
The Senators haven’t turned away from their draft philosophy either as they selected a player in last year’s draft that has a similar development curve to that of Batherson and Formenton.
This player being Philippe Daoust who was a 6th-round pick (158th Overall) in the 2021 draft and has already started to show tremendous improvement. Daoust, a native of Barrie, Ontario was never drafted into the OHL and spent the 2018-19 season with the French River Rapids of the NOJHL (Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League), one of the smaller junior “A” leagues in Canada. Following the season Daoust opted to try his luck with the QMJHL where he walked on with the Moncton Wildcats and ended up making the roster. Following a full season in the league where the talented forward scored 29 points in 58 games and as an older player (November birthday) the Senators still took a swing at Daoust.
Now look at the growth so far this season for Daoust:
🔥Philippe Daoust had a 5-point night (1G, 4A) in a 6-5 OT loss on Wednesday
— Sens Prospects (@SensProspects) March 25, 2021
Daoust, Ottawa's first 6th round pick in the 2020 Draft, has been on fire with points in 7 straight, including four consecutive multi-point games. He’s got 27 points (6G, 21A) in 19GP#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/MweItdfYoK
On the season Daoust has 28 points in 21 games, which’s 1 point less than he had the season prior in 38 fewer games, truly exceptional year-to-year progression and something this Senators staff has become elite at facilitating.