Drafts Revisited: 2012

With the NHL and virtually every other sports league on pause, many media types are looking for ways to fill pages with something resembling news. One of the most popular ways this has been done is through historical redrafts. With this in mind, I thought it might be a good opportunity to look back at some of the Senators' drafts and see what could have been while also addressing some of the issues I have with how this exercise is normally done.

One thing about how redrafts are usually done that's always bothered me is the amount of hindsight used. Take this recent 2014 redraft as an example. While David Pastrnak is certainly one of the top players taken in the draft, there's no way that Florida would have taken him 24 spots higher than he actually went at first overall. I've put in some ground rules to address this as well as a few others.

• If the pick is in the top 5, you players taken up to 5 spots after can be chosen. For top 10 picks it's 10 spots. For the rest of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounds, players can be taken one full round (usually 30 picks) before they were actually selected. For the 4th round and beyond, any player is on the table (accept for undrafted players, because that would hurt my brain).
• No trades or undoing trades. While ideally Ottawa would have taken Vladimir Tarasenko with their 1st rounder in 2010 instead of trading it for David Rundblad, we won't be undoing that trade here. While it definitely relates to the draft, it begins to wander too far into the other parts of a GM's job for this. Likewise, we won't be packaging picks to trade up or vice versa.
• Everything can be taken into account. If a player had one great season but otherwise was average, that can be better than a player whose had a solid career, or not depending on circumstances. Positional needs? Value for a possible later trade? Hair colour? Everything is on the table, much like in a real draft.

So far we've looked at the 2010 Draft and gave the Sens some decent prospects despite only having 4 picks, as well as the 2011 Draft, where an already impressive haul was turned into an embarrassment of riches.

Today, we'll look at the last instalment, for now at least, of this series with the 2012 draft.

1st Round, 15th Overall

Actual Pick: Cody Ceci - D

Hockey fans in Ottawa are no doubt familiar with Cody Ceci by now. In 2011-12 he scored nearly a point per game for a very good 67's squad. His 60 points were second only to Dougie Hamilton among OHL defencemen that season. He quickly made his way to the NHL and scored three goals in 49 games in 2013-14, eventually reaching double digits in his third year with a 10 goal 2014-15 campaign. His offensive abilities then dried up however, and his defensive shortcomings were exposed for all to see now that he wasn't contributing at the other end either. Despite 7 goals in a 2018-19 season where he tied his career high with 26 points, he was traded in the off-season to Toronto as part of the Connor Brown and Nikita Zaitsev trade.

Updated Pick: Tomas Hertl - C (17th Overall, San Jose Sharks)

Hertl broke onto the scene in 2013 with a 4-goal performance against the Rangers, capped off by this incredible goal that all but ended Martin Biron's playing career. In his rookie season, Hertl scored 15 times in just 37 games. He'd struggle to immediately repeat that kind of offensive skill, although he did top 20 goals twice in the next 4 seasons, but he earned a reputation as a solid two-way player. His offense finally returned to his 2013-14 levels last season, as he scored 35 goals for the Sharks, second only to then-captain Joe Pavelski. Injuries and the overall implosion of the team around him hit Hertl this season, although he still finished with a very impressive 16 goals in 48 games and looks like he may be a key piece to the Sharks' rebuild, either as a player or an incredibly valuable trade chip. Hertl would have given the Sens not just the pure goal-scorer they've been looking for since Dany Heatley left town, but a bona fide first line centre that can excel in all aspects of the game.

3rd Round, 76th Overall

Actual Pick: Chris Driedger - G

While his draft season was nothing outstanding, he put up close to a .900 save percentage while splitting time with the Hitmen, Driedger took off after that, becoming one of the WHL's best goalies in his final two seasons before impressing with a short stint in Binghamton and making a handful of NHL appearances. He never managed to make good on the "goalie of the future" hype that at times popped up around him and he has since moved on to Florida, where in 12 appearances he's put up impressive numbers while battling with Sam Montembeault for the back-up job.

