Drafting Ottawa Senators Players to Playoff Teams

The Stanley Cup playoffs are upon us and for the 4th year in a row, the Ottawa Senators will be watching from home.

That doesn’t mean there’s nothing for Sens fans to root for, though. Almost every playoff team has a former Senator or two and, in what has become a sort of annual tradition among fans, many are hopping on bandwagons hoping to see Craig Anderson, Mark Stone, or Jean-Gabriel Pageau hoist the Stanley Cup.

But why should we have to accept these scattered alumni playing various roles across the league? It’s a scientific fact that the Ottawa Senators were the most fun team to watch in hockey this season, so why not share some of that wealth?

With that in mind, I am introducing a fantasy draft for playoff teams where each of the bottom eight playoff teams gets to rent a Senator for the duration of their playoff run. This will help close the gap between teams, while also carrying some of the Sens’ good vibes from this season into the playoffs.

First, a few ground rules: we’ll factor injuries into the equation to some extent so guys with long-term injuries like Derek Stepan, Austin Watson, and Joey Daccord will be ineligible. We can disregard some of the more minor late-season injuries though, as will become apparent early on. Any players committed to the World Championships will be eligible to be picked, as in this scenario they wouldn’t be sitting at home otherwise.

Finally, this is a rental situation for the duration of this year’s playoffs only. While potential talent and contract status are no doubt crucial to actual team building, they can be disregarded here. We’ll also be doing the draft in typical fashion with the worst team picking first and working our way up.

With that settled, let the draft begin. The Montreal Canadiens are on the clock.

All stats via Evolving-Hockey unless stated otherwise.

1st: Montreal Canadiens – Thomas Chabot

Chabot and Brady Tkachuk were (spoiler alert) the only two players in consideration for the top pick. But when it comes to Montreal, the Quebec-born Chabot was the only choice.

Considering Montreal just has so much gosh-darned talent at forwards that they simply can’t find a spot for Jesperi Kotkaniemi or Cole Caufield in the lineup, the move makes sense from a positional standpoint too.

Chabot had a bit of a down year by his standards but was still one of the top players on the ice for Ottawa game after game. Assuming his late-season upper-body injury was only minor, seeing Chabot line-up alongside Jeff Petry or Shea Weber could go a long way towards the Habs stopping Toronto’s potent offense.

2nd: St. Louis Blues – Brady Tkachuk

The St. Louis front office would have nearly tripped over their own feet rushing up to the podium to make this pick. In addition to being far and away the best player available with Chabot off the board, Tkachuk is also a local kid who grew up cheering on his father Keith for the Blues.

See how adorable he is? I told you this idea would make the playoffs better. Gary if you’re listening please steal this idea! It’s free!

With the Blues struggling to put up much of a fight in the first two games against Colorado and their top scorer David Perron missing both games while on the COVID list, inserting Brady into the lineup could be just what they need to defy the odds and knock-off the President’s Trophy winner

3rd: Winnipeg Jets – Artem Zub

The Zub Crew is heading to Winnipeg. Zub was one of Ottawa’s top defenders this season with his 49.27 5v5 xGF% ranking third on the blueline, behind only Victor Mete, who played only 14 games for the Sens, and Mike Reilly, who is ineligible for this draft on accounts of his already being on the Boston Bruins.

While Winnipeg upset the Oilers last night, allowing only one goal in the process, they could still use the help on defense. Game 1 saw them dress Derek Forbort, Richard Farda, Logan Stanley, and Tucker Poolman on the backend. How obscure is that group? Let’s just say Richard Farda actually last 75 years old and last played for the 1976-77 Birmingham Bulls and there’s only about a 50/50 chance you noticed.

If Winnipeg wants to upset the Oilers and move onto the second round, they’ll likely have to upgrade their defense.

4th: Nashville Predators – Connor Brown

Much like St. Louis, the Predators find themselves down 2-0 to one of the league’s best teams and in need of a spark to turn things around. Brown may not have quite the impact of a Brady Tkachuk, but his career-high 21 goals led the Sens and is 8 more than Nashville’s leading scorers Calle Jarnkrok and Mikael Granlund.

