Ottawa Senators 2016 NHL Entry Draft Summary
Your easy guide to all the Sens’ 2016 draft picks
The NHL Entry Draft has come and gone, and though there were many trades, none were as high-profile as rumoured (*cough cough* P.K. Subban) and the only one involving the Senators didn’t involve a single roster player for either team. Still, the Sens managed to acquire some young, promising talent. Here’s the quick rundown of all the picks the Sens acquired:
1st Round, 11th overall: Logan Brown, C (Windsor Spitfires, OHL)
The Sens moved up one spot to make sure the 67s’ head coach’s son ended up with the team. As Trevor pointed out, he’s tall, at 6’6", and he’s seen as a very skilled playmaker. The tall-plus-skilled angle leads to Joe Thornton comparisons, which would be an excellent ceiling to reach. The scouting staff thought it was worth moving up a spot to guarantee picking him, and they’ve done pretty well in recent history, so I’m cautiously hopeful.
2nd Round, 42nd overall: Jonathan Dahlén, C/LW (Timrå IK, Allsvenskan)
Like 94.7% of this draft class*, Dahlén is the son of an NHL player, Ulf Dahlén. The Dahlen the Sens drafted is described as offensively gifted, two-way, and a great skater, as relayed by Callum. You can never go wrong with too many Swedes, right?
*numbers may not have been calculated correctly
4th Round, 103rd overall: Todd Burgess, C/RW (Fairbanks Ice Dogs, NAHL)
Since the Sens lost their third-rounder in the Logan Brown deal, this was the team’s third pick of the day. He’s an interesting pick, as Michaela told us, since he’s already 20 years old and so in his third draft-eligible year. His increase in point totals from 36 last season to 95 this year suggests that he may be a late-bloomer, or he may just have finally physically matured. Though older players are a gamble, Zack Smith has shown that they can definitely pay off.
5th Round, 133rd overall: Maxime Lajoie, D (Swift Current Broncos, WHL)
Swift Current may have had a disappoint season, but as Callum tells us, Lajoie was one of the bright spots. He was the offensive leader on the Swift Current blue-line, and was the second-highest scoring defenceman in the WHL in his rookie year, behind on Flyers’ first-rounder Ivan Provorov.
6th Round, 163rd overall: Markus Nurmi, RW/LW (TPS, Jr. A SM-liiga)
Having already continued the theme of drafting players from NHL bloodlines, the Sens decided to do their part by drafting a Finnish player as well. As much as we mock the Sens for not drafting Russian players, the Sens haven’t drafted a player from Finland since Janne Kohlemainen in the fourth round of the 2005 entry draft. It’s hard to project late-round picks ever, but Callum points out that he’s shown promise in playing responsibly and winning puck battles, and with some added muscle he could turn into a force.
So that does it for the Sens’ picks from this weekend’s draft. You can find the entire list of picks for every team here. Stay tuned in the coming days as trades potentially come, and then free agency begins.