SenShot/Fansided Mock Draft Pick #17 – Ottawa Senators

With the 17th selection in the 2013 Fansided  NHL Mock Draft, (and the SenShot Mock Draft) the Ottawa Senators select…

First things first, lets look at the needs of the franchise.  In net, they have two top level NHL calibre goalies, the veteran Craig Anderson, and the young protege fighting for ice time, Robin Lehner.  They also drafted 2 goaltenders last season, who look like they will be solid netminders as they progress through their learning curve.  So they do not want to go with a goalie.

Up front, the Senators look like they will be ok, with the current crop and the emerging Matt Puempel, Stefan Noesen, Mark Stone, Shane Prince and Jean-Gabriel Pageau.  Even with the impending retirement of Daniel Alfredsson, it looks like they are pretty solid up front.

That leaves the blue line.  While they used their first round pick last season on Cody Ceci, there is always a need for defensemen in the system, as was proven by this season.  With the departure of Sergei Gonchar, and the eventual retirement of Chris Phillips, there is a need for depth along the blue line.

That being said, there are a number of top-level defensemen with various attributes.  Here are some of the ones we considered in making our pick:

Jordan Subban – While the prospect of adding the third Subban to the same division as his two older brothers was intriguing, Jordan could easily end up being to Subban what Jared is to Staal.  Just not quite up to the same level, and always in the shadow of his brothers. Having watched him play in person for the Belleville Bulls a number of times over the past two seasons, I am not completely sold on his  potential.  If his last name wasn’t Subban, I am not sure he would be considered first round material.

Samuel Morin – From Rimouski in the QMJHL, Morin is a 6’7″ tower, who could add some more size to an already massive Senators defense.  Imagining a duo of Cowen and Morin in three years is also intriguing.  However, questions about his skating ability have arisen, as well as his decision making.

Chris Bigras – With Owen Sound of the OHL, Bigras has great upside as a two way talent.  Not overly big, he would need to add a lot of strength to his game and he is kind of reminiscent of last year’s first rounder and second-half teammate Cody Ceci.  He would definitely be an option.

So now, without further ado, after listing some of the players we passed on, let’s get to the player we didn’t.

With the 17th pick in the Fansided NHL Mock Draft, SenShot, on behalf of the Ottawa Senators selects:

Robert Hagg, defenseman from the Modo of the Swedish Elite League.The Senators continue the tradition of tapping into the Swedish system, o strategy that has served them pretty well in the past few seasons. Before last summer’s draft, the Senators have used one of their top 2 picks on Swedish players in each of the 4 previous years…Erik Karlsson, Robin Lehner, Jakob Silfverberg and Mika Zibanejad were all picked in either the first or second round.

In Hagg, the Senators are getting a solid blueliner, the second ranked international defenseman in this draft.  While he doesn’t have any one thing that he does at a spectacular level, he also dosen’t have any glaring weaknesses.  While he does have some learning to do in his own end, but most players at that age do.  He has solid size, at 6’2″, 200 lbs.  He has split the past season between the Modo U20 team and their Elite League club while also playing for Sweden in the World U18’s and the World Juniors. He isn’t going to light it up offensively, but he could be a punishing physical presence who will chip in a few points here and there.

You can follow along with the FANSIDED MOCK DRAFT ON TOO MANY MEN ON THE SITE

SENSHOT’S MOCK DRAFT TO DATE (click on team to view the selection):