Why the Ottawa Senators Don’t Need to Take a Goaltender at 10th Overall

With the Senators hopefully holding their last top-10 selection of their rebuild, they would be smart to target talent at forward rather than taking a chance on one of the top goaltending prospects

Pierre Dorion and the Ottawa Senators would be silly to select Jesper Wallstedt with their first selection of the 2021 NHL Entry draft, rather, they would be smart to invest more talent into their forward group.

Here are the reasons why the Senators should pursue a forward at 10th overall, and not a goaltender:

More Talent Needed at Forward

Don’t be mistaken by the heading, the Senators don’t have a glaring “need” anywhere on the roster anymore, but with them being so deep on defence and goaltender, adding another top-flight forward prospect would likely put the team over the top.

While the Senators have plenty of young talent already at the forward position, it’s undoubtedly the area that they could improve the most with a talented selection at 10th overall. This isn’t a slight at the team’s forward group either as they have great talent coming through the ranks that could influence the lineup as soon as next season. Looking at the Senators forward group, there’s likely only one forward who fits the mold of a potential “superstar” and that’s 2020 3rd overall pick Tim Stützle, while I could see players such as Josh Norris, Brady Tkachuk, and Drake Batherson producing 70+ point seasons in the future, they don’t have the untapped potential that the German product has.

Adding a forward with the skill and talent of a Kent Johnson, Mason McTavish, Fabian Lysell, or Chaz Lucius would put the Senators at a very enviable spot with the potential scoring talent at their disposal.

Depth in the Crease

With some people clearly enamored with the thought of adding Wallstedt at 10, I just don’t get the infatuation. Obviously, Wallstedt is a great goaltending prospect and likely projects as a career NHL Starter, but the Senators are loaded with options in net coming through the pipeline.

With Filip Gustavsson quickly moving up the depth chart due to his dominant play in last season (0.933 SV%, 2.16 GAA), and while it was a small sample size that only saw him play 9 games with Ottawa at just 23-years-old, he should be regarded as one of the top goaltending prospects in the NHL. The talented netminder was far-and-away Ottawa’s best goaltender this past season, while far outperforming the $25 million dollar man, Matt Murray.

“Gus the Bus” looked like a completely different goaltender this season than in past years and could very well be blossoming into the goaltender that Pierre Dorion thought he traded for back in 2018.

Murray himself is only 27-years-old and if he can bounce back next season, the goaltending position would likely be a position of strength.

It doesn’t drop off after Gustavsson either, following behind closely are Joey Daccord, Mads Sogaard, Leevi Merilainen, and Kevin Mandolese, all have reasonable chances to become the goalie of the future with the likely exception of the ladder. If I were to rank the Senators goalie prospects it would look something like this:

1

Filip Gustavsson G

9 GP, 0.933 SV%, 2.16 GAA (Ottawa, NHL)

2

Mads Søgaard G

7 GP, 0.917 SV%, 2.40 GAA (Belleville, AHL)

3

Joey Daccord G

8 GP, 0.897 SV%, 3.27 GAA (Ottawa, NHL)

4

Leevi Meriläinen G

22 GP, 0.934 SV% (Kärpät U20, U20 SM-Sarja)

5

Kevin Mandolese G

9 GP, 0.888 SV%, 4.03 GAA (Belleville, AHL)

Someone who seems to get lost in the shuffle especially prior to his emergence on the scene with Belleville last season where he won all seven of his starts, combine his stellar play with his 6’7″ frame and being just 20-years-old and you have the framework for an elite goaltending prospect. It’s obvious the Senators organization holds Søgaard in high regard, it was telling when they traded up in the second round during the 2019 Draft, trading picks 44 and 83 to move up to 37th overall and select the Danish netminder. While the fact they traded up for Søgaard isn’t a plausible reason for the Senators to not take a goalie at 10th overall, but the organizational depth that they boast at the position would make the selection a bit redundant in a sense.

Then with Daccord’s production at every level, he’s played at and solid play in Ottawa this season, he too has a shot at being the potential goalie of the future (if Seattle doesn’t select him). While Leevi Meriläinen a Senators 2020 3rd round pick and Kevin Mandolese who was the QMJHL Goalie of the Year in 2019-20, don’t have a proven track record they both have intriguing upside.

In summation, the Senators would be way better served to take a talented forward at 10th overall as opposed to taking either Jesper Wallstedt or Sebastien Cossa for both the present day and for the future success of the hockey club.