Smart player. Good hands. Good vision. Good motor. Like, he’s got a good motor. Going into the season we wanted to see if he could produce a bit more offensively than he has in the past and he certainly picked it up in that regard. Multi-dimensional player. Multiple situations. I see him as a centre, but if he had to move to the wing he’s smart enough and has good enough hands that he could do it. So, obviously really happy with him at 24.

A defenseman at U-Conn we’ve watched for a couple years. He was in Sioux Falls as an underage so we were able to track him as an underage knowing that he was going to U-Conn this year. One of the youngest players, I think he maybe even was the youngest player in NCAA hockey. Real good defensive fundamentals. A chance to grow his game offensively, but he takes care of his end first. We see him as a guy that we could play with more of a risk-taking offensive player in your middle pairing and, if all goes well, maybe even higher.

He was a faller as far as the draft goes, as far as lists go. Fred Parker, 10-12 picks out of 72 says ‘if Poirier’s here we have to take the risk, it’s value at that point.’ Our Quebec scout, Patrick Lachance said the same thing. We had a backup plan in case he was taken, we had no questions about taking him at that spot. It’s a real good pick. The kid, he knows where he has to go to do most of his work. The offensive game comes natural for him, now he’s got to work on the rest. And that’s going to determine his path to the NHL.

He’s in Lincoln right now. He’s on his way to [Minnesota] next year… I saw him as a 15-year-old with Edina. I saw him this year at Lincoln in the USHL showcase, then he went back to high school where our US scouts, Jimmy Cummins and Mike Craig picked him up. Mike actually has worked with Jake off the ice and on the ice so he knows the kid well. He’s a right shot defenseman. Real good skater. More of a move the puck and follow the play up the ice, rather than a puck-carrier/rusher. But a real solid, solid team guy, and there’s going to be a spot for him in the NHL if he continues developing.

We didn’t have a lot of live viewings of him, but what we did get, we were able to turn over to our goalie department and we really hit the video hard on him and Jordan Sigalet and Thomas Speer, they spent a lot of time researching him, talking to goalie coaches throughout North America and Europe. Our old scout, Luke Strand, drafted him in the USHL and he may have ended up there in Sioux City this year if it wasn’t for COVID. At that point in the draft we weren’t sure what to do as far as where can we get this guy. We didn’t have a comfort level as far as we can get him next round, so we just said we really like him, we’re going to take him right here. And we did.

A right hand shot centre or right wing playing in Cape Breton. We’ve had a lot of success, we feel, in the later rounds the past few years with skill and vision and hockey sense, even if they’re not big in stature, so Ryan fit that bill. Smart guy, right shot, like I said, a lot of skill.

Same MO as Ryan Francis. They’re both guys that are going to have to improve their skating, but they have things in place that you can’t teach. So we’re really happy about getting those two guys.

Played in Saginaw this year. He would’ve been an overage and I think it’s a good thing actually that he’s playing over in the KHL this year right now because they’re a league that’s playing, and he needs to play. He’s a tall, rangy defenseman with reach. He’s a good puck-mover, he’s good on the power play, he’s got a lot of poise on the blueline. He can move the puck across the blueline and dance across and find options. So at that point in the draft, we thought he was a good value pick as well as Poirier at 72.