Would you rather forfeit a mid 2025 first rounder or a low 2026 first rounder?

[Golden_Jet]

I wouldn't bet on us either, but shit happens. Nobody bet on Nashville being where they are right now either. Things go wrong, players get injured. It's not defeatist to acknowledge that.

If 2026 was a weak draft year, then sure maybe, but there's a McDavid-level player in that draft.

If I was betting, I would bet the Sens finish higher in the Standings in 25/26.
I don’t see them finishing 11th worse, or even worse than that, to get Gavin. Even if they did finish 11th, 3% odds are not the best.

 

[PlayOn]

I'm talking in recent years. Greig also graduated last season so obviously not talking only this season



Yes and that is what I am arguing. It's a mini disaster that we had to sign/acquire all these mediocre or bad free agents in the last 2 years. And yes you can predict things, I do that all the time. It's impossible to predict everything perfectly and see everything coming but you can EASILY predict that you will need these guys on ELC stepping in and contribute.



100% agree but overpaying marginal players and not having good youth prevents you from filling up all your needs



Josh Norris was acquired by trade, Yakemchuk is not on the team yet. We have 6 forwards and 4 D-men (10/23 players) drafted by the team after 7 full years of rebuilding. I mean, it's not that bad but some of them aren't young like you said, Tkachuk going on 26, Batherson going on 27 and Chabot on 28. You never know what can happen, particularly with guys like Greig, Pinto, Ostapchuk, Kleven and JBD who are not guaranteed to be long term guys. You need youth to be constantly able to step in.

And yes, like you said, we need to be good at drafting more than most NHL markets. I never said we can't have players that were acquired by pro scouting, I'm saying too many of our depth/support/role players this seasons had to be picked in the "left overs" pool.



Ullmark, Jensen and Gaudette gives hope. Perron (while being a bit expensive and one too many years for me), could have maybe worked out with more luck. Gregor and Cousins are ok at their price tag I guess. Amadio not a fan

I don't know what changes have been made but it seems that it's already improving from Dorion's era.

All that said, we absolutely need to have a better prospect pool.

We can agree to disagree. Like I said, I think it’s a lot more nuanced. Prospect pool needs are always relative to what is on the current team. And I think as you become a more competitive team, there are less roles available, specifically on the defense. You look at how sheltered Kleven and JBD are even now and there’s a reason most playoff teams aren’t breaking in rookie defencemen year after year.

We have a lot of guys that still have a lot of room to grow. I think the vets they are surrounded with are more than fine, and I think the areas where they aren’t are things you can address. There’s no question we put a lot of our eggs in one basket with the way things were handled but I don’t see it as a disastrous situation, moreso just one that needs to be attended to so that a few years down the road we don’t still have empty cupboards.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

If I was betting, I would bet the Sens finish higher in the Standings in 25/26.
I don’t see them finishing 11th worse, or even worse than that, to get Gavin. Even if they did finish 11th, 3% odds are not the best.

If we suffer similar injuries, yes it's extremely unlikely for the sens to finish lower next season. However, again who knows what happens both to our roster and around the league.

 

[CanadianHockey]

If they think this year is a shallow draft, they should forfeit this year's pick. Otherwise, hang onto it. More upside than downside.
+ Chance the league gives us the pick back
+ Chance the team improves in the standings
+ Extra year of prospect development to fill a hole in the pipeline
- Chance we regress next year (injuries or performance drops)

I don't think we end up in contention for the lottery either way. San Jose and Chicago are terrible. Anaheim isn't much better, Buffalo and Nashville may both implode for a chance at the lottery. Columbus and Montreal don't seem like they're going to breakout anytime soon.

 

[ColinM]

There's something to be said for staggering our draft picks. I'd forfeit this year's draft pick.

 

[lancepitlick]

I'd forefit it this year if they make the playoffs, strictly because there's still a chance the wheels completely come off next season (Linus injured, Brady/Stu) and there's a chance it is a high pick.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Beyond McKenna and Dupont, I have no idea how the next few drafts are going to go. Generally speaking, the lower the pick, the better. But if one draft is considered unusually deep (or shallow), that changes the dynamics quite a bit.

I haven't heard anything (yet) about how these drafts stack up beyond the top 10 or so. (Probably a bit early to even speculate on the 26 draft.)

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Think it has to be this year that we give up if we’re outside the top 10. We don’t want that hanging over us all of next season if we get freak injuries or a bad run of goaltending etc.

This. We're solidly locked into WC2 or higher, so the pick being in the 15 or so range is fine.
Let them have whatever pleasantries they can get while the Senators return to the post-season and beyond.

 

[Comely]

If we make the play offs we give up the pick 100% No sense in gambling next years pick. If we are so good next season that we are cup contending we can use that pick to bulk up at the trade deadline.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Beyond McKenna and Dupont, I have no idea how the next few drafts are going to go. Generally speaking, the lower the pick, the better. But if one draft is considered unusually deep (or shallow), that changes the dynamics quite a bit.

I haven't heard anything (yet) about how these drafts stack up beyond the top 10 or so. (Probably a bit early to even speculate on the 26 draft.)

