Although without any background in organized junior hockey, Jack Darragh was a good skater and had speed to burn to go along with much grit and determination, playing a fast and strong game on the forward line. He was renowned for his backhand, which he would shoot between the opposing goaltender and the post, and his clever stick-handling ability. While considered a clean and gentlemanly player, Darragh still carried a fair amount of pluck to his game, and during the 1913–14 NHA season he led the Ottawa Senators with 69 penalty minutes. A right winger position wise, Darragh had good chemistry on the Ottawa Senators forward line with centre forward Frank Nighbor, and the two players developed a system of team play between each other over the years that carried the Senators to many victories. At the onset of his hockey career, up until 1911, Darragh played as a rover, the more free-roaming position between defence and the forward line, but when the NHA abandoned the seven-man game prior to the 1911–12 season and the rover was taken out of the game, he switched to right wing instead. He also occasionally played on the left wing.
