2025 Draft: Ottawa Senators Style

Senators draft an interesting group of prospects

Ottawa Senators Draft 2025

With NHL draft completed this past week the Ottawa Senators have added some interesting prospects to their system. Braedon Cootes and Bill Zonnon are two highly touted forwards who could make the Sens much more difficult to play against. In the later rounds the Sens took some low risk players and some fun gambles We will look at each of the picks and what the Sens saw in them.

Things started the day before the draft when Ottawa traded Nick Paul and 7 million dollars to San Jose for their round 1 pick which was at 22. Paul has been a solid contributor to Sens organization over the past 6 seasons. He is currently ranked 7^th (461) all time in games played for the Sens and 9^th in goals (60). “We just felt we needed to add to our youth and Nick Paul was the price we needed to pay. Our organization will miss his overall game but with what we were able to gain in the draft made it worthwhile,” GM Shere is how Steve Downs was quoted at the post draft press conference.

Pick By Pick here is how the Sens did, as analyzed by GM Downs

Overall Strategy

Our plan for the draft was to fill a need for a C who would play in our top 6. We also wanted a Goalie who was NHL ready and a D that would hopefully be rated in the next few years.

Round 1

22^nd overall: Braedon Cootes

When we made the trade to get pick 22 the started looking at the players who we thought would be available. Cootes was someone we really liked but had little hopes that he would still be there when we were selecting. When we were on the clock, the decision came down to Logan Hensler or Cootes. Cootes just was the obvious choice for us based on what we needed and his skill set. We love his on-ice play as well as his off-ice intangibles. We believe we have our top 6 C for many years to come.

#29 overall: Bill Zonnon

For months our scouting staff has loved watching Zonnon and we were always hopeful that he would fall to us at 29. When he was available there was no decision to be made. We see him as a middle 6 winger who is a skilled power forward with high end skill.

#78 overall: Amir Miftakov

With the struggles we have had over the past few seasons at goaltending we wanted to draft a goalie that was as close to NHL ready as possible. With Miftakov having signed with the NHL Hurricanes and the stats he has put up in the KHL over the past few seasons we felt he was the clear number one option for us. We were somewhat concerned that he would get drafted earlier but we refused to trade up as the price was too costly for what assets we had available. As with Zonnon, when Amir was available there was little consideration. We just made the pick and hope that our scouts were right.

#106 overall: Jonathan Toews

Drafting someone you know will be a Hall of Famer doesn’t come up that often. So, when we saw Toews still undrafted and knowing he will be returning to pro hockey this season we were quite happy to make the selection. It is a low-risk gamble that is almost impossible to not pay off in some way. Either we keep the player at a 1yr 2-million-dollar contract if he still has some game in his legs or we release him if he is not sufficiently rated. Average Jonathan Toews on a 1 yr 2-million-dollar contract should garner enough interest on the trade market to get a better pick then 106^th overall. Again this was another easy decision.

#111 overall: Lassi Thomson

When we found out that Ian Moore was not draft eligible we swiftly moved to our next, most NHL ready. Lassi Thomson has just returned to the NHL Senators and has a chance to make the team this upcoming season. This pick has some risk but with any 4^th round pick there is a large chance the player never makes the NHL  and since Thomson was a former NHL first rounder we thought there was great value here in taking him.

#138 overall: Austin Roest

Roest is a former 6^th round pick by the Nashville Predators in the 2023 NHL draft. We have watched his progress over the past few years and we felt that he has better then his draft position and deserved a chance to be on our roster. He is a solid two player who has improved his offensive game this past season. We will watch him closely this upcoming season and see if is worth keeping a roster spot.

#170 overall: Atro Leppanen

We were pleasantly surprised that he was still available at this point of the draft. He is an offensive minded defenseman with tremendous skill but glaring weaknesses in his own end. If he can earn a spot this season with the NHL Oilers Leppanen could be the biggest steal of this draft.

#194 overall: Borya Valis

A big late bloomer whose game has progressed over the past few seasons to a point where the NHL Maple Leafs signed Valis to a contract a few months ago. The Leafs have a weak farm system and a need for players who play bottom six roles in their organization we thought Valis would be a solid gamble to potentially earn a way into the Leafs lineup. For a seventh round pick we felt it was worth it.

#196 overall: William Nicholl

This pick was simply me selecting a guy I love to watch play. He plays anywhere and everywhere he is needed and plays with energy and skill. Although we feel his ceiling is as a fourth liner in the NHL, we also want players who play like him in our organization.

#202 overall: Danil Aimurzin

This is completely a homerun swing. Aimurzin had a 30 goal season this past year in the KHL and we think he may wish to make a move next year to North America. Again, using a 7^th round pick in this situation makes perfect sense to us. Lots of upside for only a seventh rounder.