Updated Pick: Frederik Andersen - G (97th Overall, Anaheim Ducks)

We've yet to take a goalie in these three drafts as even with the full benefit of hindsight I've still been hesitant to pull the trigger. But we may as well follow the real Sens now given that Andersen is as close to a sure thing there is in today's NHL. While Andersen broke into the league in 2013-14 and quickly established himself as one of the best young goalies in the league, he eventually lost his job to another outstanding young goaltender in John Gibson. He was then traded to Toronto where he's played the past 4 seasons and made good on his potential, despite some admittedly streaky play and an average 2019-20 season. Andersen's .909 save percentage this season was the only time he's posted a mark below .910 in his 7 seasons (6 full seasons) in the league. That type of consistently is what you're looking for when you go out on a limb and take a goaltender, even if it's in the 3rd round.

3rd Round, 82nd Overall

Actual Pick: Jarrod Maidens - C

While the first two picks of the 2012 draft were nothing special for the Sens, Maidens and the rest of the Sens remaining picks didn't even appear in an NHL game, meaning the next five upgrades should be significant. Maidens battled concussions in his draft season but the Sens gambled that he would be able to make good on the potential he had shown with Owen Sound the season before. The gamble did not pay off as Maidens never played another game due to concussion problems.

Updated Pick: Colton Parayko - D (86th Overall, St. Louis Blues)

In 2011-12, Parayko put up 42 points in 53 games for Fort McMurray of the AJHL while also serving 65 PIMs. Unlike some players we've looked at earlier this series, however, upon making the move to college hockey with Alaska-Fairbanks, we managed to keep up his offensive performance while scaling back on his lofty penalty totals. After a brief stint in the AHL at the end of the 2014-15 season, Parayko played 79 games for St. Louis the following season and has become on of the more unheralded offensive contributors from the blueline in the game. While he doesn't have the mean streak he showed in his draft year anymore, at 6'6" and 230 lbs. Parayko is a unique player whose combination of skill and size were a major part in the Blues incredible championship run last season.

4th Round, 106th Overall

Actual Pick: Tim Boyle - D

The younger brother of NHL veteran Brian Boyle, Tim Boyle was an interesting selection as he was a top-end talent at the high school level. Boyle struggled to translate that skill to higher levels however, as he only played 15 games for Union College the following season before bouncing around in the lower minors. He has not played since the 2017-18 season where he split time between the Southern Professional Hockey League and the ECHL.

Updated Pick: Jaccob Slavin (120th Overall, Carolina Hurricanes)

Despite being a defensive defenceman, Slavin put up 30 points in 60 games in his draft year with the USHL's Chicago Steel, thanks in large part to 27 assists. In 62 games the following season he tallied 33 points and 28 assists. Slavin has remained much the same player throughout college and to the pro level, where he has very consistently put up 20-35 points while being one of the league's premier shut-down d-men. After taking players like Klingberg and Parayko to join Erik Karlsson on the blueline, the addition of Slavin serves as an excellent safety net to pair with any of those three to allow them to excel offensively knowing they have an elite defender with them.

5th Round, 136th Overall

Actual Pick: Robbie Baillargeon - C

Scoring at nearly a point per game rate for the USHL's Indiana Ice enticed the Sens to take Baillargeon in the 5th round in 2012. After a solid second USHL season split between the Ice and the Omaha Lancers, Baillargeon played three seasons at Boston University before transferring to Arizona State for his fourth and final NCAA season. While he played well on some good teams in college, it never amounted to an NHL deal as he played parts of two seasons in the ECHL before playing 50 games in 2018-19 for Milton Keynes in the Elite Ice Hockey League.

Updated Pick: Connor Brown (156th Overall, Toronto Maple Leafs)

Brown led the Erie Otters in scoring in all three of his seasons there, beating out Connor McDavid in his final two years, capped by a remarkable 128 point 2013-14 season, 21 up on teammate Dane Fox for the league lead. While he hasn't been able to recreate anything close to those numbers in the NHL, he scored a career-high 20 goals in his rookie season and this year set a new career high with 43 points for Ottawa and was set to make a push for a new career high in goals before the season was suspended. Brown has also become a very good defensive forward to go along with his solid offensive play, and was the key asset the Sens got from Toronto in the Cody Ceci trade. Brown now looks to be a major part of the team's future and since we've already passed on Cody Ceci, taking him in the 5th round ensures he stays a part of the organization.

