A solid all-round two-way defender. Jake is very light on his feet, an athletic skater. He changes directions and cuts smoothly laterally with a sneaky fast top-end gear. He has a very calm demeanor and high panic threshold — he is willing to take a hit to move the puck. He has the ability to get to loose pucks quickly, but also processes the situation fast enough to pull the cord and recover position if he can’t get to it. He does a good job at keeping the play in front of him. He has good gap control: Puck carriers struggle to beat him wide because of his skating. He will play the body along walls and tie up his man in front, but isn’t a physically punishing hitter. He makes a good first pass and even connected on a few mid-to-long outlet passes. He is strong at one-touch passes. He plays the shooter role on the power play and can really rifle it. He went end-to-end successfully once this year but his game is not really as a true puck carrier. He is not expected to be a real point producer at the next level; rather, a strong solid all-round contributor. (May 2012)