Predator prospect profile: Jeff Foss

May 14, 8:03 AMNashville Predators ExaminerJim Diamond

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When the Nashville Predators selected defenseman Jeff Foss with their sixth pick (166th overall) in last June’s Entry Draft, Foss was not in Ottawa to hear his name called. He wasn’t even waiting anxiously by the phone to get the call telling him that he had been drafted. No, Foss was out on the lake at his family’s vacation home, without his cell phone.

“When I got back to the house, my mom told me that my phone had been going crazy,” Foss said. “When I checked the voicemail, it was (Predators scout) David Westby telling me that the Predators had taken me.”

The Predators selected the 6’2”, 200lb. Moorhead, Minnesota native after his freshman season at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. That year, he scored one goal and added three assists for the Engineers. In his recently completed sophomore campaign at RPI, Foss had two goals and nine assists.

“He’s rangy, has long arms, and a long stick that is a big benefit in the defensive coverage area,” RPI head coach Seth Appert said. “He plays a lot against the other team’s top-two lines, a lot on the penalty kill, and a little on the power play.”

Appert said that Foss works hard in the weight room and could envision him adding 10-15 pounds of muscle.

RPI struggled offensively this season, scoring just 76 goals in 39 games, finishing with a record of 10-27-2. It may not have been a pleasant experience for Foss, but that kind of experience could prove beneficial for the primarily stay at home defenseman.

“We were trapped in our own zone quite often, and that wears on the defensemen and goaltenders a lot,” Foss said.

“He’s worked hard at being that shutdown defenseman, it really is his chance to position himself to make it in the NHL,” Appert said. “I’m really looking forward to the day I get the call from him telling me that he is about to play in his first NHL game. As a coach, that is a great feeling.”

Predator’s chief amateur scout Jeff Kealty said the team had been following Foss for a couple of years before drafting him.

“He’s got good size, strength, defends his own zone well, and makes the first pass out of his own zone extremely well,” Kealty said.

Although college players do not play as many games as junior players do, Kealty likes the fact that Foss is playing against collegiate players who are older and more mature physically than junior players.  He expects Foss to remain at RPI for his last two years of collegiate eligibility. 

In addition to playing Division I collegiate hockey, Foss also has the not so small responsibility of being a mechanical engineering major at one of the country’s top-ranked engineering schools.

“My schedule is pretty much school and hockey,” Foss said. “It’s wake up, work out, go to class, practice, and then homework.”

He handles both athletics and academics pretty well, as he is on the Dean’s List and has been named to the ECAC’s All-Academic team in both his freshman and sophomore years.

“Not only is he an elite athlete, he is a mid-three GPA at a world-class university,” Appert said. “He’s the kind of young man that takes pride in all of the things he does.”

After being drafted by Nashville, Foss said he followed both the Predators and the Milwaukee Admirals closely this season.

He has studied Shea Weber’s game, and tries to model the All-Star defenseman’s defensive positioning and breakout passes from his own zone.

“I was bummed that the Predators did not make the playoffs this season, even though they were knocked out the last game of the season by my hometown team the Minnesota Wild,” Foss said.

While it is never a guarantee for a draft pick will make it to the NHL, Foss already possesses NHL size, a high hockey IQ, and strong work ethic. After two more years of collegiate hockey and possibly some seasoning with Milwaukee in the American Hockey League, Foss just may be manning the blue line for the Predators someday.