6th Round, 166th Overall

Actual Pick: Francois Brassard - G

The second of two goalies the team took in 2012, Brassard split time with Louis Domingue for Patrick Roy's Quebec Remparts squad and formed the top duo in the league. When Domingue aged out following the season, Brassard took over the starting top and finished 3rd and 4th in the QMJHL in save percentage and GAA respectively. Brassard however, never took his game to the next level and went the rare Canadian college route by committing to Carleton for three seasons and is currently playing for the Maine Mariners of the ECHL.

Updated Pick: Vinny Hinostroza (169th Overall, Chicago Blackhawks)

While Hinostroza's USHL career showed some flashes, including 60 points in 46 games in 2012-13, he was never a particularly hot prospect. His time at Notre Dame saw him put up 76 points in 76 games over two seasons however and after nearly continuing that pace in the AHL, he found himself part of a Blackhawks team that still had some of that 2010-2015 dynasty shine left on them. Hinostroza has battled injuries and consistency throughout his career and was a casualty of Chicago's cap crunch as they sent him to Arizona in order to get out from Marian Hossa's contract. Consistency aside, Hinostroza has scored a very respectable 100 points in 246 career games in the NHL and has talent that could be of value to a young team like Ottawa when he's on his game.

7th Round, 196th Overall

Actual Pick: Mikael Wikstrand - D

Despite never playing an NHL game, Wikstrand was a decent choice with the team's last pick. He was a fairly regular player for Mora IK of the Swedish Allsvenskan in his draft year and after seeing his role and production increase the following two seasons he was picked up by Frolunda in the Swedish top division. While the Sens did sign him to an entry level deal and still hold his NHL rights, they've been unable to lure him away from Europe where he currently plays for Ak-Bars Kazan in the KHL.

Updated Pick: Nikita Gusev - LW (202nd Overall, Tampa Bay Lightning)

From one risky pick to another, the Sens end up taking Nikita Gusev with their 7th rounder. Originally drafted by the Lightning, Gusev quickly became a young star in the KHL and showed little desire to come over to North America. Tampa Bay traded his rights to Vegas who couldn't entice him over either, so they eventually gave up and flipped him to New Jersey, where he finally signed and put up 13 goals and 44 points in 66 games on a bad Devils team. While Gusev has the potential to be a top-end talent, there's no guarantee Ottawa would have been able to sign him or if they would have followed in the path of Tampa Bay and Vegas and given up on him. However, with Joakim Ryan the only other bona fide NHLer left on the board, the risks seems worth it.


After adding loads of talent in 2010 and especially 2011, this version of the Ottawa Senators added Tomas Hertl, Frederik Andersen, Colton Parayko, Jaccob Slavin, Connor Brown, Vinny Hinostroza, and Nikita Gusev to what is becoming a dominant prospect pool. In the actual 2012 draft, the Sens took a number of risks that didn't pan out. While it's normally wise to take the safest picks available in the draft, the updated selections of Andersen, Hinostroza, and Gusev all carry different types of risk even with the benefit of hindsight. Going into this draft, I was confident I would be able to improve on a disastrous draft. While it would be hard to argue that I haven't accomplished that, it's worth noting how many risks were required in order to get the highest possible ceiling in a draft class.

Drafts Revisited: 2011

With the NHL and virtually every other sports league on pause, many media types are looking for ways to fill pages with something resembling news. One of the most popular ways this has been done is through historical redrafts. With this in mind, I thought it might be a good opportunity to look back at some of the Senators' drafts and see what could have been while also addressing some of the issues I have with how this exercise is normally done.

One thing about how redrafts are usually done that's always bothered me is the amount of hindsight used. Take this recent 2014 redraft as an example. While David Pastrnak is certainly one of the top players taken in the draft, there's no way that Florida would have taken him 24 spots higher than he actually went at first overall. I've put in some ground rules to address this as well as a few others.

• If the pick is in the top 5, you players taken up to 5 spots after can be chosen. For top 10 picks it's 10 spots. For the rest of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounds, players can be taken one full round (usually 30 picks) before they were actually selected. For the 4th round and beyond, any player is on the table (accept for undrafted players, because that would hurt my brain).
• No trades or undoing trades. While ideally Ottawa would have taken Vladimir Tarasenko with their 1st rounder in 2010 instead of trading it for David Rundblad, we won't be undoing that trade here. While it definitely relates to the draft, it begins to wander too far into the other parts of a GM's job for this. Likewise, we won't be packaging picks to trade up or vice versa.
• Everything can be taken into account. If a player had one great season but otherwise was average, that can be better than a player whose had a solid career, or not depending on circumstances. Positional needs? Value for a possible later trade? Hair colour? Everything is on the table, much like in a real draft.

