By Ken Campbell, Features Writer
The hockey gods said there’d be days like these, so it’s not as though the young man was terribly surprised or upset. At an Oshawa Generals’ home game in the dog days of the season, those same hockey gods took a break from the season-long heater that Beckett Sennecke was on to deliver him the game’s version of a week-old egg salad sandwich.
Not only was his team taken to the woodshed by the tune of 6-1 to a far inferior OHL squad, but Sennecke had one of those days where absolutely nothing went right. In the first period, he was sprung for a breakaway, only to bobble the puck before almost going face-first into the end boards. He completely whiffed on two one-timers on the power play and had another shot hit the inside of the post. He thought it was in. The officials respectfully disagreed. He led all players with six shots on goal that night, and all he had to show for it was a minus-two. “You get those games,” Sennecke said. “You get games where everything goes in and the ones where nothing goes in.”
As far as bumps in the road, there haven’t been too many of them of late for Sennecke. But there have been some craters, to be sure. An injury suffered in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final forced him to miss the OHL championship, where his teammates fell to the London Knights in four. And, of course, he was one of the highest-profile cuts of Canada’s team for the 2025 world juniors. More on that later.
And there have been some great moments, probably the best of which came at the Sphere in Las Vegas when the Anaheim Ducks shocked both Sennecke and the hockey world by taking him third overall in the 2024 NHL draft. What followed was one of the most authentic and genuine reactions a kid has ever had to being drafted. Upon the selection, made by Ducks legend Scott Niedermayer, Sennecke turned to his parents and said, “Oh my God. Oh my God,” then came up with, “What the f---?” before hugging his father. It was the moment of the draft, and the Ducks really leaned into it, producing T-shirts with Sennecke’s bewildered look and a caption underneath that read, “What the…” followed by the Ducks logo. “My mom and people in my family bought a few of them,” Sennecke said. “It was good fun. It was a great moment that will stick with me for the rest of my life.”
Sennecke’s reaction to being taken third overall turned into a viral sensation and landed him on a team T-shirt.
Many hockey people had the same reaction – and asked the same question – when Sennecke was cut from Canada’s WJC team in December. It was interesting because, in the case of Sennecke and WHL scoring leader Andrew Cristall in particular, the second-guessing began the moment the cuts were announced and only intensified as Canada struggled to create offense in the tournament before losing in the quarterfinal. In retrospect, Sennecke brings exactly what the team lacked: a bigger guy who goes hard to the net and has a dangerous shot. In the four games prior to the selection camp, Sennecke had 14 points, and in the 13 games after being cut, he racked up 24 points. The fact the OHL named Sennecke as its player of the month for December represented a nice little bit of lemon juice on the wound to the Canadian hockey psyche. It brought up a lot of criticism of how Canada does things for this event, but the reality was that Sennecke didn’t do enough during camp to sway the team’s brain trust. And Canada has won a ton of gold medals using the same formula in the past. “I told him when it happened, ‘Listen, Michael Jordan got cut, and you’re not the first guy ever to get cut, even if you felt you deserved to make the team,’” said Ducks GM Pat Verbeek. “And it’s a lesson. You can never take your foot off the gas, and there’s no resting on your laurels.”
"You can never take your foot off the gas, and there's no resting on your laurels."- Ducks GM Pat Verbeek
Unless he makes the Ducks as a full-time NHLer next season, which is unlikely, Sennecke will have an opportunity to make the 2026 WJC team as a front-line player. And, this season, he’ll also have the chance to be a part of another long playoff run with the Generals, who were near the top of the OHL’s Eastern Conference. For his part, Sennecke doesn’t dwell too much on the cut from the Canadian team, reasoning that it gave him a chance to go back to the Gens early and continue his fine season. Certainly, his play after the cut gave no reason to believe he was in the doldrums. Next year, Sennecke could follow the path carved by Oshawa teammate and Colorado Avalanche prospect Calum Ritchie, who spent seven games in the NHL before being sent back to junior and playing for the Canadian team.
As Sennecke emerges from Oshawa’s dressing room with matted hair and wearing a hoodie, it’s impossible not to notice how slight he is. Verbeek said Sennecke has grown an inch since being drafted, which would make him 6-foot-4, but he’s still carrying only about 195 pounds. There is a lot to like there – “Some of it I don’t think he even realizes it yet,” said Verbeek – in addition to his size. His long body and stick are a magnet for loose pucks, and he’s an elite playmaker and finisher in the offensive zone. But much of Sennecke’s development over the next few years will come off the ice. “I’m not much of a fortune teller, but the biggest thing is just getting stronger,” Sennecke said. “I have a workout plan in-season and in the off-season, (the Ducks) are obviously going to crack down on me, and their biggest focus is on me getting stronger. I even noticed in camp, guys were so much faster and stronger, and you have to be able to win puck battles against those guys.”
Sennecke has vaulted himself into the public zeitgeist, but before being chosen, he wasn’t even the most famous person in his family. His mother, former Canadian national volleyball team member Candice Olson, is one of North America’s top interior designers and was the star of Divine Design and Candice Tells All, two long-running series that aired on networks that hockey fans generally don’t watch. That, however, doesn’t mean her son is in touch with his textures and colors and matching drapes. For Sennecke, chartreuse could have been a defenseman named Rick who played for the Canadiens in the 1970s. “My room is a mess most of the time,” he said. “She always comes in and starts losing her mind. She’s big into lighting, and she always likes it so dim. And I’m like, ‘Mom, I can’t see my food in front of me. Can we turn the lights up a little?’”
"I'm not a fortune teller, but the biggest thing is just getting stronger."- Beckett Sennecke
If things go the way both he and the Ducks are hoping, the future will be bright enough that Beckett Sennecke won’t have to worry about turning up the lights.
This article appeared in our 2025 Future Watch issue. Our cover story focuses on Ducks prospect Beckett Sennecke, who is tearing it up with the OHL's Oshawa Generals this season. We also include features on other exceptional NHL prospects, including: Zayne Parekh, Porter Martone, Gavin McKenna and more. In addition, we look at the top 10 prospects in the pipeline for each of the 32 NHL clubs.
You can get it in print for free when you subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/Free today. All subscriptions include complete access to more than 76 years of articles at The Hockey News Archive.