Ranking The Top 20 Ottawa Senators Prospects: #10 – #6

8. Frederik Claesson

Defenceman – Binghamton Senators — 2011 5th round pick (Ottawa Senators)

AHL 6foot0 198lbs

Steadiness, Reliability, Stay-at-home, all words that describe Frederik Claesson’s game.

Despite a bit of a step back year, Claesson’s personal success matched that of the effort that the Binghamton Senators gave. A disappointing season all around, no doubt, but Claesson remains one of the few pieces on the B-Sens who holds prospects to play in the NHL.

The 13-14 season was a monstrous one for Claesson as he led the AHL in +/- at +37. Although it is a stat that is often overlooked, and for good reason, it’s hard to ignore a plus that big. The season upcoming should be another good development year for Claesson, a left handed defender who should see time beside dynamic offensive defender, Chris Wideman.

Claesson’s game projects as a bottom pairing defender and at 22 he’s still young enough to keep developing in the AHL. His projected NHL arrival is 2017 at the earliest, but it could easily be sooner depending on what the Senators do with their defensive group. Chris Phillips is expected to go by then and with players like Eric Gryba, Jared Cowen, Mark Borowiecki and even Patrick Wiercioch having questions always attached to their game, a spot could be coming for Claesson. And even then, he’s likely behind Chris Wideman in terms of NHL depth charts.

Claesson’s number 8 ranking puts him ahead of Mikael Wikstrand, a player who probably has a higher ceiling. The reasoning behind that simply remains that we haven’t seen Wikstrand on North American ice.

Look for Claesson to play in the NHL in a few seasons. He is a player the organization likes, best displayed by the ice time he saw with Erik Karlsson in the pre-season. He was a world junior and holds some similar characteristics to fellow countryman and Senators prospect, Andreas Englund.