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Senators draft picks/Sens rumours heating up |
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With the Ottawa Senators selecting Tyler Boucher with the 10th overall pick last night in the NHL entry draft, many fans are torn on this RW, the son of former NHL goalie Brian Boucher. We all knew going into this draft that outside of the top 5 picks, teams were all going to have different lists with so little opportunity to see many of these prospects. Over the years, many fans and experts have overreacted to the Sens draft picks, both positive and negative. GM Pierre Dorion’s drafting track record has been pretty solid and he truly knows what type of team he is trying to build. With Boucher, you get a big 18 year old that is only going to grow further into his 6’1” 205 pound frame. Boucher is slated to play for Boston University this fall. On a side note, the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s own Boucher’s junior rights. All in all, in three to five years we can better gauge how Dorion and his staff did with the 2021 draft.
Moving into Day 2 of the draft today, Ottawa continued to draft players with size. It started with
Zack Ostapchuk out of Vancouver in the WHL. This was a nice pick considering where many had him projected to be. Ottawa then traded a 2nd and 3rd round pick, to move up to select Ben Roger out of London of the OHL. Roger comes in at 6’4” and 200 pounds, while adding to the Sens depth on the blueline. Ottawa selected Oliver Johannson in the 3rd round out of Sweden. The LW comes in at 6 feet tall and 183 pounds.
Looking ahead to what Ottawa does in free agency or via the trade route to improve their team, there are a few more players Dorion is targeting.
As we talked about in this space two days ago, Adam Henrique is certainly at the top of their list and you can now add in Tomas Hertl of the SJ Sharks as a player the Senators are seriously looking to acquire via trade. Hertl is in the final year of his contract making 5.625 million dollars with a no trade clause. He is a perennial 20-25 goal scorer and would fit in nicely in the Sens top 6 forwards. I am told SJ is looking for a top end prospect and 1st round pick in return. Who would you rather acquire if you had your pick?
Switching the focus to defense, as mentioned here yesterday Ottawa is seriously looking at Justin Schultz in Washington plus I am told the Caps are willing to deal Brenen Dillon if the right offer came along. With eight players under contract on the blueline, the Caps are desperate to move at least one contract.
Meanwhile, the Florida Panthers are trying to move Anton Stralman who has one year left on his current deal at 5.5 million but has a no trade clause. Ottawa is definitely kicking the tires on Stralman, but they would much rather acquire MacKenzie Weegar to add to their defense corps. Weegar is a local product having grown up in Barrhaven located in the west end of Ottawa. Weegar has two years left at 3.25 million per season. He certainly fits the bill of what head coach DJ Smith looks for on his blueline. It would take alot to pry him out of Florida as Panthers GM Bill Zito really wants to unload Stralman. Ottawa wouldn’t have to give up as much for Stralman.
Lastly, the other defensemen the Senators are kicking the tires on is Troy Stetcher in Detroit. Stetcher is a right shot defenseman with one year left on his current deal at just 1.7 million. As I have mentioned previously, Ottawa has 11 draft picks in the 2022 NHL Draft. At some point, Ottawa needs to use their surplus of draft picks to put their roster over the top and seriously contend for a playoff spot this coming season. Who would you rather have on the Sens roster out of the five defensemen I mentioned?
At the time of this writing, Ottawa had yet to make their selections in the 5th, 6th and 7th rounds. Back with more tomorrow! Great discussion once again in the comment section, which is great see.
Kevin
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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