Ottawa Senators' Top 25 Under 25: Roundtable and Ballots Revealed

At long last, we've reached the end of our Ottawa Senators' Top 25 Under 25 feature. With Tim Stützle crowned as the two-time champion, it is time to reveal our ballots. While we were mostly in agreement, the staff are not a monolith: Shane Pinto at #4 was the only unanimous choice for his position in the rankings. Feel free to yell (nicely) at everyone you disagree with in the comments below.

Note that any player given a 26 means they were ranked outside the top 25 by the staff.

To cap things off, the staff got together to answer a few questions:

Looking at the group as a whole, how do you feel about where the Sens stand from an organizational depth perspective? Is this group good enough to build around for the future?

Trevor: I like their high-end talent on the NHL roster, but beyond that it's quite thin. The Sens have a decent amount of moderately interesting prospects, but most project to be role players at best. If someone like Carter Yakemchuk can become a top-4 defenseman down the line, and another winger can emerge as a top-6 or top-9 player, then I'll feel more confident about their ability to have more sustained success. It wouldn't hurt if Leevi Merilainen or Mads Sogaard turned into NHLers too since you can never have too many good goalies.

Ary: With the addition of Yakemchuk, the group now has solid depth on defence. There's a few intriguing players (Andonovski, Donovan, Hamara, Stanley, Eliasson) who are showcasing enough at this stage of their development such that at least one should blossom into a second-pair talent. Goaltending is still a shot in the dark, but Søgaard, Meriläinen, and Reidler are an interesting trio, and I'd imagine they'll draft another goaltender with a 2025 pick.

The team could use a few more pieces at forward, though. With Norris and Batherson "graduating" and Tkachuk no longer eligible next season, there's a lack of young talent with a top-six profile outside of Shane Pinto and Ridly Greig. The skilled players remaining – Ostapchuk, Halliday, Bourgault – look more like top-nine talents at this stage, which puts a lot of pressure on the 2024 trio of Ellinas, Moore, and Montgomery to develop into impact players.

To me, missing first-round selections in 2022 and 2023 (and needing to make a better one in 2021) means that there's still plenty of work for the scouting staff to do in 2025, and I hope Staios doesn't sacrifice this draft class to chase short-term success – even if the team is playing well.

Ross: For the future? No. This Sens roster is built for the present, which is why it's concerning that they haven't had in-season success yet. This is the first time I've experienced not knowing where anyone was going to fall in the 15–25 range when I sat down to do my rankings. One of Staios' jobs is to restock the cupboards, because after Yakemchuk, there are some long-term projects, some lottery tickets, and some low-ceiling guys. The best talent on this list is almost all already in the NHL. 

Beata: They're not in as good shape as I'd like them to be, but their situation is also not completely unexpected given where they're at in their rebuild. Yakemchuk is the only name that really stands out to me, aside from maybe the goaltenders. It would be nice if they hadn't traded away so many draft picks these last few years.

Owen: Pragmatically? No, I don't think this is a prospect pool you could bank on for success in the NHL. On a personal level I really like a lot of the players in the system (I have invested countless hours documenting this group and I selfishly want to see them prove me right) but objectively I don't know that there are any NHL all-stars waiting in the wings here. Many can have NHL careers ahead but the Sens will ultimately need to solicit some outside talent especially to score goals.

Nada: The Sens sacrificed a lot of potential depth recently in hopes of becoming a win now franchise by trading away the aforementioned draft picks. There are many voids to fill in the prospect pool, but at the same time I also don't think the Sens are in a totally terrible state as of now; especially if a player like Carter Yakemchuk exceeds expectations. For instance, I also have good feelings about Sogaard and Hamara being solid players in the future for the Sens in the not-too-distant future. Some of these lesser lights will turn out. That said, Staois will have a lot of work in the 2025 draft and beyond to get another star prospect or two.

Shaan: Ottawa's prospect pool suffers from a lack of depth on the right wing, along with having no players with that are likely to step into the top six anytime soon. Halliday's their best forward prospect outside the NHL to my eye, and even he projects more as a third-liner at this point. That said, it's not like we have to worry about replacing Stützle, Tkachuk, Pinto, Batherson, Greig anytime soon, so the need for high-end talent isn't *that* huge. There's always a chance of Norris returning to form, too. 

nkb: Like my colleagues, I'm not thrilled about the lack of players with high-end potential beyond Yakemchuk. At the same time, the need to find a diamond in the rough becomes a lot less pronounced if Stützle makes the leap to a top 5 C, and if Pinto and Greig continue their progress into valuable top 6 contributors. In theory the NHL team should be well-positioned to achieve success through its young-ish core for the next five years or so. That should be plenty of time to rebuild the prospect pipeline.

Who do you think has the biggest potential to make a big jump up the rankings next year? 

Trevor: Javon Moore rang up 53 points in 28 High School games last year, and David St-Louis of Elite Prospects actually had him as the Senators second best prospect despite being taken in the 4th round a few months ago. He has some intriguing stats under the hood and I like his profile.

