It’s not supposed to look this easy.
For an 18-year old defenceman, the transition to NCAA hockey is often a tough one. There are grown men playing in that league and the strength difference between freshman and the more experienced players is usually pretty obvious.
Guess they forget to mention that to Jake Sanderson.
Playing in his second game for the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks, Sanderson was, in a word, dominant. Steady two-way defenceman like Sanderson have a way of just blending in sometimes but it’s pretty clear that Sanderson is more than “steady”.
Watch Sanderson closely for a game and it’s easy to see why the Senators were comfortable making him the 5th overall selection in the draft. Everything he does- one on one battles, puck retrieval in his own end, pinching at the other team’s blueline, creating space in the offensive zone- it just all looks so smooth.
Oh and he can do this too.
One of the knocks on Sanderson, or at least one of the potential limitations of his game according to self-identified scouts, is his offensive ceiling. Not so sure about that.
To me, he looks more than comfortable with the puck on his stick and the creativity and hockey sense both look high-end. He seems to have no issue making things happen offensively. And he’s only just scratching the surface of what he can do.
Sanderson and current-Senator Thomas Chabot are obviously very different players but there is something Chabot-esque about the way Sanderson gets around the ice. It looks almost effortless at times.
And while I am again ready to admit that I may be overreacting to a small sample size, it really does look like the Senators have a special player in Jake Sanderson.
You can catch full highlights from last night’s game here.
