Red Wings 2024 draft pick John Whipple is taking part in the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, MI this week, and the 144th overall pick in June’s NHL Draft spoke with Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff about his transformation from a point-scoring defenseman to a heavy-hitter with strong puck skills:
Toiling for USA Hockey at the World Junior Summer Showcase in Plymouth, Michigan, Whipple, 18, is doing his best to step up and step into opposing players.
“It’s great to be out here getting the chance to compete against the best of the best,” Whipple said.
Talk to some of his teammates, and they’ll terrifying stories of Whipple dismantling opponents with his physical presence.
“Seeing him in games, he’ll crush people,” said fellow Red Wings draftee Austin Baker. He was Whipple’s teammate last season on the USNTDP U18 squad. “I definitely wouldn’t want to go against him on the other team.”
Whipple finds the scouting reports about from his teammates describing as some sort of Tasmanian Devil on skates to be mildly amusing.
“I don’t know if I’m as scary as they say I am,” the 6-foot-1, 194-pound rearguard assessed.
Duff’s profile continues; again, Whipple’s something of an unknown quantity to those who have to look at a stat sheet to describe him, because his offense falls off precipitously as he transfers from Shattuck St. Mary’s preparatory academy to the U.S. NTDP’s Under-17 and Under-18 program, as do his penalty minutes…
So it’s kind of hard to say what kind of defenseman he’s becoming unless you’ve seen him step up and land checks on opposing players, which you only really see at a country-vs.-country tournament like the WJSS.
Fans will be able to follow Whipple in an environment where he can throw devastating checks as he heads to the University of Minnesota this fall.
