SCoC Draft Profiles: Jett Woo is a sensible RHD

Analysis:

Look, I swear to god I’m not picking these names because they’re fun to say or read. These are players projected for the 2nd and 3rd round. I don’t make the rules.

What I do, is look at players and see their positives and negatives, and Jett Woo has plenty of positives.

Jett Woo is a 6’0, 200 lb. right-shot defender who, in all honesty, will probably be picked before Boston has a chance to. His skillset, which includes using all of that size in a smart way to block shots and deny opportunities to even get cycles going, isn’t afraid to play the body with the added bonus of actually knowing when to pick his spots and take himself and his target out of the play without taking braindead penalties, and good skating.

Now, if you’re thinking “If he’s not going to be in Boston’s wheelhouse, why bother profiling him? Did you do it just for the name?”

No, I did it because there’s a chance that Woo falls to Boston. And it comes from where his negatives are, and admittedly one is subjective.

The first is that while he was productive in his time in Moose Jaw, he was usually a pass-first, let-someone-else-take-care-of-scoring kind of player. That’s not to say his shot is bad or that his passing is off, because it’s not, he’s quite an accurate passer, it’s just that his offensive potential may be a bit stunted as he’s moved into a more defensive side of puck-moving defenders. Especially if teams decide his ability to defend is more important than his ability to pass and shoot.

Second is a more pressing concern for him; injuries. His draft season was plagued by upper body injuries that took a good 20 or so games off of his resume. There’s good reason to believe with how Moose Jaw relied on him, he’d have a much more impressive resume as opposed to merely moderate improvement from his 2016 season. Labelling him as injury-prone is an incredible stretch, but having unfortunate injuries in a draft season has sunk similar players from even higher places in the draft.

Most teams will probably look past that and Woo will almost certainly be off the board before the Bruins get a chance. That said, he is projected for the 2nd round, so if teams feel bullish on a number of other prospects, Woo could be a tantalizing option.

Player Rankings:

26th by FutureConsiderations

28th by NHL Central Scouting among North American skaters