Dillon Simpson - #17 in The Copper & Blue's Top 25 Under 25

by Derek Zona on Feb 4, 2012 11:30 AM MST in Prospects

The underlying storyline to the entire history of the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL has been "The Boys on the Bus". The men featured in that documentary dominated the ice for the first decade of Oilers history. After their playing careers were over, thee of them ended up behind the bench. Two of those coaches were in place for the better part of a decade and the other has been in charge of hockey operations at Rexall since 2000. Those men surrounded themselves with friends from their playing days, recreating that rambling boys on the bus atmosphere, an atmosphere that's permeated the Oilers for more than 20 of their 32 seasons.

In 2011, the Oilers drafted David Musil, son of Oilers' scout Frank Musil, in the second round (#31), and a few fans raised their eyebrows.

It was against that backdrop that a significant number of fans cried foul when the Oilers drafted Dillon Simpson in the fourth round (#92) in 2011. Simpson wasn't on many draft observers' radar and it looked like a reach. But Simpson is doing his damnedest to prove the critics wrong and show that he was drafted on merit, not the nepotistic policies of Edmonton management.

Simpson moved up four spots overall to #17, clear of the group of middling defensemen with murky futures ranked between #21-#27.

Rank	Player	DOB	Drafted	Year	Ben	Bruce	DB	Derek	Jon	Ryan	Scott
17	Dillon Simpson	02/10/93	92	2011	23	26	20	13	18	16	12

Previous Rank: 21

I thought for sure I would have Simpson ranked higher than anyone else on the panel, but I was wrong. Ben and Bruce both dropped Simpson one spot, and I moved him up one spot to #13. While Jonathan moved Simpson up seven spots, it was Scott who raised Simpson's ranking a stunning eleven spots all the way to #12, who checks in as our biggest optimist.

Bruce thinks Simpson needs a ton of work before he's ready:

Simpson is having a quiet season at UND with no sign of a significant surge in boxcars that many players experience in their sophomore year. After a surprise invite to Hockey Canada’s summer camp, he wasn’t invited back to December tryouts despite the unavailability of several top candidates. A solid draft-and-follow prospect, Dillon has some nice attributes, and time to work on shortcomings such as skating stride, because he’s years away yet.

And Scott thinks Simpson's season at North Dakota is anything but quiet:

Simpson still hasn't turned 19, and yet he's having a great season in the NCAA at the University of North Dakota, which is one of the nation's best programs in one of the nation's best Conferences. He has 13 points in 26 games and leads the team in +/- at +10. That kind of success in the NCAA at such a young age is very encouraging.

In my opinion, Simpson's season has been outstanding so far. After starting off slowly, Simpson has come on strong since November. According to North Dakota SID Jayson Hajdu, Simpson has 13 points in his last 18 games and is +11 over that span. Simpson leads the Fighting Sioux defense in plus-minus and is second in shots with 36.

Player	GP	+/-	S
Dillon Simpson	26	10	36
Nick Mattson	26	3	30
Andrew Panzarella	24	0	10
Andrew MacWilliam	26	-1	14
Dan Senkbeil	14	-3	11
Derek Forbort	19	-7	22
Joe Gleason	25	-7	16
Ben Blood	26	-11	65

Simpson has played a mixture of second and third-pairing minutes thus far in his sophomore season and began playing on the power play in mid-November.

UPDATE: My information was incorrect on Simpson's time on ice. I asked Jayson Hajdu, SID at North Dakota about Simpson's assignments and partners:

He had been on the top pairing with Ben Blood for a stretch. When Derek Forbort returned to the lineup last week they shuffled the pairings and Dillon went to the second pairing with Nick Mattson. Dillon and Mattson also currently anchor the first PP unit.

This news is extremely encouraging. Simpson has been successful against the toughs and is still playing seconds in the best conference in the NCAA as a sophomore. I don't know that there are many defensemen in the Oilers' pipeline capable of the same.

