Bode Laylin is one of those players who immediately catches your attention whenever you turn on his tape. I have had a chance to see him quite a bit over the last two-plus seasons with the Tri-City Storm, and I think this is a great pick-up for the Gophers.

What I like most about Laylin is that he is always looking to do something with the puck. The 4-star recruit plays with immense confidence in transition and looks for opportunities to get involved offensively rather than staying fixed to the blue line. After producing 11 goals and 38 points for Tri-City last season, he was selected by the Calgary Flames in the sixth round of the 2026 NHL Draft. He will spend his final junior season with the Everett Silvertips before arriving at Minnesota in the fall of 2027.

At 6-foot and 185 pounds, Laylin is not going to overpower opponents physically, and that is fine because that is not his game. I really enjoy watching his skating, puck movement and offensive awareness. He is comfortable retrieving pucks in his own zone, getting his head up and finding the next option quickly. He prefers to exit the defensive zone with possession rather than chipping pucks off the glass, and he is willing to carry it through the neutral zone himself when he sees an opening.

I also like that he is willing to leave the blue line and work into better shooting areas. He is not a defenseman who generates everything from long range. When the defense collapses or gets pushed back off the rush, he fills the open space and gives his team a fourth attacking option. That aggressiveness is what makes him especially interesting at 5v5 to me, and I think he will be have a huge impact on Minnesota's power play.

The area I want to see him improve is his decision-making. Because he is willing to make plays with the puck, he has been prone to turnovers, and the improvement will come from recognizing when the extra move is necessary and when the simpler option is the right one. Becoming more selective will reduce the risk in his game without taking away the creativity that makes him so effective.

Defensively, I think his year with Everett is going to be important. He competes for pucks and is willing to engage, but his defensive success is going to come more from his skating and positioning than from winning battles through strength. The WHL will be a good test for him physically and give him more experience defending along the walls and around the net against players he hasn't gone up against yet. Adding strength will help, particularly when it comes to ending plays rather than just staying involved in them.

That all said, Minnesota is getting a defenseman with tremendous upside. What I see when I watch Laylin is a player who can retrieve pucks, make a clean first pass, carry through the neutral zone and become part of the offense once possession is established. If he can continue improving his defensive reads during his year with Everett, he should arrive as a defenseman capable of providing real offense from the blue line.