Even outside of McKenna, the 26 draft looks deeper, plus another user made a good point, if we somehow become contenders, we can use the draft as capital, especially in a season where many teams are more likely to actively tank for McKenna (In weak draft years, even bottom feeders rarely try to tank, so it becomes more of a buyers rather than sellers market).

 

[Tuna99]

Can’t we just do the right thing and what everyone really wants and put Dorion on a Dunk Tank and keep him up there until everyone in Ottawa has had their fill, $10 a ticket and it all goes to Gary Bettmans favorite charity, the “Gary Bettman Appreciation Foundation”

 

[Xspyrit]

We can agree to disagree. Like I said, I think it’s a lot more nuanced. Prospect pool needs are always relative to what is on the current team. And I think as you become a more competitive team, there are less roles available, specifically on the defense. You look at how sheltered Kleven and JBD are even now and there’s a reason most playoff teams aren’t breaking in rookie defencemen year after year.

We have a lot of guys that still have a lot of room to grow. I think the vets they are surrounded with are more than fine, and I think the areas where they aren’t are things you can address. There’s no question we put a lot of our eggs in one basket with the way things were handled but I don’t see it as a disastrous situation, moreso just one that needs to be attended to so that a few years down the road we don’t still have empty cupboards.

Yeah. But that said, I am kinda not worried too much about defense. My only worry is we need an after Zub and Jensen. Yakemchuk will fill one role, JBD can be the 3rd pair guy

Sanderson - Yakemchuk
Chabot - Jensen/Zub
Kleven - JBD
Prospect?

However for the forward group, it gets REALLY THIN after the big 3 (Stutzle, Batherson, Tkachuk)

Norris and Pinto should bring some secondary scoring maybe Greig as well but there's literally nothing else after that. All the others are aging stop gaps (Giroux and Perron) or depth (I don't think Ostapchuk and Halliday have a lot of scoring potential at the NHL level)

We need to find/develop 3 more Top-9 forwards and 2 of them have to bring offense.

I talked about that last summer and it was not well received but the situation is actually more urgent than I initially thought. No have no depth scoring. We're like a one line team again

 

[PlayOn]

Yeah. But that said, I am kinda not worried too much about defense. My only worry is we need an after Zub and Jensen. Yakemchuk will fill one role, JBD can be the 3rd pair guy

Sanderson - Yakemchuk
Chabot - Jensen/Zub
Kleven - JBD
Prospect?

However for the forward group, it gets REALLY THIN after the big 3 (Stutzle, Batherson, Tkachuk)

Norris and Pinto should bring some secondary scoring maybe Greig as well but there's literally nothing else after that. All the others are aging stop gaps (Giroux and Perron) or depth (I don't think Ostapchuk and Halliday have a lot of scoring potential at the NHL level)

We need to find/develop 3 more Top-9 forwards and 2 of them have to bring offense.

I talked about that last summer and it was not well received but the situation is actually more urgent than I initially thought. No have no depth scoring. We're like a one line team again

Wingers are the easiest positions to fill in hockey. I agree it’s an issue, but it’s the best issue to have.

You’re a lot worse for wear if you’re missing centres, defensemen or a goalie than if you need wingers. That’s an area you don’t need to rely so heavily on drafting for. If we were missing two centres and a defenseman I’d agree with you.

I also think Ostapchuk easily ends up being a third liner. There’s still quite a bit of growth left in most of the forwards.

Obviously it would be nice if we had an offensive winger we could call up for help right now, but I don’t think it’s going to make or break us, and in the summer we’ll have the opportunity to address that area.

 

[thinkwild]

I wouldnt say we have no depth scoring given our depth has been carrying us the last few games. But i remember with Alfie, we used to always put him with two non-stars and expect his presence would make that a 2nd line. Arvedsson White Alfie was a top line in the league for a while. But success really came when we loaded a top line around Alfie. Would be nice to find a two pizza linemates for Stu. The wingers as PlayOn said can hopefully be the next item for management to focus on. They did a pretty good job in year 1. Hopefully a great opportunity is found to continue. Even just one key winger for Stu could really make a difference

 

[PlayOn]

I wouldnt say we have no depth scoring given our depth has been carrying us the last few games. But i remember with Alfie, we used to always put him with two non-stars and expect his presence would make that a 2nd line. Arvedsson White Alfie was a top line in the league for a while. But success really came when we loaded a top line around Alfie. Would be nice to find a two pizza linemates for Stu. The wingers as PlayOn said can hopefully be the next item for management to focus on. They did a pretty good job in year 1. Hopefully a great opportunity is found to continue. Even just one key winger for Stu could really make a difference

Yeah I actually like our bottom six, after a slow start they’ve all looked good imo.

The bigger issues are Giroux’s replacement, which we have to start thinking about given his age, and the other slot which we’ve tried to fill with Gaudette, Amadio, Greig etc and nothing has worked. My guess is the team sees Greig fitting into one of those roles eventually based on his usage this year but I still think we should be looking at getting two top 6 guys just in case.

Which is why I’d rather keep our pick this year and get someone in the system sooner rather than later.