Pairing analysis: Jack Rathbone and Jett Woo AHL debut as a pairing
Jack Rathbone's progression has been impressive since being drafted in the 4th round by the Canucks in 2017. After a dominant campaign in Harvard last season, Rathbone made his professional debut last weekend playing alongside Canucks' prospect Jet Woo on Utica Comets' top pairing. Rathbone and Woo are among Canucks' top defensemen prospects and are both looking more and more like potential NHL'er according to Byron Bader's model Hockey Prospecting:
The pairing looked great all weekend, helping Utica with a 7-2 win against Rochester and a 4-2 one versus Syracuse. Rathbone and Woo's style of play complements each other well. Rathbone is a great skater looking to create offense and Woo is a smart, physical defensive presence. But additionally, both can contribute to the strength of the other: Rathbone can defend the rush well and Woo can also step in a on the offensive side, so the pairing was able to play efficient all-around hockey. I looked at the clips in their first game to see what makes them a good pairing. They were able to dominate the play by connecting these three elements: Great gap control on rush-against, forcing dump in --> good breakout retrievals with net-front D activating --> Creative play in the offensive zone.
Video room
Rathbone is #3, Woo is #22, plus we can see Mitch Reinke (#52) in a few clips because he made some presence with Rathbone in the third period after special units.
1- Gap control: rush against
When Rochester retrieved the puck in own end, Rathbone and Woo did a great job closing space immediately. D2 surfed on the Rochester forward who was leaving the zone early, D1 (puck side D) retrieved inside dots and kept a strong gap with the puck carrier, and F3 was reloading to protect the middle:
Here's a textbook example:
2- Breakout puck retrieval
Very similar to what Krug & Faulk are doing in St-Louis. Get the puck to the forwards, then weak side activation from the net-front D (D2). They also made some direct plays together:
3- Creative OZ activation
We saw both of them being active in many ways. Rathbone is a great skater & confidant handler in the offensive zone and Woo made some great reads as well:
Conclusion
Rathbone is having a promising AHL start with four points in two games. It's still only two games, but Rathbone and Woo are progressing well and looking like a strong top pairing for the Comets. With the Canucks looking to improve their defensive core in the next few years, it could be huge for them if Rathbone and Woo can become NHL contributors.
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