It became apparent to me right away how often he plays in constant motion. If you add his shorter back crossovers and his ability to accelerate and read skating pathways, it makes him a dangerous defensive prospect while protecting his blueline. I watched him step up on players a number of times to end plays physically. There is a lot of physicality to his game. I found he chased players and angled them off in straight lines while making sweeping motions to attack the stick and separate the puck. He can apply that pressure and then immediately shift his weight to regain proper positioning defensively. I found his outlet passes to be patient, well timed, and hit players in motion. He makes those passes by solving the pressure in front of him and exiting the outlets with crisp motions. I did see him throw away a couple of passes up the middle but it isn’t something I was overly concerned with. He is a very powerful defensive player who showed high intelligence and a sneaky little accurate wrist shot. Jackson will be a fairly high pick I’d imagine.

Projectable Skills - Physical, Skating stride, Aggressive, Transition play, Shot
Development Opportunities - Defensive reads and detail, Mature the aggression. Puck decisions.

Jackson is quite easily the most physically developed player available in the 2022 WHL Draft. His strides are long, powerful, explosive from a standstill, and he has the reaction time and shiftiness in his inside edges to see the pressure coming and adapt with quick shifts in transition and dragging the puck laterally to his full reach. His playing style is aggressive in every sense of the meaning. If you are coming into his zone with your head down or with a predictable pathway, he will step up and hit you a high percentage of the time. He looks to separate players as they enter his blueline and force them to adjust laterally or dump in the puck early. Jackson has a heavy slapshot, heavy wrist shot, loves to transition the puck by himself when he can, but can play a give and go style where he’s feeding the wing and pushing through the middle. He uses those same evasion tactics in the neutral zone as he uses on retrievals and outlets. The good part is he keeps his posture open and his head up but sometimes by not turning away from the play he leaves himself open to stick pokes and turnovers. It is the aggressive style which can win you games or leave you out of position at times. He has all the individual elements you are looking for in a high-end defenseman but will need to mature a bit of his aggression and just work on some of his positioning in the defensive zone. Jackson projects as a number one defenseman who plays in all situations.

I thought Smith was the most consistent defender for Canada Red in this matchup. He plays with the “take care of your own end first” approach and it showed with the sheer amount of takeaways he had or passes he disrupted. Smith did a great job of angling Czech forecheckers down the half wall and taking away passing lanes. He was always taking care of his goal, keeping his stick moving while down on one knee taking away cross ice pass attempts. He more often than not, tried to carry the puck out himself which got him into trouble turning it over for the Czech empty netter.

He was the active and steady presence that they needed today. Sometimes Jackson can get a little creative and reckless with his decisions but he was sound and dialed in with strong outlets, moving pucks through the middle and keeping his feet moving all over the ice. Even when guys stepped up on him with a hit, he didn’t lose his cool to find a big hit in retaliation. I was very impressed how he broke up plays with an active stick early, squashed some shot attempts, and used his one-timer from the point.

Jackson Smith was hands down the most impressive player in this game. I was in awe of his sheer confidence even to attempt, let alone execute some plays. Jackson was hyper-aggressive in his decision-making in almost every situation, which paid off in nearly every sequence. Every retrieval situation ended with a clean pull off the boards, Jackson lifting his head, scanning his options, and correctly identifying the path to a controlled exit. On more than a handful of those exits, Jackson opted to carry the puck himself from his defensive third into Nova Scotia’s end. Off those opportunities, Smith could spot the gaps in the defence to push a pass to a teammate or drive a lane himself. On the defensive side of the puck, Jackson smothered Team Nova Scotia’s forwards. Most notably, at the offensive blueline, Smith would jump every exit pass or pressure the recipient to force plenty of turnovers. While it all worked against Team Nova Scotia, I could see his play style getting him into trouble against a more challenging opponent. I’ll like to see how his processing and decision-making change when he’s up against a high-quality team like Ontario, where he won’t be as free to roam all over the ice without consequence. I don’t want to sound like I doubt his abilities; I just think he may need to pick and choose his moments to activate.

Typically playing defense, Jackson Smith was playing up on forward this game and did an amazing job. His size and skill were so profound, dangling through weaker defenders with finesse whilst fighting off checks and shielding the puck with his size. He had a moment where he did a curl and drag move around a defender that also transitioned into a shooting opportunity. I believe Smith was back and forth on defense/forward this game, as there were a few occasions where on the breakout he used his soft hands to evade forecheckers and leave them in his rear-view mirror after accelerating away with his long and powerful stride. Smith was selected second overall in the 2022 WHL Draft by the Tri-City Americans.

For me, the play of Edge begins and thrives from the size and mobility of their defensemen. We start with Jackson Smith, a true top-tier defenseman and potentially the best one available in this year’s draft. Right away, he showed his capabilities to close gaps and stifle zone entries, step up on players physically, and use his long reach to swipe and separate players from the puck early. He has all the tools in the defensive zone to be very hard to play against. I feel like as he matures his game, he will adjust his level of aggressiveness as his situational reads improve. He’s already very good at it but might just be a little too aggressive in spots for my taste. It’s a very small criticism and an easy adjustment. Others might love how aggressive he is at this age. He keeps his feet moving, can join or lead the rushes, and understands how to open up space for outlet passes in the middle of the ice. Add on a huge slapshot and some programs will be drooling over the chance to draft him.