Last time we took a look at the 2010 Draft where the Sens only had 4 picks but managed to snag Mark Stone in the 6th round. I stuck with Stone with that pick but added some more talent to the team ahead of him in the higher rounds.

Today, we'll jump ahead one year to 2011, where the team had a whopping 10 picks including 3 first rounders. This draft is a good one to look at in the lead-up to 2020 where Ottawa currently have 13 picks and 3 first rounders yet again. But instead of simply looking back at some of the stellar picks they made, let's also look at ways that they could have made even better picks with another redraft.

1st Round, 6th Overall

Actual Pick: Mika Zibanejad - C

After a 9 game trial following his draft season, the Sens sent Zibanejad back to Sweden where he continued his solid play from his draft year. After a stint in Binghamton during the 2012-13 lockout, Zibanejad scored 7 times in 42 games as the Sens made the playoffs in the shortened season. From there, he developed into a solid offensive player good for 20 goals. His biggest successes, however, came after he was sent to the Rangers in the 2016 off-season for Derick Brassard. Last season he topped 30 goals for the first time and had 41 in only 57 games this year before the season was paused. Brassard, for his part, was a key player in the 2017 playoff run but quickly fell off afterwards, but not before Pierre Dorion scored a king's ransom from Pittsburgh ahead of the 2018 deadline.

Updated Pick: Sean Couturier - C (8th Overall, Philadelphia Flyers)

While Zibanejad did turn out to be a very nice pick at 6th overall (trade aside), Sean Couturier is too tempting to pass up. Couturier jumped into the league a year ahead of Zibanejad and found a role as a two-way force almost immediately. He's scored over 30 goals in each of the past two seasons and had 22 in 69 games this year while transitioning from analytics darling to legitimate star. On top of this, his two-way ability more closely resembles what the team was looking for when they shipped Zibanejad to New York for Brassard in 2016, making it possible that Dorion would not have given up on a potential top line centre for immediate help.

1st Round, 21st Overall

Actual Pick: Stefan Noesen - RW

Noesen led the Plymouth Whalers in both points and penalty minutes in his draft season, making him a tantalizingly gritty player to take with the 21st pick of the draft. Noesen was the prospect traded for Bobby Ryan on a busy July 5, 2013 which saw Alfredsson leave while Ryan and Clarke MacArthur arrived, signalling the start of a new era for the team. Noesen never latched on in Anaheim and has since played for New Jersey, Pittsburgh and San Jose. While he's been able to secure a fairly steady NHL job and carved out a reputation as a solid defensive player, it's safe to say he's not the player the Sens or the Ducks hoped they were getting.

Updated Pick: Brandon Saad - LW (43rd Overall, Chicago Blackhawks)

After passing on Mika Zibanejad at 6th, the alternate Sens take a player who was once traded for Zibanejad's future teammate Artemi Panarin in Brandon Saad. This continues the trend of solid two-way forwards with offensive touch, as Saad is a fairly reliable 20 goal scorer who has topped 30 once in his career. While most of his success has come on loaded Blackhawks teams, it's worth noting that his 31 goal season was with the Blue Jackets and he was on pace for 29 goals on a bad Chicago squad this season.

1st Round, 24th Overall

Actual Pick: Matt Puempel - LW

After putting up over a point per game on an awful Peterborough Petes team in his draft year, the Sens used their second first round pick on Puempel. While he continued to put up big numbers, including a 30 goal campaign in his first full AHL season, Puempel was never able to transfer his scoring touch to the NHL, netting only 4 goals in 52 games with Ottawa. His best offensive stretch came in 2016-17 when he was claimed off waivers by the Rangers and scored 6 times in 27 games. This season, he's been unable to crack the roster of the historically bad Red Wings.

