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Mike's Mailbag: Draft Picks, Moving Up, Trade Proposals, and More!

September 22, 2020, 11:27 PM ET [59 Comments]
Michael Stuart
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Thanks to everyone who took the time to submit questions to Mike’s Mailbag! We have lots of great draft coverage to get to today, among a few other topics as well. Here is my first set of responses to your questions:

Paul asks: If Drysdale and Sanderson are on the board at 5, which they should be, do you foresee the Sens taking either, or do they go in another direction? This assumes that they take either Stutzle or Byfield at 3.

The organization has done a really good job of keeping things quiet as far as what they’re looking to do in that number five spot, but the reports I’ve seen are coalescing around Drysdale, Sanderson, Raymond, and Perfetti in no particular order. My “guess” here isn’t really a guess, but rather what I would do if I were in Pierre Dorion’s shoes. To me, the obvious play is to take a forward like Raymond. There is a lot of forward depth in the Sens’ system, but not a ton of surefire high-end talent. Adding a Stutzle/Byfield plus Raymond immediately injects that kind of skill. When you consider that the team already has Thomas Chabot playing in the NHL, and has picked up promising defence prospects like JBD and Lassi Thomson in the last few years, the need to take a defender at five feels less pronounced.

Maxime asks: What would you do with the 28th overall pick? Trade it for a prospect/player, or package the pick and move up?

New York’s success was a real downer in these playoffs, as it just forced that pick lower and lower. What once looked like it could be a mid-teens selection for Ottawa is now a late first rounder; the odds of finding success with that pick are a lot lower than they otherwise might have been. Frequent readers will know that I was previously staunchly in favor of keeping the pick and making a selection with it, but I’m a little bit less firm on that position now that it sits at 28. Moving up still doesn’t make sense to me, unless there’s a can’t-miss player who falls, but trading it for some closer-to-NHL-ready help might make sense. Maybe it's time to reach out to Edmonton on Jesse Puljujarvi.

With that being said, one thing I’d caution the Senators against is trading the pick for help in goal. These playoffs have shown that it doesn’t take a big name to win big games. Tossing a valuable first-round pick away for goaltending help, especially at this point in Ottawa’s competitive lifecycle, just doesn’t make sense. All the New York pick for Matt Murray talk has me a little bit concerned.

Mike asks: Looking at the large volume of picks and prospects the Sens have, why not trade for an impact player? I understand you want to continue rebuilding, but there are lots of players on the trading block that could improve the team for the present and future.


This could definitely make some sense in the right spot. The luxury of having so much draft capital, as you point out, is being able to use it in different ways. The Senators are going to make a lot of picks in this draft, but they also have the opportunity to create attractive packages for teams struggling against the cap. We’ve discussed it here before, but I’ll mention it again: If I found myself in Pierre Dorion’s shoes, I’d be watching Tampa’s negotiations with Anthony Cirelli and Mikhail Sergachev very closely.

Maverick asks: Thoughts on the draft? I still contend that we should take Stutzle or Byfield at number three, and Drysdale at number five. I also wish there was some way to trade up and grab Rossi as well. Also, I hate the 2D logo. I wish they would make something for the new team to rally around and build upon.

We’ll have to agree to disagree on the Drysdale piece. On the “trading up” front, the New York pick falling so significantly probably reduces the possibility of being able to move into the Rossi range to near zero. Moving up from the 15-ish spot would have been expensive enough; moving up from 28 would require so many additional assets that it probably isn’t even worth starting the conversation.

Have you seen any concepts for a logo that interest you? I always love seeing alternative concepts that people create.

John asks: Who do you pick at 3 and 5?

Byfield/Stutzle and Raymond.

Bobby asks: What gives you the right?

I’m not sure.

Joe asks: What cap will Tkachuk sign for?


I think this is largely going to be dependent on whether they go long-term or short-term with Tkachuk. From a signal-to-the-market perspective, long-term is probably the way to go for a Senators team that has been fairly reluctant to commit dollars in the past. If that’s where things land, my expectation is that the deal falls in the $7.25-8.25M range.

Joe asks: When do you think Ottawa gets their new arena?

Not any time on the immediate horizon.

Mr. Brown asks: Demko, Sutter for NYI 1st, CBJ 2nd, and Anders Nilsson. What say you?

My immediate reaction to seeing this is that it’s probably not far off, if the Senators are sincerely looking to trade that New York pick for goaltending help (something I’m not really a fan of doing). It does feel a little bit light on the Vancouver side, as taking on Sutter’s contract is a huge favour even with Demko included in the deal. Drop the CBJ 2nd.

Khawk asks: If the Senators should miss out on Byfield/Rossi, and Stutzle winds up more as a LW, how confident are you in the likes of Brown, Norris, White, Tierney, and Pinto to be able to lead the way down the middle?

I’m reasonably confident that Brown and Norris can be effective, contributing top-six centres in the National Hockey League, especially if they have the opportunity to play with such high-end wingers like Tkachuk, Stutzle, and Raymond. The other three strike me more as long-term middle six options for the franchise. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it does put a fair amount of pressure on Brown and Norris. It won’t be the end of the world, but coming out of the 2020 draft without a C would put the team’s eggs in a smaller basket.

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Back with more responses in my next blog! As always, thanks for reading.
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