Some people like upside, some people like certainty.
To me, he's probably the exact description of Jared McIsaac that was being sold at the draft in 2018. I actually think McIsaac has a little more offense than he was credited for, but not a ton. But O'Rourke is what McIsaac was billed to be. He plays a physical, defensive game more than anything. Skating isn't special. Limited offensive upside. Not really a big, imposing defender, but has a little bit of a mean streak in his game.
I feel comfortable in projecting him as an NHLer, but he embodies the concept of a safe floor, low ceiling type of player. He will be a defensive defenseman, likely bottom pairing but can fill in up the roster if needed. He's a late first rounder for the team that just wants to hit a single. For the Wings, I wouldn't be mad at 32, but I think the odds would suggest that there will be someone I'd rather have over him, and hope that he lingers around a little bit into the mid and late second, even though he likely will be gone.
McIssac was always considered a plus skater though and I think IQ is a bigger part of O'Rourke's calling card all things considered.
The bigger question for me though is why does Sanderson project so much higher than a player like O'Rourke. They seem to be cut from the same cloth in a lot of ways. I get that Sanderson is a much better skater and defends transition better, but is the gulf between the two really that big in terms of what they project as at the next level? The ceilings look a lot alike to my eyes. My hunch is that there is a lot of appealing to authority going on with Sanderson and few are taking the time to watch full games of his play.
Thanks for all the replies. We'll see how each of these defensemen look by draft day, but I have zero interest in using 32OA for a lower ceiling stay at home guy.
I agree that he's better offensively than his stats suggest, but not for want of opportunity. They were playing him 28 minutes a game in the last couple months of the season, and he manned the top power play unit. I'm not sure how that equates to not enough offensive usage. I think too often, he deferred to teammates, despite having a pretty great shot from the point. He really ought to shoot the puck more. He's a bit low on my list, and I should really re-evaluate that, but I think there's a pretty big gap between Sanderson and O'Rourke.A lot of people think he has offensive upside though. He didnt get a lot of usage in offensive situations so his numbers dont look great.
I agree that he's better offensively than his stats suggest, but not for want of opportunity. They were playing him 28 minutes a game in the last couple months of the season, and he manned the top power play unit. I'm not sure how that equates to not enough offensive usage. I think too often, he deferred to teammates, despite having a pretty great shot from the point. He really ought to shoot the puck more. He's a bit low on my list, and I should really re-evaluate that, but I think there's a pretty big gap between Sanderson and O'Rourke.
Thanks for all the replies. We'll see how each of these defensemen look by draft day, but I have zero interest in using 32OA for a lower ceiling stay at home guy.
I certainly don't expect the type of player normally found in the top ten overall to be magically preserved until the second round. But every year one or two guys slide a bit, and they're usually players with interesting skill sets, but serious question marks as well.If you are looking for high upside defensemen with a lot of offensive skill in the second and third rounds, you are going to be disappointed.
I know a lot of us make our own boards, some larger some smaller. I always enjoy seeing what other people think, despite how I post at times in disagreement. In any event, here is a thread where we can post our thoughts.
Rank as many as you like, I would at least encourage people to shoot for a first round. In a lot of ways it can make draft night fairly interesting when you have something in advance.
With Covid-19 I have actually made it to a top 100. I am sure there are a few names missing or spectacularly lower than you think they should be. But here is mine, I hope we can all participate and have some fun.
1. Quinton Byfield
2. Alexis Lafreniere
3. Tim Stutzle
4. Lucas Raymond
5. Jamie Drysdale
6. Yaroslav Askarov
7. Cole Perfetti
8. Anton Lundell
9. Jake Sanderson
10. Alexander Holtz
11. Seth Jarvis
12. Connor Zary
13. Hendrix Lapierre
14. Marco Rossi
15. Kaiden Guhle
16. William Wallinder
17. Rodion Amirov
18. Dylan Holloway
19. Jack Quinn
20. Marat Khusnutdinov
21. Mavrik Bourque
22. Noel Gunlar
23. Brandon Brisson
24. Emil Andrae
25. Dawson Mercer
26. Braden Schneider
27. JJ Peterka
28. Jan Mysak
29. Jeremie Poirier
30. Lucas Reichel
31. Vasiliy Ponomarev
32. Jacob Perreault
33. Ryan O’Rourke
34. Justin Barron
35. Lukas Cormier
36. Thomas Bordeleau
37. Ozzy Weisblatt
38. Helge Grans
39. Joni Hirvonen
40. Joni Jurmo
41. Martin Chromiak
42. Ridly Grieg
43. Ty Smilanic
44. Shakir Mukhamadullin
45. Alexander Pashin
46. Kasper Simontaival
47. Yan Kuznetsov
48. Jean-Luc Foudy
49. Topi Niemela
50. Zion Nybeck
51. Daniel Torgersson
52. Jake Neighbours
53. Carter Savoie
54. Brock Faber
55. Tyler Tullio
56. Tristen Robins
57. Justin Sourdif
58. Sean Farrell
59. Dylan Peterson
60. Drew Commesso
61. Donovan Sebrango
62. Brandon Coe
63. Wyatt Kaiser
64. Alexander Nikishin
65. Theodore Niederbach
66. Zayde Wisdom
67. Sam Colangelo
68. Daemon Hunt
69. Vetti Miettinen
70. Dmitry Zlodeyev
71. Ryder Rolston
72. Mitchell Miller
73. Tyson Foerster
74. Eemil Viro
75. Tyler Kleven
76. Theo Rochette
77. William Villeneuve
78. Connor McClennon
79. Anton Johannesson
80. Joel Blomqvist
81. Maxim Groshev
82. Danill Gushchin
83. Roby Jarventie
84. Pavel Gogolev
85. Eamon Powell
86. Luke Tuch
87. Ian Moore
88. Dmitri Ovchinnikov
89. Danill Gutik
90. Egor Sokolov
91. Will Cuylle
92. Ryan Francis
93. Oliver Suni
94. Samuel Knazko
95. Charles DesRoches
96. Michael Benning
97. Adam Raska
98. Blake Biondi
99. Antonio Stranges
100. Pavel Novak
Rossi at 14 is wild man.
I honestly could have gone lower than that, I put him in the front of his tier for out of a respect for his production that lands him there and the fact he is such a hard worker he might eventually make it work out on the wing. I don't believe in how is his game will translate up or his physical talent when I watch him play. One NHL team has him at 18 on Bobby Mac's list so it isn't completely unheard of.
How much have you watched him in full games? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player his age play a such an efficient game at his age.
I think his game is very impressive for that level for sure. My issue with Rossi is always projecting him up to the NHL level.
Here's Mckenzie's final rankings. He moved Prefetti up to #5, Drysdale stays at #4. He calls Raymond a perimeter player. I absolutely do not want a perimeter player @ #4.