Where Brown will help most though is on the penalty kill. Nashville’s 75.4 PK% ranked 29th in the league this season, worst among playoff teams. Brown was a staple on Ottawa’s very respectable 20th ranked penalty kill, and led the league with 5 shorthanded goals.

Nashville is facing an uphill climb against Carolina, but a player like Brown could be the key,

5th: New York Islanders – Josh Norris

Now we’re starting to get into the teams that may not necessarily need an addition to do some damage. The Islanders are tied 1-1 in their series with the Penguins after splitting the first two games in Pittsburgh. They also made it to the Conference Finals last season, so this is still a very good team.

Still, adding a 17-goal scorer in Josh Norris couldn’t hurt. Norris took a major step forward this season and now looks like he could be Ottawa’s first line centre of the future. For now, though, he’ll slide into New York’s middle six behind Pageau.

His defensive acumen is a perfect fit for Barry Trotz‘s style of play, and his offensive talent makes him a dangerous weapon for an Islanders team that has historically struggled to put pucks in the net.

6th: Edmonton Oilers – Tim Stützle

Look, sometimes you have to just throw the stats out the window and go with what you know is right. Stützle had a solid rookie season, putting up 12 goals and 29 points in 53 games. But his underlying numbers were less encouraging, with his 44.29 5v5 xGF% ranking behind fanbase-whipping-boys-turned-deadline-castoffs Erik Gubranson and Braydon Coburn. That’s to be expected from a rookie, and the future still looks bright, but ranking him as the team’s 6th best player right now seems like a stretch.

Still, I mean, just look at that picture. If Edmonton takes Stützle, they could put together an all-German line with Dominik Kahun and Leon Draisaitl. I’m no history major (well, actually, I kind of am) but I don’t think a unified Germany has ever been stopped before. Would Dave Tippett split them up after they made one turnover? Yes because he’s an NHL coach and NHL coaches hate fun. But the possibility alone is enough to justify this pick.

Even after dropping Game 1, Edmonton still may be the favourites against the Jets, so why not have a little fun with it? After all, that’s what the 2021 Ottawa Senators are all about.

7th: Boston Bruins – Erik Brannstrom

Much like Stützle, Brannstrom is not here because I think he’s the Sens’ 7th best player. Boston already acquired Mike Reilly from Ottawa at the deadline to shore up their blueline and while the situation isn’t as bad as when Jack Ahcan was playing on the top pair, Boston can’t keep giving Kevan Miller big minutes if they want to be serious contenders.

Brannstrom was up and down between Ottawa and the AHL this season and struggled early on, but after getting regular minutes after the trade deadline seemed to find another gear to his game. This isn’t about getting players for the future, so potential isn’t really what we’re considering here, but Brannstrom’s late-season form shows he might have even gotten better as the playoffs went on if he were given that chance.

After acquiring Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar from the Sabres, Boston is loaded upfront, so they’re one of the teams that can afford to draft for position here. If you want to say they should take Victor Mete here, I wouldn’t argue with you, but I’ve also already written two paragraphs on Brannstrom so it’s too late to change that now.

8th: Minnesota Wild – Drake Batherson

With our last pick of the draft, I’m honestly surprised Batherson fell this far. Realistically, the third piece of the Sens’ first line probably should’ve gone to Edmonton, but the all-German line was too good to pass up. There’s a good case to be made that Boston should’ve just ignored their positional needs and taken him at seven too. But every draft needs a faller and Minnesota will happily scoop him up here.

The Wild are one of the best teams in the league but have the misfortune of having to go through Vegas and then, in all likelihood, Colorado to even get to the semi-finals. Batherson and Ryan Dzingel are the only available forwards with at least 20 games played this season to finish with a positive 5v5 xGF%, so there’s no need to overthink things here. Batherson’s 17 goals would also provide a much-needed boost to a team that’s only scored one goal in six regulation periods so far in the playoffs.

As an added bonus, Batherson will also be able to move up to the first line when Kirill Kaprizov misses Game 5 to pick up his social security check.