Recapping the Ottawa Senators 2019 NHL Draft selections

Second Round

When the Ottawa Senators approached the stage to announce the 32nd overall pick, many believed that they would be selecting any one of Arthur Kaliyev, Bobby Brink or Raphael Lavoie.

However, this was not the case and the team selected versatile forward Shane Pinto out of the USHL’s Tri-City Storm.

Pinto was not a name that many had expected to see gone by the 32nd pick, with his pre-draft rankings suggesting he would still be available when the Senators were up next with the 44th overall pick.

Pinto, how can play as a centre or out on the right wing, had a strong draft campaign in the USHL – earning 28 goals and 59 total points in 56 games during his solitary season in the USA’s top junior league.

What could have interested the Sens was his commitment to the University of North Dakota, where fellow Ottawa Senators prospects Jacob Bernard-Docker and Jonny Tychonick have been playing.

The right-handed shot has good size at 6-foot-2, 192lbs and, while he wasn’t the name expected from fans, he could still pan out to be a promising young NHL forward in the future.

More on Pinto’s surprising selection can be found here.

While Pinto’s selection was certainly a surprise to many, especially the fans, it was the Senators’ very next pick that raised the most questions.

Originally holding the 44th overall pick, the Ottawa Senators traded with the Carolina Hurricanes to move up to pick 37 – selecting Danish goaltender Mads Sogaard.

To move up seventh spots, the Sens had to send an additional third round pick (83rd overall).

While it’s not surprising to see Dorion trade up to select a player, the selection of a goaltender certainly has raised some eyebrows.

The Ottawa Senators currently have six goaltenders signed and in their system and a couple of them, namely Filip Gustavsson and Joey Daccord, are longer-term projects that could pan out to be NHL players.

Sogaard was one of the top goalie prospects available in this draft and is a solid selection by the Senators, having posted a 2.64 goals against average and an impressive .924 save percentage in 37 regular season appearances – earning himself WHL (East) Second All-Star Team honours.

With players such as Lavoie, Nils Hoglander and even Jamieson Rees still available when the Senators moved up to 37, some fans had hoped that the organisation were preparing to add yet another promising forward prospect to the system.

Selecting a goaltender so early in the draft, when that is a position that the Sens look set at for the foreseeable future, is a risky move – especially when they need to be stockpiling on defensive and offensive prospects.

Sogaard may work out to be a legitimate NHL goalie in the future, but he isn’t likely to see any playing time in Ottawa over the next three years.