Jackson Dorrington is a two-way defender who has the tools to impact the game in multiple ways. He uses his size and strength to play with an active stick and he brings a physical edge to the way he defends. One of his best attributes is his ability to defend on the rush. His footwork allows him to pivot well to both sides and maintain solid gap control when defending one-on-one situations. Once in the defensive zone, he maintains that physical edge. He consistently finds himself in the correct position, and when he needs to get involved in 50/50 puck battles he’s more than capable of holding his own. Offensively he’s a bit limited, but he has shown that he is comfortable being a puck-carrier when the opportunity presents and has the playmaking ability to make quality passes on a regular basis. He won’t ever run a power play unit, but if he gets time and space with the puck on his stick he can make quality plays that lead to offensive chances for his team. He doesn’t have elite speed or agility, which might make it difficult for him to keep up with the better players he will be playing against as he progresses through the hockey ranks. He will need to work at improving his foot-speed and lateral movement in order to improve his overall mobility and allow him to keep up speedier players coming down on him off the rush. There are enough positives in his game to warrant using a late-round pick on him and he did improve on some of his deficiencies as the season progressed, which should be promising to NHL scouts as he’s identified the areas he needs improvement in. If everything goes well for him, he can comfortably play a seventh defenseman role, maybe even a regular third-pairing situation at the NHL level.

– FCHockey’s 2022 NHL Draft Guide