Draft Watch: D Jacob Trouba

Last stop on the draft watch train will be 18-year-old American born defenseman Jacob Trouba. He was born on February 26, 1994 in Rochester, Michigan. He shoots right-handed, so, naturally he plays on the right side. He is listed at 6’2″-193 lbs. He is ranked as the ninth best North American skater and the fifth best North American defenseman by NHL.com, but he could be ranked as high as two. He plays for the United States National Development Team, U-18 in the USHL. I’ve heard him compared to Dion Phaneuf, Adam Foote, Derian Hatcher and Jack Johnson.

Trouba is a very physical, punishing defenseman. He enjoys playing a two-way game and is pretty good at both. He’ll pound forwards in his own zone and then jump in and help lead a rush that creates a scoring opportunity. He has also been known to get set up for one-timers at the point during a power play. He’s also a very quick and agile skater for a guy as big as he is. He has very good hockey sense and poise with the puck. However, he will need to get a bit faster to be a top-pairing defenseman in the NHL. Also, he needs to fill out a little more. He’s 6’2″, but only 193 lbs. As big as he is, he should be bigger and with a couple years until he gets to the NHL, he should fill out nicely. Almost every scouting report I read on him states how he is not a risk at all and that it’s all reward with Trouba.

I think there is a very good chance the Ducks take Jacob Trouba at sixth overall, but I still think that it will only happen if forwards Filip Forsberg or Alex Galchenyuk are taken already. Which is very likely, especially with Galchenyuk projected to go third to the Canadiens and Forsberg possibly projected to go fourth to the Maple Leafs. If the Ducks take Trouba, more like no matter who takes him, Trouba will need another year at least to progress before he can enter the NHL, which he will spend at the University of Michigan. But, the potential of having Cam Fowler, Luca Sbisa and Jacob Trouba as the team’s top three defenseman of the future is very exciting. A possibility of a top-two pairings of Cam Fowler-Jacob Trouba/Luca Sbisa-Sami Vatanen or any combination of the four also sound very exciting.

Here are some videos on Jacob:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NMTW0bvIxQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FIuy2hoZ_s

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