The Blue Jackets plucked away a teammate of an earlier pick for the second time in the draft. One round after taking Youngstown Phantoms forward William Whitelaw, the Jackets picked up defenseman Andrew Strathmann from the same club.
As things go in sports, playing more games (especially meaningful ones) usually leads to more exposure. This seems to be the case with the Youngstown Phantoms this year, who won the Clark Cup as the best team in the United States junior program. The Jackets clearly made some trips up to northeast Ohio and liked what they saw, picking two of the top players from the team.
Andrew Strathmann, 5’11”, 185 pounds
Youngstown Phantoms (USHL) (University of North Dakota commit)
4th round (#98 overall)
Playstyle comparisons: Sam Girard, Torey Krug
NHL upside: bottom four defender
Professional ETA: 2025 or 2026
The Strathmann selection also continued another trend: undersized players. Listed at 5’11” and 185 pounds, he comes up a little bit short of average for an NHL defenseman. But like the others, he makes up for that lack of size by playing tough, competitive hockey; not backing down from any challenge and using his body to separate opponents from the puck.
Offensively, he has an above average hockey IQ, which allows him to jump into the play at just the right moment to create a scoring chance. He’s a good skater with strong passing and overall playmaking abilities, though he doesn’t have any one trait that jumps out at you when he’s on the ice. In fact, what stands out most when I watch him play, is just his overall timing and hockey sense.
That may sound like a knock, but that’s really high praise because hockey sense is the best trait you can have as a hockey player. Think of him like Jordan Dumais, but on defense. I’m not saying Andrew Strathmann is going to go out and lead the nation in scoring from the back end next year – but, he’s the kind of guy that just quietly floats around, then jumps in and strikes at a moment’s notice.
He’ll head to the NCAA level this fall where he’ll play for the storied University of North Dakota program. I expect him to have some growing pains for the first year or so, as they’ll look to weed out the occasional glaring mistake. But, he has time to develop at his own pace, and for the Jackets, this could be yet another sneaky mid-round steal.