Updated Pick: William Karlsson - C (53rd Overall, Anaheim Ducks)

While I would have taken Karlsson over Saad, he fell just outside of the 30 pick boundary for reaching on a pick in the first three rounds. Taken in the second round, Karlsson was looking unremarkable for most of his career. That is until the Vegas Golden Knights took him in the 2017 Expansion Draft. Karlsson scored 43 times in 2017-18, more than doubling his career total and centred the team's top line in their unbelievable finals run in their inaugural season. While he hasn't come particularly close to matching that lofty goal total in the past two season, he's remained one of the team's top players and an excellent play driver as he and Paul Stastny give Vegas one of the league's top 1-2 punches down the middle. While the team went for two-way play with the first two picks, Karlsson gives them some offensive flair and fire power that should help with the loss of Zibanejad. John Gibson was a tempting option with this pick after he looked to be establishing himself as one of the league's top netminders, but his struggles this year go to show that even with the benefit of foresight, picking a goalie still presents its share of risk.

2nd Round, 61st Overall

Actual Pick: Shane Prince - LW

Ottawa took one of the 67's top offensive weapons with the final pick of the 2nd round, but Prince never really lived up to his OHL numbers. Although he did scored 20 goals twice with Binghamton, he only managed 3 goals in 44 games with Ottawa before they traded him and a 7th round pick to the Islanders for a 3rd. While he was marginally better on Long Island, he never was able to stick in the lineup and has played the past two seasons in Europe, currently with Dynamo Minsk in the KHL.

Updated Pick: Vincent Trocheck - C (64th Overall, Florida Panthers)

Before he fell victim to Florida's analytics purge at the trade deadline this year, Trocheck was one of the team's most reliable players. While an injuring in 2018-19, coming off his first (and so far only) 30 goal season, may ultimately prevent him from reaching his full-potential, he's another player that fits the Sean Couturier mold that, as the GM of the alternate dimension Sens, I've been targeting. Jordan Binnington is the other option with this pick, but just like with John Gibson, there's still too much uncertainty in his game to justify passing on Trocheck.

4th Round, 96th Overall

Actual Pick: Jean-Gabriel Pageau - C

After getting into 9 games during the lockout shortened 2013 season, Pageau was crucial to the Sens upsetting Montreal in the first round of the playoffs with a hat-trick in game 3 of the series. He also scored 4 goals, including the double OT winner, in game 2 of the 2017 2nd round series against the Rangers. These two performances, which rank in the upper echelon of Ottawa Senators' playoff moments, made him a fan favourite. When he wasn't turning into Mario Lemieux in the playoffs, Pageau was a rock solid two-way player who could be counted on to provide double digit goals year in and year out. After a promotion to the first line this year, Pageau scored 24 times in 60 games before being traded to and subsequently signing an extension with the New York Islanders. Fittingly, the trade got Ottawa a first and second round pick in the 2020 draft, which has many drawing comparisons to the 2011 Sens draft where Pageau was taken.

Updated Pick: Johnny Gaudreau - LW (104th Overall, Calgary Flames)

Lord forgive me for this. While Pageau topped 20 goals for the first time in his career this year, Gaudreau has done it 4 times and was on pace to do it again this season. He's also scored 30 twice, including a career high 36 in 2018-19 where he also notched a career high in points with 99. While he's not the two-way presence Pageau is and has struggled along with many on the Flames this season, he's certainly the better player as well as a legitimate top-line scoring threat. While it hurts to lose all the memories that Pageau's provided for the franchise, having Johnny Gaudreau on the team makes Ottawa a much better team. And if you really can't bear to lose the chant, Gaudreau and Pageau do rhyme.

5th Round, 126th Overall

Actual Pick: Fredrik Claesson - D

A solid two-way defenceman, Claesson is part of the reason that makes this draft class so special for the Sens, despite the lack of success in the early rounds, the team continued to find talent with their later picks. While he was never a particularly high-end player, Claesson played a big role in the team's 2016-17 success, with a career-high 3 goals in only 33 games. The team moved on after the 2017-18 season and he played 37 games with the Rangers the following year. After being signed by the Hurricanes in the off-season, Claesson spent his entire time with the organization in the minors before getting a chance with the Devils as part of the Sami Vatanen trade. While he may only be a borderline NHLer, the Sens did well to get some solid production out of a 5th round pick.

