The 28-year-old has committed to returning to Dundee for two more years after spending a pair of seasons as a Star between 2018 and 2020.
Previously during his time on Tayside, Drydn played in 122 games for the club, recording a total of 86 points and was one of the alternate captains during the 2019-2020 campaign.
The Canadian also won the 2019-2020 award for Most Goals by a Defenseman (14) and was selected in the EIHL All-Star Second Team that same year.
However, after the COVID-19 Pandemic curtailed the 2019-2020 EIHL season and cancelled the following one, the Calgary, Alberta native had to find a new team, if he wanted to play hockey last season.
Therefore, after a brief spell with East Coast Hockey League side, Wheeling Nailers, Dow signed on with HK Spisska Nova Ves in the Slovakian second league in December 2020 and would help them to win the playoff championship and promotion to Slovakia’s top league.
In 21 league games, Dow scored twice and setup 10 more goals, before adding four more points (1G, 3A) in 15 playoff matches.
Discussing his first signing for the 2021-2022 season, a delighted Pacha said: “I am really excited to get Drydn signed up again.
“He was one of my top targets this summer, and even going back to last year but because of the pandemic we never closed the deal.
“So, we always had interest in bringing him back, but last year he wanted to maybe try a new league abroad because there was so much uncertainty here, so I was giving him a lot of time.
“I think at one point, we were both ready for him to re-sign but then with what was happening with the league, I felt it was best to try and help find him a job in another league once we knew that our season would not go ahead.
“So, Drydn has always been in my plans for the long-term and we kept in touch through last season and he voiced his opinion about coming back and obviously I was very keen to get him back again.”
Pacha then shared his evaluation of Drydn’s year away from the club, as he iced in both North America and Europe.
He said “I think he got a bit unlucky in the ECHL, for me he should have been an impact player in that league but unfortunately he got squeezed out because maybe there were too many guys coming down from the American Hockey League.
“So, for me, I thought he was going to have a bigger impact in that league and then with the market in Europe being so condensed and hard, he ended up in Slovakia’s second league.
“However, it was no surprise that he did really well there and they won a championship, so I am really happy for him.”
Then Pacha continued with a reminder of what Dow brings to the team, adding: “He brings everything!
“He has the offensive ability to change games, he is able to read the play very well and he has improved defensively as well.
“He has been arguably our best player for the last two years, he just brings his top game every night and the great thing about him that I really like, is his consistency.
“From the last two years, you would only need one hand to count how many bad games he has had and we are talking about over 100 games, so that just shows how consistent he is.
“I think he is one of the best defensemen in the league and he just logs so many minutes, which makes him such a great asset for our team and I think that this is major step forward in our recruitment.
“Although, it is a weird year for recruitment with COVID but with Drydn in first, we have a really solid start and to get our MVP from last year back is a major plus.”
The five-foot-nine-inch blueliner came to Scotland fresh from the Canadian university league, USports, where he had played on the University of Calgary Dinos team for five years.
During his college career, Dow was selected in the CIS (the former name of the USports league), All-Rookie Team and in the CIS (West Division) All-Rookie Team in his freshman year.
He was also nominated in the 2016-2017 season for the USports (West) Outstanding Student-Athlete award.
Drydn is also a former Western Hockey League player, as he spent four years playing in the Canadian junior leagues with, Tri-City Americans.
Drydn is the first name on this year’s roster and season ticket details for the new season will be made available soon.
To view Drydn’s career stats on Elite Prospects click HERE.
Season tickets will be relaunched for sale from Monday 1st June 2021, you can renew and buy yours by emailing [email protected]
All season tickets will be ready for collection or delivery on or around 1st September 2021!
