Jamie Drysdale has emerged as an important piece of the Philadelphia Flyers. <\/p>\n
The bar was set high when he was acquired in the Cutter Gauthier trade in January 2024, and after a year and a half in Philadelphia, Drysdale had a bit of a breakout campaign last year.<\/p>\n
Drysdale scored a career-high eight goals and tied a career-high with 32 points in 78 games last season. That production and his defensive development helped him earn a four-year, $26 million contract extension this summer.<\/p>\n
The Flyers defenseman joined the What Chaos podcast<\/a> on Wednesday and spoke about settling into Philadelphia, his friendship with Trevor Zegras, playing for Rick Tocchet and John Tortorella, and the growth of the game thanks to shows like Heated Rivalry and Off Campus.<\/p>\n Drysdale\u2019s \u2018switch in the mindset\u2019 in Philadelphia<\/p>\n \u201cMy first two years were pretty good, and then I took a little injury hiatus, I guess you could call it, for the following two. And then it just got to a point where you just say, screw it. No one\u2019s going to fix this but me.\u201d<\/p>\n The defenseman debuted as an 18-year-old in the 2021 season. He played 24 games that year, and got in a full 81 games the next season. However, he played just eight games in the 2022-23 season and 34 the year he was traded: 10 with the Ducks and 24 with the Flyers.<\/p>\n \u201cSure, I was hurt for the better part of two years, but the skills didn\u2019t go away. The ability didn\u2019t go away,\u201d he continued. \u201cMaybe just a switch in the mindset. Not fully believing, and then once you switch that, it\u2019s just right back on track.\u201d<\/p>\n Drysdale gained confidence during his first season with the Flyers, and saw his average ice time go up by over 90 seconds last season as he played 21:33 per game.<\/p>\n He mentioned that staying away from social media has helped him mentally, and the guys brought up a Drysdale hockey card that did him dirty.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the photos on the cards are just like oof. Out of all the photos over however many years, this is the one you guys go with? I\u2019m like, damn. I can\u2019t complain; I\u2019m on a hockey card. Younger me would be thrilled and surprised. I can\u2019t complain, but maybe pick some better photos,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely, woof, not my finest hour. And that\u2019s what\u2019s going out in a lot of numbers. It\u2019s all good, though.\u201d<\/p>\n Michkov supported by Drysdale, Flyers teammates<\/p>\n The hosts used that as an opportunity to transition to a question about Matvei Michkov, specifically regarding the reports that he came into training camp out of shape.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is obviously not body shaming or anything; you are a world-class athlete, and we don\u2019t body shame anyway, but I did want to ask in the sake of being a good teammate, if any of you have considered showing up to camp out of shape so Tocchet can go easier on Michkov this year?\u201d they questioned.<\/p>\n Drysdale laughed and took a beat \u2014 eight seconds to be exact \u2014 before responding.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know what, he did a great job. He was working his tail off to get back,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s everyone\u2019s responsibility to show up into camp. You\u2019ve got the summer to work out and train. I expect everyone to come in flying in training camp. It\u2019ll be a real exciting year for us.\u201d<\/p>\n Drysdale noted that hockey players are under a microscope, so things get blown out of proportion, and that comes with the territory.<\/p>\n \u201cI think at the end of the day, all the guys in the locker room know what\u2019s up, know the character behind everyone. You just got to be there for your teammates,\u201d he said. \u201cIt could literally be anything. Camp, trade noise, anything. There\u2019s so much stuff out there all the time. That\u2019s the one thing you have is each other in the locker room. You just push away everything, all the negativity outside of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Briere called Drysdale after Zegras trade<\/p>\n Having a few close friends in the locker room can help with that, and Drysdale got another one when the Flyers traded for Trevor Zegras last summer. It was a move that reunited two former Ducks, and Danny Briere made sure to let Drysdale know about the acquisition.<\/p>\n \u201cHe called me; he was like, \u2018Hey, you see what I just did?\u2019 and I was like, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m freaking pumped,’\u201d Drysdale recalled. \u201cI knew we got a good one in Z. Heck of a guy. Heck of a locker room guy, and obviously what he does on the ice speaks for itself. That was definitely funny. I was like, \u2018Why is he calling me?\u2019 and then he told me that. It was pretty electric.\u201d<\/p>\n The two had a close friendship in Anaheim, but Drysdale tried to play down the bromance.<\/p>\n \u201cI was just there. Z was the main character for the whole time,\u201d he said. \u201cI would just sit there, smile, and laugh at all the interesting remarks and stuff that he would do.\u201d<\/p>\n While Drysdale and Zegras, or even Drysdale and York, get a lot of the attention, the defenseman acknowledged that there are a lot of close friendships in the locker room. He specifically mentioned Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim \u2014 two of the team\u2019s veteran leaders \u2014 and Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink as two close duos.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve just been fortunate to play with a lot of good dudes,\u201d he said. \u201cI consider myself lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n Briere showed \u2018big kahunas\u2019 with Carlsson offer sheet<\/p>\n Of course, the headline of the Flyers\u2019 offseason, and perhaps one of the headlines across the NHL, was the Leo Carlsson offer sheet. <\/p>\n Drysdale explained that he and the rest of the players were in the same boat as the fans and media as the hockey world waited out the week of purgatory.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, it was probably similar for us as it was for everyone else. We don\u2019t exactly have insider information. We\u2019re just at home like everyone else. We found out like everyone else. We found out when it matched like everyone else.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I was probably the last person to see when it went down. My buddy texted into our group chat just with my home friends that the offer sheet was made. I was also at the gym when I found out it got matched, so I was a few hours late on that. Crazy. Definitely crazy. It was wild seeing that, but you like to see a big move like that.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a big swing by Briere that has put the league on notice, and it has an impact on the locker room as well.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the moment, you\u2019re like \u2018Holy crap.\u2019 That\u2019s the only thing that goes through your mind,\u201d he said .\u201dI feel like these days, it\u2019s real tough to find a number one center. He took a swing. That shows big kahunas. You\u2019ve got to respect it. I think they\u2019ve done a great job. I think we got a high-caliber team. It would\u2019ve been a nice addition, obviously; no one\u2019s going to argue that one, but again, we\u2019re excited for this year as the group we have.\u201d<\/p>\n The Flyers surprised a lot of people last season, famously going from a 3.8% chance of making the playoffs to winning a round against the Penguins. Drysdale thinks the Philadelphia roster is being overlooked once again.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of high-caliber players around the league, and I think we\u2019ve got an underrated lineup as well,\u201d he opined. \u201cI\u2019m excited to go into this year and see what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n Drysdale on playing for Tocchet vs. Tortorella<\/p>\n They\u2019ll be looking to build on last year\u2019s performance as they head into the second season with Tocchet behind the bench. The coach\u2019s \u201cF*ck everybody\u201d speech in the locker room made waves around the league.<\/p>\n We\u2019re in the ballgame, boys. pic.twitter.com\/ppMaLzc4J4<\/a><\/p>\n