Updated Pick: Andrew Shaw - RW (139th Overall, Chicago Blackhawks)

After establishing himself as a elite level grinder and pest with a goal-scoring touch for the Blackhawks, winning two cups in the process, Shaw wound up in Montreal as a cap casualty, where he would often be front and centre in battles with the rival Senators. Shaw is a solid two-way player but his offence hasn't quite reached the level it looked like it might, as his 20 goal 2013-14 season still stands as his career high, despite being only his third one in the league. This season, Shaw found himself back in Chicago but has battled injuries and his future production may be due to take a dive. That said, he was a very nice player for 8 seasons and a major part of the 2015 Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks, and his grit replaces some of what the team lost by taking Gaudreau instead of Pageau one round earlier.

6th Round, 156th Overall

Actual Pick: Darren Kramer - LW

One of the only two picks from this Sens' class not to make it to the NHL, Kramer was a player from a bygone era. Playing for the Spokane Chiefs in 2010-11, Kramer amassed a whopping 306(!) PIM in 68 games. He kept that pace up in the pros, topping out at 284 PIM in 2014-15 with Binghamton. Unfortunately for Kramer while he once scored 22 goals in junior, he never reached double digits at any pro level and is now playing in senior leagues.

Updated Pick: Josh Manson - D (160th Overall, Anaheim Ducks)

The actual 2011 draft saw the Sens take 5 forwards with the first 5 picks, we go one step further waiting until the 7th pick to finally take a defenceman. Manson was a force on the blueline with the BCHL's Salmon Arm Silverbacks, scoring 12 goals and earning 80 PIM in 57 games during his draft season. He hasn't changed much since his debut in the 2014-15 season. For his career he's scored 21 goals and been given 348 PIM in 385 games, all with Anaheim. While he may not be the most skilled or even most effective player, Manson gives Ottawa a pillar on the blueline with the ability to chip in a handful of goals a year.

6th Round, 171st Overall

Actual Pick: Max McCormick - LW

It's hard to call a player with 10 points in 71 career games a steal, but Max McCormick provides the Sens with plenty of bang for their buck in the late rounds. Much like Darren Kramer, McCormick had triple digit PIM in his draft year, with 102 for the USHL's Sioux City Musketeers. Unlike Kramer, however, backed that up with continued offensive success. Over three seasons at Ohio State, McCormick averaged nearly a point per game while still being physical and a thorn in the side of the opposition. McCormick continued to play with a mean streak in Binghamton, notching triple digit PIM and double digit goals in all of his three full seasons with the B-Sens. While he was never able to transfer his offensive abilities to the NHL, he played the role of pest beautifully in parts of 4 seasons with Ottawa before being shipped to Colorado for prospect JC Beaudin in 2019.

Updated Pick: Dylan DeMelo - D (179th Overall, San Jose Sharks)

The man, the myth, the legend himself. Dylan DeMelo became a fan favourite in parts of two seasons with the Senators, not just for his steady presence but also for his legendary acting chops on social media. Now, the team is able to get him seven years earlier without having to lose Erik Karlsson in the process. Much like Manson, DeMelo gives the Sens a defensive force on the blueline, although DeMelo is a more skill-based defender while Manson's strength is physicality. DeMelo may not be able to do much offensively, with only 7 goals in 269 career games, but on a blueline that already has Erik Karlsson and with 2010 pick John Klingberg waiting in the wings, a calm and cautious player fits the bill perfectly.

7th Round, 186th Overall

Actual Pick: Jordan Fransoo - D

The other player, along with Darren Kramer, from this year's Sens' class not to make the NHL, Fransoo was a physical defensive defenceman out of the WHL. Fransoo never did end up signing with Ottawa, and instead attended the University of Saskatchewan for four years before playing in small leagues in Western Canada.

Updated Pick: Ondrej Palat - LW (208th Overall, Tampa Bay)

A stand-out 39 goal performance in his final year of draft eligibility was enough for Tampa to take the 20-year old with one of the draft's last picks. He burst onto the scene soon after with a 23 goal rookie season in 2013-14 followed up by a 63 point sophomore campaign the following year. While he's cooled off a bit since, sitting around the 40 point mark and just under 20 goals most seasons, he's been an integral part to the dominant squads the Lightning have put together in recent years and would have been a steal for Ottawa in the seventh round.

