Scouts are meeting to rank prospects for the draft
Ottawa has two first-round draft picks, including one gained from Penguins
The weather outside is finally conducive to swinging the sticks, but the Ottawa Senators’ scouting staff is taking a pass on the nice weather.
Instead, as duffers pursue good scores, the people who will help chart the future for the organization are behind closed doors at the Canadian Tire Centre trying to ensure that the Senators score good prospects at next month’s NHL draft in Dallas.
Led by chief amateur scout Trent Mann, the Senators’ scouts are spending the week in meetings, ranking the prospects. By the time they leave Friday, they ’ll have a list of about 125 players that will form a large portion of their final rankings when they sit down in Dallas on June 22-23.
With two picks in the first round, including the No. 4 selection, the Senators were wearing wide smiles late Monday when they learned they ’ll also have the No. 22 selection after the Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated in Game 6 of Round 2 by the Washington Capitals.
That pick was acquired, along with top-prospect goalie Filip Gustavsson, before the trade deadline in the deal that sent centre Derick Brassard to the Penguins.
“Moving up to No. 22 is pretty important,” Mann told Postmedia during a break in the meetings.
“With Pittsburgh in the mix, there’s a chance you could always move down to the end of the first round because of their past history in the Stanley Cup playoffs. For them to get beat out (Monday), the staff were pretty excited about the opportunity.”
Though the Senators were hoping to get the No. 1 pick when the draft lottery was held April 28 at the CBC studios in Toronto, Mann believes the club will do well with the No. 4 overall selection.
He was watching Hockey Night in Canada with his family on the Saturday night when the Buffalo Sabres won the sweepstakes to get the No. 1 pick overall, which is expected to be Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin.
“I had just got back from Russia and the under-18 (championships). My family was with me and we were watching intently, and my son was probably more upset than I was,” Mann said with a smile.
“You’re disappointed because with the one player (Dahlin) there’s not a lot of discussion. You pretty much know 31 teams are going to pick that player, and that makes your job a little easier because you’re getting a pretty special player. Now, all bets are off and it could go any way.
“At No. 4 we could get our No. 2 guy. It depends on what the teams in front of us decide to do. Do they draft based on their needs? Now, there’s a change (at the top) in Carolina and we don’t know how that changes things for them. There’s a lot of factors that come into play.”
Judging by the lists from the Central Scouting Bureau, the next three players ranked after Dahlin are Filip Zadina of the Halifax Mooseheads, Andrei Svechnikov of the Barrie Colts and Brady Tkachuk from Boston University. All three are forwards and all are considered difference-makers.
A lot of what happens for the Senators depends on what takes place in front of them with the Carolina Hurricanes at No. 2 and the Montreal Canadiens at No. 3. Ottawa already has strong prospects with forwards Alex Formenton (London), Drake Batherson (Blainville-Boisbriand) and Logan Brown (Kitchener) in the organization.
“We’re simply going on who’s the next-best guy,” Mann said. “The staff will battle it out. We’ll debate, fight about it and come to a consensus at the end of the day.”
The Senators know they’re going to get someone who can help, and that’s what they need after finishing 30th overall last season. Once the Senators arrive in Dallas, the staff will have a better idea of what players might actually be available.
“We have a chance to get a player that could play next year,” Mann said. “That’s a possibility, and if not, you’re still getting a player that could help us and be a real good player for us down the road. We’re confident in that part and it’s just a matter of us getting through the process and figuring it out in each spot.”
The Senators have done a lot of work on the top 10 guys on their list, and general manager Pierre Dorion, who has a background in scouting, has participated.
“As the year progressed and we really weren’t doing that well, it became important for us to really get to know those top nine or 10 guys,” Mann said. “We did the same thing for Pierre and it was important for Pierre to get out there to see who we’re considering, and he did that for us.
“That can only help us because it’s just another set of qualified hands that can help us in our decision and in our discussions.”
The talks the Senators’ staff are having this week are healthy because many scouts feel passionate about players.
“They’re actually enjoyable and they get pretty heated at times,” Mann said. “There’s a respect there and the whole idea is to debate it hard so that the information is out there so we can make the best decision on those players.
“At the end of the day, we go for dinner. I like the heated discussions because you know a guy feels strongly about that player. That makes it easier to make a decision because we know the players we really feel strongly about.”
We have a chance to get a player that could play next year. That’s a possibility, and if not, you’re still getting a player that could help us and be a real good player for us down the road.