The Ottawa Senators entered the 2020 NHL Draft with an unusual stroke of luck. Despite missing out on the top pick, the Sens had two top-five picks.
That’s something highly rare. Few teams ever get two top-10 picks, let alone two top-five selections in the same draft.
Yet, the hockey gods have the Sens the third and fifth-overall picks in the 2020 NHL Draft. And that situation set up the organization’s core for the foreseeable future.
The 2020 draft happened under extenuating circumstances. Since the season had been cut short by COVID, the league couldn’t assign the draft order as it normally would have. There were actually two draft lotteries to determine which teams would pick in the first round.
Sure enough, the Senators did not have the luck of picking first overall. But that’s where Ottawa actually benefitted.
The New York Rangers got the first-overall pick and took Alexis Lafreniere. The LA Kings had the second, and selected Quinton Byfield. Both players are solid, but the returns at this point don’t have them becoming superstars.
The Senators, on the other hand, selected Tim Stutzle third overall. And now, we can see Stutzle become a legit top-line NHL center. The Rangers and Kings missed out on drafting the top-line pivot that they so desperately crave now.
Senators did the right thing with the fifth-overall selection
With their second pick in the first round, the Senators took Jake Sanderson, fifth overall. The Senators just pretty much locked up their core with those two picks.
Sanderson has become a solid top-pairing blueliner. He’ll be in the Norris Trophy conversation soon enough. And at 24, it seems like he’s just starting to find his game.
In one evening, the Senators found two cornerstone pieces most franchises spend years trying to find. It was the sort of move, deliberate or not, that NHL teams rarely manage to pull off.
Of course, two great players aren’t enough to win a Stanley Cup. But they are the foundational pieces that teams crave so much. That’s why other crucial pieces like Drake Batherson, Dylan Cozens, Shane Pinto, Artem Zub, Thomas Chabot, and Tyler Kleven, another 2020 selection, have made the Sens into a young, talented team seemingly just hitting its stride.
Incidentally, the Sens also took Ridly Greig and Leevi Merilainen in 2020. Kleven and Greig have become highly valuable depth pieces for the club. While the jury is still out on Merilainen, the netminder could still become a decent NHL backup at some point.
All told, of the 10 picks the Senators made in 2020, eight have reached the NHL. That’s a pretty good track record, especially when considering that five of those picks have impacted the team directly.
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