The Anaheim Ducks Select Beckett Sennecke With the Third Overall Pick
With the third-overall selection in the 2024 NHL Draft, the Anaheim Ducks selected forward Beckett Sennecke from the Oshawa Generals of the OHL.
The Anaheim Ducks Select Beckett Sennecke With the Third Overall PickPat Verbeek and the Anaheim Ducks delivered the first surprise of the NHL Draft when they selected forward Beckett Sennecke from the Oshawa Generals of the OHL with their third overall pick.
Every mock draft from media scouting experts had the Ducks selecting one of the top defensemen in the draft, but the Ducks had other plans.
How We Got Here
Seemingly every draft has a "late-riser" according to public scouts, and this year it was Sennecke. He rose up draft boards as quickly as he rose up tape measures. He was 5-foot-10 and 150 pounds when he entered the OHL before the 2022-23 season. He now stands at nearly 6-foot-3 and 182 pounds. All indications are that he's growing still.
"I always laugh about that. We’ve talked about this internally over the years," Ducks Assistant GM and Director of Amateur Scouting Martin Madden told local media last week when asked about late-rising prospects. "Late risers. Late risers for whom? That general kind of talk, it really is amongst public lists. Somebody rises on a public list and now he’s a late riser. Well, not really. We don’t really pay that much attention except to get a sense of what the market looks like for different players. We make our own assessments throughout the year and whether a player is going up or down on public lists before the draft, it really has no impact on our process."
From that statement, indications suggest Sennecke was on the Ducks radar long before he rose up draft boards.
"You have to look at the season or the previous two seasons as a whole to try to predict what the future five will look like," Madden added."So that’s the way we go about it."
Sennecke finished his 2023-24 campaign with 27 goals and 68 points in 63 regular season games. After a pedestrian start, he totaled 42 points in his team's final 34 games heading into the playoffs. During his playoff run, Sennecke scored 10 goals and 22 points in 16 games, leading the Generals to the OHL finals where they were eventually bested by the London Knights.
Reports linking Sennecke to the Ducks arose in mid-june and steam seemed to pick up since.
What He Brings
Sennecke blends a high hockey IQ with otherworldly hands to manipulate play with the puck on his stick. He can beat defenders with dangles, reach, protection skills, or the shear determination to get to dangerous ice.
He possesses a rare anticipation quality where if he doesn't have the puck on his stick, he soon will. He is a cerebral forechecker, consistently breaking up first passes on opposing breakouts. He reads how pucks will bounce loose from board battles so he can pick them up in stride. He's also perennially open as a passing option regardless of where the puck is on the ice.
Sennecke's skating can look a touch clunky at times, but remains powerful nonetheless. Growing more than four inches in two years would likely effect anyone's skating stride.
Sennecke is a 200-foot work horse of a forward who will win over those who doubted him in no time. Sound familiar? A little reminiscent of Leo Carlsson's selection at second-overall in the 2023 NHL Draft.