In early January, the Philadelphia Flyers shocked the entire hockey community, trading away their top prospect in Cutter Gauthier to the Anaheim Ducks for 21-year-old defenseman Jamie Drysdale. As it came out that Gauthier did not want to be a member of the Flyers organization, Flyers fans looked towards Drysdale to fill that role. On Thursday morning, Flyers head coach gave some encouraging words regarding the Flyers defenseman.
On Thursday morning, Drysdale was on the ice in Toronto for an optional morning skate as he missed practice yesterday for a maintenance day. While meeting with the press, Tortorella was asked about Drysdale and Tortorella gave an interesting insight on how Drysdale can take that next step and become a top defenseman for the Flyers.
The foundation of Tortorella's teams thrive off of the performance of his defensemen, and Drysdale is an interesting piece that Tortorella can use and sharpen. From getting the most out of guys like Nick Seeler, Sean Walker, and Travis Sanheim, Torts is looking to do the same with Drysdale.
Drysdale has shown flashes of greatness while on the ice, most recently scoring a goal in the Flyers 5-3 win on Monday against the Arizona Coyotes. If Drysdale stays healthy and continues to work with Tortorella, Drysdale can be another young piece the Flyers can rely on for years to come.
