Drysdale is pretty overrated offensively imo. We literally have his wonky AHL debut season stats as the only indicator that he can be a legit point producing #1Dman someday.
He wasnt a dynamo is the OHL - just really damn good. But not even close to some of the more dynamic offensive players we've seen from the CHL in the last decade or so.
His WJC stats and performance are a bit of a paradox for me. Its mind boggling that he saw as much ice time as he did on a powerhouse team that won some games by double digit scores - did not manage more than 2pts. Thats almost comically unimpressive, and hopefully just insanely bad luck.
He was phenomenal as a two way player at the WJC and played his role well. But this crazy outlier of 2pts is not something I can gloss over on a team that scored 16 goals in one game.. He should have some badly inflated stats, and we should be talking about pumping the brakes on his hype and WJC stats.
But yet he scored 2pts (despite that being close to a statistical impossibility given his role). He didnt come through big and his team lost the tournament. And somehow he left that tourney as being the hyped D prospect on the planet, and totally blemish free....Despite only scoring 2pts.
Now let me follow this by saying that he sees the ice VERY well. Hes smart, high IQ hockey and silky smooth skating Jamie's bread and butter. Hes got a great NHL future ahead of him.
But he is absolutely not in the same mould as a Karlsson, Makar, Hughes, Heskainen ect type class of elite offensive Dmen. These guys can win the game singlehandely for their teams, and tilt the ice their way. Despite skating at a level close to some of them, I dont find that Drysdale can rush the puck end to end and attack the zone as a one man army like they can.
Hes good on the breakout dont mistake what Im saying, but walking through the opposing team and finishing plays at the highest level is just not something Drysdale will be able to do like those other players can. He plays a more cerebral type of game, with far less flash (and also less risk to be fair to him).
Anyways I like Drysdale but I cant lie that Im somewhat unsure where all of this unreal hype that has come from tbh. If he finished the WJC tourney at or above a PPG the hype would have been totally out of control as of today. And what Im critiquing him on was well documented before the draft (hes not Makar bottom line). And yet somehow hes already erased all of those questions in the eyes of most....
Whereas Seider could be paired with a guy like say Chabot - and he would likely grow into dominant top pairing Dman given his skillset, and how well he would compliment a more offensive-mindeed partner. But Drysdale's offensive ability and his size would lead me to believe hes more likely suited to being a #3 type guy in an ideal world, and wont be good enough with the puck to run with the alpha dogs of the league.