument, he also doesnt have to pay 3 in 3's like Drysdale does logging massive minutes. Drysdale is underrated in what he has accomplished and shown up to this point, atleast on the sens board. What he did at the WJC just hasnt happened before. He came in for Byram on his wrong side and was the superior player and looked like Canada's best defenceman. As the games went along he logged more and more minutes. Tourigny had higher praise for him than any player on the team. Id say he knows what he is talking about.
Its a pretty big disservice to Drysdale to compare Ryan Murphy to him they arent in the same spectrum as prospects. Drysdale is a terrific defender and minute eater.
Drysdale scored a PPG on a terrible team while playing responsible defensively and you are holding that against him? He is playing for the 67's and he is likely scoring 70+ points. Then what? He is the consensus number 2 prospect maybe pushing for number 1.
It's interesting how you take my point, and then somehow turn them into an opinion, even though I gave my opinion that I really like Drysdale. But I suggest you at least be willing to consider someone else's argument, even if you don't agree with it (see Socrates quote on that one). And I'm not saying Drysdale will be Murphy, it's just that there have been elite skating small d-men taken in the top 10 that haven't made it, and let's face it, some scouts like to play it safe. Sanderson might be the safer bet in this regard, although I'm sure someone could counter argue that. In the end, there aren't many 5'11 D taken in the top 5 of the draft, and while I don't think the Sens scouts have that bias, I'm not sure they won't be in love with getting Sanderson either.
I'm just giving you some reasons why some scouts like Sanderson better. You don't have to agree that he is a better prospect, but you can at least consider the rationale.
I don't want to get bogged down in this point, but an interesting take on the USHL. It's actually a pretty comparable league to the OHL now, although I'd say a slight notch down in talent because the best 18 year olds go to college. But you don't see people average the points per game in that league either, like you do in the OH (I think 1.3 is the best).. It can be a tough league to score at, especially when your team is exclusively made up of 17 year olds, and you playing againgst 20 year olds like the NTDP team does. The average age of kids in the USHL is actually over 19 (19.2 or something I just found out). I hadn't realized that, so I'm sure that's probably similar if not older as the OHL. But Sanderson didn't get any players on his team 18-21. He had to carry the toughest duties every night against kids older than him WITHOUT anyone older than him on his team. And that was when he was playing USHL. When he was playing against college teams, he was matched the biggest and the best, some of whom are 25 years old.
And I'm not sure how much you follow the U18 team, but for this reason, they get beat up pretty bad in a lot of games physically and on the scoreboard. If you have any doubts, just check out the average players +/- and the average goalies stats for the USHL games. Many are pretty ugly.
And while I feel a lot better about drafting Drysdale having watched every minute of his play at the WJC (he was totally solid as an underager, which is rare for D), let's not exaggerate his performance there either. He had a nice goal and a few points, and overall looked good, but he wasn't dominant or Canada's best defender. He was solid, which is what we all wanted to see, especially defensively.
When considering responding, just keep in mind that if we draft Drysdale at #5, I'll be doing high 5's with my kids and buddies. I'd love to get him. I ain't a hater. I just like Sanderson too, like many.