7th Round, 204th Overall

Actual (and Updated) Pick: Ryan Dzingel - C

At the time, Dzingel was playing in the still mostly unheralded USHL for the Lincoln Stars, but was putting up solid offensive numbers. Nothing in his subsequent years at Ohio State, Binghamton, or even Ottawa would have particularly suggested that he would one day be a 20 goal scorer. But his skill eventually blossomed as he was a key piece to the 2016-17 Sens before breaking out with 23 and 26 goals in 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively on lesser teams. He was sent to Columbus ahead of the 2019 trade deadline and has not been especially productive for Carolina this season, but for a player taken after 203 others, he's carved himself out a nice career.


The Sens 2011 draft played a major part in shaping the successes the team would have during the 2010s. Despite the stellar draft, I was able to find 9 better picks as the team ends up with Sean Couturier, Brandon Saad, William Karlsson, Vincent Trocheck, Johnny Gaudreau, Andrew Shaw, Josh Manson, Dylan DeMelo, and Ondrej Palat, with only Ryan Dzingel remaining. If there's a lesson in this it's probably that while there are often better players available, picking a cohort of solid NHL players like the Sens did in 2011 is no small feat. Does this mean I should stop this exercise given that there's no real benefit? Of course not! In 2012, the only NHLers the team drafted were Cody Ceci and Chris Driedger. With 7 picks and the benefit of full hindsight, we should be able to improve this team even more next time!

Drafts Revisted: 2010

With the NHL and virtually every other sports league on pause, many media types are looking for ways to fill pages with something resembling news. One of the most popular ways this has been done is through historical redrafts. With this in mind, I thought it might be a good opportunity to look back at some of the Senators' drafts and see what could have been while also addressing some of the issues I have with how this exercise is normally done.

One thing about how redrafts are usually done that's always bothered me is the amount of hindsight used. Take this recent 2014 redraft as an example. While David Pastrnak is certainly one of the top players taken in the draft, there's no way that Florida would have taken him 24 spots higher than he actually went at first overall. I've put in some ground rules to address this as well as a few others.

• If the pick is in the top 5, you players taken up to 5 spots after can be chosen. For top 10 picks it's 10 spots. For the rest of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounds, players can be taken one full round (usually 30 picks) before they were actually selected. For the 4th round and beyond, any player is on the table (accept for undrafted players, because that would hurt my brain).
• No trades or undoing trades. While ideally Ottawa would have taken Vladimir Tarasenko with their 1st rounder in 2010 instead of trading it for David Rundblad, we won't be undoing that trade here. While it definitely relates to the draft, it begins to wander too far into the other parts of a GM's job for this. Likewise, we won't be packaging picks to trade up or vice versa.
• Everything can be taken into account. If a player had one great season but otherwise was average, that can be better than a player whose had a solid career, or not depending on circumstances. Positional needs? Value for a possible later trade? Hair colour? Everything is on the table, much like in a real draft.

With all that in mind, let's take a look at the draft that took place one decade ago in 2010. The Sens didn't pick until the 3rd round, but let's see if we can still find some value in the later rounds.

3rd Round, 76th Overall

Actual Pick: Jakub Culek - LW

After a few seasons in Czech junior leagues, Culek played for the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL in his draft year, notching 47 points in 63 games. Culek's intriguing blend of size, skill, and two-way play made him a player worth taking a shot on early on day 2 of the draft. Culek's career didn't go the way he or the team would have hoped, as he spent most of his time with the team in the ECHL before eventually heading back to his native Czech Republic in 2015. He played a few games for Plzen that season but hasn't played since, save for a brief cameo HC Chotikov B in the Czech 7th division this season, a team with an average age over 36 and two players in their fifties.

Updated Pick: Bryan Rust - RW (80th Overall, Pittsburgh Penguins)

The same season Culek was out of the Sens organization, Rust made his debut with Pittsburgh, scoring a goal and notching two points in 14 games. The next year he scored 4 times in 41 games and added 6 more during the playoffs as the Penguins won their first of two consecutive Stanley Cups. Before this season was postponed, Rust had a career-high 27 goals in 55 games while firmly placing himself consistently in the Penguins' top 6. A player of Rust's calibre would either be a key piece to the the Sens both today and in the future, or have received a haul similar or perhaps greater than the one they got for Ryan Dzingel.

