The Ottawa Senators have one of the deepest group of prospects in the entire NHL, being ranked 9th overall by Elite Prospects this summer.
It is difficult to grade each Ottawa Senators prospect on an individual level, with so many players fitting into the same ‘tiers’ as their peers.
With this in mind, we here at SenShot have decided to have a go at creating the Senators’ 2019/20 Prospect Pyramid – an idea originally created in 2016 by Sportsnet writer and Toronto Maple Leafs fans Steve Dangle.
Dangle created different tiers that prospects would fit into, based on their projected place within an NHL roster.
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With this, rather than having players listed in a specific order, something that fans would undoubtedly disagree on for a whole range of reasons, players that are deemed to be of a similar level have been placed together in their respective tiers.
For the purposes of this exercise, there are a few qualifiers as to what we are considering to be a prospect.
Firstly, players should be 23-years-old or younger. Once a player reaches the age of 24, they have typically either broken into an NHL roster or are now firmly cemented into their level, be that in the AHL, ECHL or in a league abroad.
Players also must have fewer than 50 NHL games under their belt by this point. Once you play 50 games in the NHL at a young age, it’s fairly clear where your position within the league is likely to be.
This does mean that players such as Thomas Chabot, Brady Tkachuk, Christian Wolanin and Maxime Lajoie have been excluded from the pyramid despite fitting into the age category.
So, without further ado, here is the official SenShot Ottawa Senators Prospect Pyramid ahead of the 2019/20 NHL season.