The Ottawa Senators’ new management is reportedly listening to offers for their seventh overall pick, says Sun Media’s Bruce Garrioch.
This news may come as a surprise in some ways, given the fiasco last time around. Pierre Dorion, fired as general manager in November 2023, gave up the seventh overall pick in 2022, the 39th, at the start of the second round, and a third-round pick in 2024 to obtain Alex DeBrincat in his desire to speed up the reconstruction process.
The idea of paying such a price for a 41-goal scorer the previous season aged just 24 is obviously not bad in itself. But there was a risk attached to this acquisition.
DeBrincat had only one year left on his contract. His rights would still belong to the Senators in July 2023, but by refusing to sign a long-term contract extension with the team that summer, Ottawa would lose him to the unrestricted free agent market a year later.
DeBrincat had a good offensive season, scoring 66 points, including 27 goals, in 82 games, and helped the Senators achieve a 23.5% power play success rate, for eighth in the NHL, an increase of five points and twelve places compared to the previous season, but he was not convinced to sign a long-term contract.
Dorion therefore decided to trade him to the Detroit Red Wings, whose amphitheater is located 26 minutes from the city where he grew up. Ottawa sold him at a discount, for a (end) first round pick in 2024 and fourth round.
Reality is already starting to hit, as the new administration is ready to repeat the experience: the Senators will draft 25th with the pick received from the Red Wings, that of the Boston Bruins acquired from Detroit for rental player Tyler Bertuzzi two years ago.
The Blackhawks drafted defenseman Kevin Korchinski seventh overall in 2022. Several quality players were still available, including another left-handed defenseman, Pavel Mintyukov, already a mainstay in Anaheim at just 20 years old.
Chicago opted for Paul Ludwinski at No. 39, a center who was promoted to the American League after his junior camp this spring, ahead of Matthew Poitras, Tristan Luneau and Lane Hutson, among others.
The difference between a seventh overall pick and a 25th is huge. Starting at 25th, the odds of getting your hands on a potential NHL player are around 20%. Imagine a star. There’s not that big of a difference, however, between the 25th overall pick and that lost 39th pick, a pick that’s barely talked about.
General manager Steve Staios will no doubt avoid repeating the same mistake. If he gives up his seventh pick, he will undoubtedly ensure that he gets one or more players in their mid-twenties or younger, like DeBrincat, but also, above all, under long-term contract.
But the Senators must firmly believe in the quality of their core to give up another high draft pick.
Their 2021 first round pick, 10th overall, Tyler Boucher, is struggling to produce in the American League. He is already 21 years old. He already wasn’t able to produce at a point-per-game pace in the junior ranks at 20 years old. Unless there is a surprising turnaround, we can give up on this young player affected not only by a lack of natural skills, but by serious injuries.
The Senators didn’t draft until late in the second round in 2022, at 64th overall. They didn’t have a pick until 108th, in the fourth round, in 2023, as they traded away their picks to get defenseman Jakob Chychrun, reportedly back on the trade market. They will also have to give up their first round choice in 2025 or 2026 for their poor management of the Dadonov file.
The Canadian had time to draft Juraj Slafkovsky, Filip Mesar, Owen Beck, Lane Hutson, David Reinbacher, Jacob Fowler and Florian Xhekaj before the Senators made their choices two years ago.
They will have to count on Tim Stützle, Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Josh Norris (if he returns to health), Shane Pinto, Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson and perhaps a top defenseman obtained with the seventh pick to lead them to the summit, because there will be no other replacement in the medium term.
Ottawa is at a crossroads, it must be said.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are willing to find a new niche for Patrik Laine without necessarily expecting to receive a big offer for his services, colleague Pierre Lebrun writes today. We understand opposing clubs not rushing into Laine, once a scorer of 40 or more goals at the start of his career.
Laine, 26, the second overall pick in 2016, missed the second half of the season due to mental health issues. He had just 9 points in 18 games, after flirting with points per game the previous two years. He still has two years left on his contract at an annual salary of 8.7 million. This could be an interesting risk for a club with sufficient wiggle room within its cap.
