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Welcome to the Canucks Top 25 Under 25 Rankings, the series that makes you wish you were under 25 once again. The list includes all players born after January 1st, 1996. Five staff writers (Beggsy, Westy, CanucksAbbyFan2, Trevor Connors, Markus Meyer) and one former staff writer (Daniel Gee, Elite Prospects) cast votes for the project.
What a year it has been for Jacob Truscott.
Not only was he drafted in the fifth-round, 144th overall by the Vancouver Canucks, but he snags the last spot in our Top 25 Under 25 Rankings.
After being drafted by the Canucks in October, scouts were quick to point out that one of Truscott’s greatest strengths was his mobility. The Canucks have done well with drafting mobile defencemen from the United States, with Quinn Hughes and Jack Rathbone both being prime examples of that.
As a fifth-round pick, Truscott is certainly no lock, but he has some strong hockey influences in his life at the very least. Kris Draper was his coach for six years in Michigan’s Little Caesars Hockey Program.
Here’s what else the Elite Prospects Draft Guide is saying about Truscott:
Truscott uses great edge work and mobility to find great passing options and exits from his own end of the ice. One can take solace in the fact that Truscott is a technically skilled passer who can thread the needle in all three zones — even if he doesn’t leverage that often enough to be an impact player, proof of concept exists.
What’s Next for Truscott?
The young defender has followed in Hughes’ footsteps by joining the University of Michigan’s hockey program.
As of writing, Truscott is off to a pretty good start with one goal and two assists in three games, despite playing solely on Michigan’s third pair.
Some of that ability to thread the needle was shown with this assist here.
Luke Morgan's 18th career goal a back door goal with some sauce from Truscott pic.twitter.com/4GbwmrXPb8
— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 28, 2020
Shortly after his first career NCAA assist in that clip, he scored his first goal.
His first career goal - Jacob Truscott! pic.twitter.com/1ulNsCaaE6
— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 29, 2020
It will surely be a couple of years before Truscott makes his way to the Canucks organization. For now, he can keep working on rounding out his way at the University in Michigan, in hopes that he can climb the Canucks organizational depth chart, and the Top 25 Under 25 list, in 2021.