He's tracking well against the group of very young peers I mentioned in the summer update:

Player	GP	G	A	P	PM
Simpson	27	1	12	13	4
Finley	41	1	6	7	72
Commodore	39	5	8	13	154

Not only is he tracking well against his own teammates and his historical peers, he and the Islanders Robbie Russo are well clear of their draft peers:

Round	Pick	Team	Player	Team	League	GP	G	A	P
3	84	Phoenix	Harrison Ruopp	Prince Albert	WHL	42	2	4	6
3	87	Florida	Jonathan Racine	Shawinigan	QMJHL	49	3	6	9
3	89	San Jose	Justin Sefton	Sudbury	OHL	44	1	11	12
4	92	Edmonton	Dillon Simpson	North Dakota	NCAA	27	1	12	13
4	95	NY Islanders	Robbie Russo	Notre Dame	NCAA	29	3	10	13
4	97	Montreal	Josiah Didier	Denver	NCAA	25	0	2	2
4	98	Columbus	Mike Reilly	Minnesota	NCAA	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

The early returns on Simpson show that he's exceeded his draft-day expectations. He's got two more seasons to refine his game and prepare for the rigors of the pro game and he doesn't turn 19 for another six days.

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Comments

Wow, this one shocks the heck out of me. I really don’t think this kid has a shot (size, skating) , but I would love to be proved wrong.

by gcw_rocks on Feb 4, 2012 6:39 PM MST reply actions

You don’t play 1st and 2nd minutes at a program like UND before turning 19 without a significant amount of game.

Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.

by Derek Zona on Feb 5, 2012 1:25 AM MST up reply actions

That is encouraging. The devil is in the details, some of which are not readily available at this distance.

Oilers fan through thick, thin and anorexic. Writer for The Cult of Hockey.

by Bruce McCurdy on Feb 5, 2012 3:16 PM MST up reply actions

Talking to people are the UND program – they think very highly of Simpson. But looking for an even-keeled scouting report from them is like asking someone on Whyte about Eberle’s game

Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.

by Derek Zona on Feb 5, 2012 3:55 PM MST up reply actions

The biggest difficulty I have in evaluating prospects is having a chance to actually see them. I’ve seen most of these players at least a little, whether it’s been with OKC, at the World Juniors, or during the preseason. But I haven’t seen Simpson at all, so I’m left with just his numbers profile and scouting reports.

The numbers are good, and the scouting reports more mixed. Of the issues you’ve identified, I’m not concerned about size (UND has him listed at 6’2’’ and 191 lbs.), but the speed thing was mentioned by several people before he was drafted. And while I’m sure it’s a legitimate concern, I also wasn’t too surprised to hear that a 17-year-old was looking slow in the NCAA. Hopefully seeing that motivated (and motivates) him to get better. At any rate, it’s not something that has prevented him from having success so far.

The biggest fanana of the Havana Bananas.

by Scott Reynolds on Feb 5, 2012 9:43 AM MST up reply actions

February 24th – North Dakota at Denver on NBC Sports.

Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.

by Derek Zona on Feb 5, 2012 10:19 AM MST up reply actions

From In Lou We Trust: “A league team Spruce Grove (12 goals, 29 assists), Simpson is listed at 6’1” and 195 pounds. Over at his player page at the UND website, which contains some background about him, he’s 6’2" and 205 pounds. Finally, in his prospect card at NHL.com, which shows his Central Scouting Services midterm rank (115) and his final rank (157), Simpson is 6’0" and 192 pounds. I’m admittedly a little confused on how big he actually is; but at least he’s not particularly small."

Team Canada has him at 6’0.5" 192, so i think we can safely assume he weighs about 190-195 lbs, but who knows how friggin’ tall this kid is.

by gcw_rocks on Feb 5, 2012 5:00 PM MST up reply actions

Well, somewhere between 6’0’’ and 6’2’’ apparently, all of which seem good enough to me. I certainly wouldn’t be listing size as a strength, but none of those numbers scream concern either.

The biggest fanana of the Havana Bananas.

by Scott Reynolds on Feb 5, 2012 5:48 PM MST up reply actions

Scarily, 6’ dmen are quickly becoming to small to be effective.

by gcw_rocks on Feb 5, 2012 10:25 PM MST up reply actions

I don’t buy it. 56 defenders are listed at 6’0’’ or smaller and have played in at least 25 games so far this year; a bunch of them are very good (Doughty, Enstrom, Visnovsky, Goligoski, Subban, Karlsson, Kronwall, Letang).

The biggest fanana of the Havana Bananas.

by Scott Reynolds on Feb 5, 2012 11:27 PM MST up reply actions

Lol. Doughty is like Simpson. The various sources list his height anywhere from 6’ to 6’2". But Simpson is no Doughty. Not even close.