Ary: Relative to my peers, it looks like I ranked Ostapchuk (7th instead of 11th), Bourgault (11th instead of 17th), and Stanley (15th instead of unranked) higher - signifying a belief I have in their potential.

This is a big season for Oskar Pettersson and Philippe Daoust at the AHL level. Pettersson should be adjusted to the NHL ice surface by now, and the team could use a winger with his skillset; meanwhile, Daoust has been injured for much of the last two seasons, but looked stellar in a Memorial Cup run when he was in the Q and plays a reliable, smart game that could see him carve out an NHL role.
Outside pro hockey, it'll be interesting to watch how Blake Montgomery transitions to the NCAA and how Javon Moore and Gabriel Eliasson play in the USHL. Big seasons from any of these three could lead to them shooting up the list. Finally, in the CHL, Lucas Ellinas looks prime for a big year in Kitchener.

Ross: I see Stephen Halliday as the most likely candidate here. If he has a great year in the AHL, he'll probably be occupying a top-five spot next year. The other option is Maxence Guénette, who looks to get a real chance to be the third-pairing D on opening night. If he plays 50 NHL games, he'll jump 7 or 8 spots.

Beata: I tend to rank proven NHL'ers higher than some in these exercises, so any prospect who lands an NHL spot this season could move up a lot. I'm going to agree with Ross that Maxence Guénette has a good chance of moving up the rankings if he stays in the NHL for a significant amount of time.

Owen: Tyler Boucher by virtue of missing the list all together. He needs a healthy season more than anyone. I don't know that it will happen but it makes for an obvious narrative. I also have my eye on Hoyt Stanley, Theo Wallberg, and Vladimir Nikitin as players who could surprise this year.

Nada: I know he's already quite high in the rankings but I expect Tyler Kleven to make some big noise next year. Some other potential names included the previously mentioned Guenette making more of his NHL chances this season. I might be one of the few fans who is a huge fan of Anton Forsberg at this point and while I'd love to see him play a full healthy season or even remain on the roster, the chances of either aren't great. This is where I see someone like Mads Sogaard shining – especially behind a proven goalie like Linus Ullmark.

Shaan: I didn't have him in my Top 25, but if recent 4th-rounder Lucas Ellinas can build off his strong playoffs for Kitchener and put together a point-per-game campaign, he could jump into the Top 20 next year. He's one of Mitch Brown's breakout candidates, too. As for players that were ranked this season, I'll predict Guenette makes the biggest jump off a full NHL season.

nkb: Although I'm not totally convinced yet of his long-term potential in the NHL, Yakemchuk seems like exactly the kind of guy who will absolutely torch junior hockey. Big, physical, skilled, over-agers tend to crush the CHL, and Yakemchuk's got a lot to prove. He's going to put up a lotttttt of points this season and we might be talking top 5 in our rankings next year.

With Brady Tkachuk set to graduate, Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson are virtually guaranteed to be 1-2 in some order next year. Who do you think will be #3?

Trevor: Yakemchuk could get there eventually, but it'd be tough for him to make that jump while in the WHL. I'm feeling a big season from Shane Pinto and he'll end up number 3.

Ary: With Shane Pinto being the most likely, for me the other candidates are Greig, Kleven, Yakemchuk, Søgaard, or Halliday. If Greig manages to outscore Pinto, that could give me room to rank him ahead, given that I value the additional physicality, PK role, and playmaking ability that Greig has that Pinto does not. If Kleven somehow announces himself as a regular NHL D who can put up 30+ points, I could see him yoinking the 3 spot from me, too.

The last three are harder, in that Yakemchuk has already done everything he needs to do at the WHL level. I guess if he breaks a scoring record and by all accounts, cleans up his defensive game, I can see the completeness of that package leading me to consider ranking him ahead of bonafide NHLers. For Søgaard and Halliday, they'd need to be AHL leaders at the goaltending or forward position to have a chance.

Ross: Vladimir Nikitin. More seriously, it's Pinto's spot to lose. Yakemchuk might be the only guy with the talent to usurp him, but unless he makes the NHL out of training camp, I don't think he'll have the opportunity to show enough to take the spot from Pinto.

Beata: Pinto is the boring answer since he was 4th this year, but I think it'll be him.

Owen: Greig will keep it interesting and a lot of fans with vote for him because he adds so much entertainment value. Still, Pinto seems like the obvious choice and it just feels like this season the rest of the league will finally see what we've talked about in Ottawa for the past five years with Shane.

Nada: Shane Pinto is the obvious answer for many reasons, couple those blue eyes (What? They're dreamy!) with his expected solid on-ice performance will continued to win him many fans. 

Shaan: I can't imagine it'll be anyone other than Shane Pinto. I'd give him a 90% chance with Greig and Yakemchuk rounding out the Top 5.

nkb: Pinto's gotta be the odds-on favourite here, but I'm feeling a big season for Greig, who I think might sneakily find himself playing major minutes as a winger on one of the first two lines. So he has my longshot pick.