4th Round, 106th Overall

Actual Pick: Marcus Sorensen - LW

The team actually did pretty well for themself with this pick, drafting a solid two-way player who notched 17 goals in 2018-19. Unfortunately he did that for the Sharks as the Sens never signed Sorensen to an entry-level contract, allowing him to sign with San Jose in 2016.

Updated Pick: John Klingberg - D (131st Overall, Dallas Stars)

Klingberg was never a star in the Swedish junior leagues, but played well enough that Dallas thought he was worth using a late pick on. Klingberg broke through with Frolunda in 2013-14 and continued his stellar play the next year in North America. That year he broke into the NHL and immediately became one of the league's top offensive blueliners and has continued to develop his defensive game to become a high-end all-around player. This progression is similar to the one Erik Karlsson was in the middle of at this time and what the team was probably looking for when they drafted Cody Ceci in 2012. While Klingberg may have ultimately followed Karlsson out of town as a Senator, the four years they would have had together would have given Ottawa one of the leagues top bluelines and may have even given the team reason to keep the core together.

6th Round, 178th Overall

Actual (and Updated) Pick: Mark Stone - RW

There's really no debate over this pick, with Frederik Andersen the only other available player even worth considering (and he ended up re-entering the draft in 2012, creating a multiverse that my mind is not equipped to consider right now). Stone broke out immediately after his draft year, scoring 106 points for the Brandon Wheat Kings in 2010-11. When he made the team full-time in 2014-15, he immediately scored at least 20 goals in 5 straight seasons, notching 33 last year (although the last 5 came with the Golden Knights) and had 21 for Vegas in 65 games before the season was suspended this year. Stone also developed into one of the games premier two-way players and is beginning to finally see some Selke love outside of the analytics community. Now, while this ranking would suggest that I'd have Stone lower than Klingberg, that is not the case. Here is a perfect example of what I meant when I outlined that anything could be considered. In this case, I knew Stone would still be available with the 178th pick, whereas Klingberg was not. So, much like a real NHL GM would, I chose to take Klingberg ahead of Stone to maximize the value of the draft. Does removing the risk of Stone going off the board and having to settle for Frederik Andersen and the multiverse of madness make this unrealistic? Absolutely but so is the entire concept of deciding that only the Sens can benefit from hindsight. We've still got one more pick to make so we better move on before this world I've created begins to collapse in on me.

7th Round, 196th Overall

Actual Pick: Bryce Aneloski - D

Aneloski was an offensive defencemen who put up good numbers for Cedar Rapids of the USHL in his draft year, scoring 15 goals and 54 points in 60 games. His impressive college numbers during three years at Nebraska wasn't enough to convince the Sens, or any NHL team, to sign him though, as he latched on with the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL. From there Aneloski would keep putting up good to great numbers in the ECHL but could never even stick in the AHL and ultimately never came close to making the NHL. He last played for the ECHL's Kansas City Mavericks in 2017-18.

Updated Pick: Zach Trotman - D (210th Overall, Boston Bruins)

Trotman was the last player taken in 2010 and doesn't particularly stand out, then or now. Trotman had a decent freshman year at Lake Superior State which was apparently all the Bruins needed to see to make him Mr. Irrelevant in 2010. While he's not the only player available to have cracked the NHL, he does have something the others don't: a proven ability to score in the NHL. Trotman's three career goals are three more than the rest of the available players combined. His 91 career games blows past second place Patrick Holland's 5. While Trotman hasn't scored since 2014-15, he has played 8 games for the Penguins this year, making him the only real option for the Sens to take at this point. He's no star, hell, he's barely an NHLer, but while there is the occasional Pavel Datsyuk in the late rounds, often finding a guy who can make the team in the 7th is a major victory.


So there you have it, the Senators have added Bryan Rust, John Klingberg, and Zach Trotman to their 2010 prospect pool, a definite boost to a team who's about to go through a rebuild after seeing their Stanley Cup window slam shut in the coming season. Next time, we'll look at the 2011 draft which ended up playing a major part in shaping the future of the team. Does the team still end up with the likes of Zibanejad, Pageau, and Dzingel? And what about the other two first round picks? Only fake time travel gimmicks will tell...