My view is littler guys tend to be very good at some element of the game that compensates for lack of size. Waiting for that to emerge for Simpson.

We’ll see.

by gcw_rocks on Feb 6, 2012 7:32 AM MST up reply actions

If you thought I was comparing Doughty to Simpson in any way other than size, you are mistaken. The point is that there are many players effective at that size, including some of the best in the game. As such, I reject the idea that “6’0’’ defensemen are quickly becoming too small to be effective.”

The biggest fanana of the Havana Bananas.

by Scott Reynolds on Feb 6, 2012 8:07 AM MST up reply actions

But Simpson is no Doughty. Not even close.

That’s a strange response to a height listing or effective defensemen who are 6’

Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.

by Derek Zona on Feb 6, 2012 10:06 AM MST up reply actions

Again, my point is that shorter defenceman tend to be superior at some element of the game. Doughty, Enstrom, visnovsky, Karlson and Letang are all superior puck movers. Kronwal is nasty. Haven’t seen enough of Subban and Goligoski to comment on them. Waiting to see what Simpson is special at, because if he’s just okay all around, I think he’ll get by-passed by someone bigger or possessing superior skill in a key area.

by gcw_rocks on Feb 15, 2012 12:18 PM MST up reply actions

Sub-6’: Ballard, Boullion, Boyle, Campbell, Daley, Enstrom, Goligoski, Liles, Robidas, Shattenkirk, Stralman, Timonen, Visnovsky, Voynov, Weaver, White, Zanon, Zidlicky

6’ – Beauchemin, Carle, Del Zotto, Doughty, Giordano, Gleason, Faulk, Jackman, Karlsson, Kronwall, Larsen, Leddy, Letang, Niskanen, Orlov, Sekera, Subban, Widemanm, Wisniewski

6’1" – Elliott, Fowler, Gardiner, Gilroy, Girardi, Green, Hamhuis, Hannan, Keith, Kulikov, Lidstrom, Lydman, Martin, McDonagh, Polak. Schultz, Scuderi, Seidenberg, Smith, Suter, Vlasic, Yandle, Wilson

It would be damn easy to win a cup with a cross section of those listed above.

Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.

by Derek Zona on Feb 5, 2012 11:38 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs

I'm a Sioux fan, so I see him a lot (and am also a bit biased of course)

but I think he has a chance to be really good. He played some PP quarterback on the best team in the country last year as a 17 year old (not a lot, but that he did at all is pretty incredible I think), and has done well against top forwards as an 18 year old this year. His skating definitely needs some work and he hasn’t taken a huge leap forward but he’s been about as good as I’d expect him to be this year and he’ll probably be the best defenseman each of the next two years, and we’ll have multiple NHL 1st rounders on those teams.

I write everywhere. You're probably better off following me on twitter

by fetch9 on Feb 5, 2012 10:44 AM MST reply actions 1 recs

Reading through the play-by-plays, I notice that he seems to block his fair share of shots – is he the best on the team at this?

Also, could you describe his style a bit?

Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.

by Derek Zona on Feb 5, 2012 12:25 PM MST up reply actions

I'm not sure on the totals this year

but Ben Blood is probably the best shot blocker overall. He probably doesn’t have as many this year because he has to carry a lot more of the offensive load this year but Simpson is probably right there at maybe 2nd or 3rd best behind Blood and Andrew MacWilliam.

Style wise I think he can be a pretty well rounded guy. He passes the puck a lot better this year and is a really smart player so even with some suspect skating at times he can still cut guys off by knowing all the angles. Like I said below he definitely has to work on his skating a bit but I don’t think he has to be an even above average skater for him to be a good pro.

I write everywhere. You're probably better off following me on twitter

by fetch9 on Feb 5, 2012 7:12 PM MST up reply actions

Can you be more specific on the skating? Speed, acceleration, turns?

by gcw_rocks on Feb 5, 2012 4:54 PM MST up reply actions

I'd say mostly acceleration is his weak point

his speed is pretty good once he gets going and while he’s definitely not great in terms of turning or shifting side to side type stuff I think it’s a bit underrated so it should improve as he gets older.

I write everywhere. You're probably better off following me on twitter

by fetch9 on Feb 5, 2012 7:04 PM MST up reply actions

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