PADMANABHAN: USNTDP Defenceman Jake Sanderson is a Bona Fide Top-Ten Prospect in the 2020 NHL Draft

The silver lining to this three-month void of hockey has been the chance scouts like myself have had to watch and rewatch USNTDP U18 defenceman Jake Sanderson‘s tape from the six months prior.

Paralysis by analysis? Hardly. More information is never a bad thing, and when the stakes are as high as a top-ten pick it’s double true.

Among consensus first-round picks going into this fall’s NHL Draft, Sanderson is the one that’s seen his stock rise the most steadily in the time off; he’s risen a full ten spots from our mid-December ranking to last week’s updated board, from 19th overall all the way to ninth. He’s even stirred healthy debates as to who is the best defenceman in this year’s draft, a contest fought with Erie Otters’ rearguard Jamie Drysdale as the incumbent. Only months ago, such a d