Insider Says Jake Sanderson Already Belongs with NHL’s Elite

Jason Bukala on the FAN Hockey Show tossed out a question that stuck with me: How far down the list of top NHL defencemen do you go before you get to Jake Sanderson?

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Sanderson Already Ranks in the Second Tier

Bukala talked about Sanderson like someone who’s already in that second tier — not quite in the Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes stratosphere, but close enough that you stop and think. He’s right. If you watch Sanderson every night, you start to see the full picture: effortless skating, smart reads, calm puck touches, and the kind of defensive awareness you usually only get after 400 NHL games. He’s already doing it at 21.

The trouble for Sanderson? The Senators’ market. Ottawa just isn’t a place where a young defenceman turns into a league-wide talking point. If he were putting up these minutes and these results in New York or Toronto, every panel in the league would be tripping over itself to call him the next big thing.

Coaches and General Managers Have Come to Appreciate Sanderson

Bukala brought up this idea that coaches and GMs — the people who see players up close — always seem to have a deeper appreciation for guys like Sanderson. Pete DeBoer said the same thing about coaching Miro Heiskanen in Dallas: you can watch him on TV all you want, but until you see the small details shift after shift, you don’t really get it.

Bill Guerin said something similar about Joel Eriksson Ek. Fans know he’s good, but people who watch him every day know he’s on another level.

That’s kind of where Sanderson sits. You know he’s talented. He plays huge minutes. He’s steady. But when you really dial in and watch him closely, you start thinking that Sanderson has Norris-level tools. Bukala admitted he once said Sanderson would be in Norris’ conversations someday — and people laughed at him. They shouldn’t have.

Perhaps He Won’t Pass Makar or Hughes, But He’s Still Solid

Now, nobody’s saying he’ll pass Makar or Hughes. Those guys live on their own shelf. But that next group of players, like Moritz Seider, Hampus Lindholm, Zach Werenski, Charlie McAvoy, and Heiskanen, is where things get interesting. Sanderson fits in there. Maybe not ahead of all of them yet, but he’s in the mix, and he’s climbing.

If Ottawa ever steadies itself as a team, gets the goaltending sorted out, and if the lineup matures, Sanderson is going to be front and center. That’s when everyone else will finally catch up to what Sens fans already see: they’ve got a star on their hands. Not loud. Not flashy. But absolutely the real thing.

Related: Now, If Only Auston Matthews Would Say What Leafs Fans Need to Hear