Jake Furlong is a smooth-skating, puck-rushing defenseman who is offensively-minded and more than comfortable with the puck on his stick in all three zones. He consistently initiates controlled zone exits through his accurate passing or his excellent skating and use of linear crossovers to gain speed and drive through the neutral zone in puck transport. He can access space and create a speed differential to gain the offensive blue line and attack defenders. In the offensive zone he’s really effective. He displays confidence and makes bold decisions like coming down the wall to challenge for pucks and keep possessions alive. He can crank up the pressure by shrinking the zone and drifting up to and beyond the tops of the circles. Furlong’s mobility and offensive instinct lets him navigate into dangerous areas, jump into open ice and with little effort return to a defensive posture as needed. Defensively, he takes good routes to pucks, surveys the ice well, and relies once again on his skating to control the interior of the ice and manage his gap. He’s not the most physical defender but is still willing to bump and bang along the boards. He has excellent stick placement to get onto pucks, close off passing lanes, and disrupt opponents. There are some concerns, such as his backward-to-forward pivots against speedy attackers or his occasional shaky decision-making. For as good as he is at creating offense through passing, he will sometimes get tunnel-vision and let the puck go whether the opportunity exists or not. Overall, he has an interesting package that could turn into something quite special. If he is able to leverage those talents, Furlong has the potential to develop into a top-four candidate at the NHL level.

– FCHockey’s 2022 NHL Draft Guide