If you happened to end up with a high pick for the 2020 NHL Draft, your team will have the chance to take a very good defenceman with a great shot at becoming a piece of your core. Jamie Drysdale has speed and decision-making skills to contend for a top-pairing role in the future, while Jake Sanderson will challenge even the best players in the NHL for greatest mobility. They’re both going to go quite early, and the two teams making the pick will be very happy to have them.
After that — which likely means following the 10th pick or even the eighth — choices of defencemen are limited to players who project as second-pairing players at best.