Former Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion once described acquiring defenceman Erik Brännström in exchange for Mark Stone as his proudest day as a GM. He would later walk back those comments—for obvious reasons.

But if you were to ask Dorion today what he is truly proud of from his tenure with the Senators, drafting defenceman Jake Sanderson and signing him to a long-term contract would surely be near the top of his list.

Sanderson was selected fifth overall by Dorion and his amateur scouting staff in the 2020 NHL Draft—a pick that some analysts initially considered a bit of a reach. Many pundits argued that if the Senators were set on drafting a defenceman at that stage, they should have targeted Jamie Drysdale instead.

But Sanderson's selection has proven to be an outstanding decision, as was the game plan to lock him up on an eight-year, $64.4 million contract, which will keep him in Ottawa until 2032.

Now in the first year of that deal, the 22-year-old Sanderson is emerging as one of the NHL’s best defencemen.

As TSN 1200's Graham Creech noted on social media during the club's win in Chicago, Sanderson is now among the league’s top-scoring defencemen for the calendar year. In fact, over the past two months, no NHL blueliner has more points than he does.

If there was ever any debate about who the Senators' No. 1 defenceman is in 2024-25, Sanderson has put that to deep rest. He holds a 12-point lead over Thomas Chabot in scoring with 42 points and ranks fourth overall on the team, just five points behind Brady Tkachuk.

Beyond the numbers, Sanderson is playing with increased confidence, using that elite skating ability to jump into the play more often. His smooth, powerful stride becomes more noticeable with each game, and any defensive lapses he encounters are often erased by that same uncommon burst of speed. He comes by it honestly—his father, Geoff Sanderson, was one of the fastest skaters in the league during his playing days.

What makes Sanderson’s emergence even more impressive is that he's elevated his game at the toughest time of the year. At this stage of the season, opponents are either battling for playoff positioning or fighting for jobs, and he continues to thrive under that pressure.

Like the rest of the Senators' young core, Sanderson is embracing the intensity of a playoff chase down the stretch.

“Yeah, it's exciting for sure,” Sanderson told TSN 1200's Gord Wilson in Washington this week. “Twenty-one games left or so right now. It's going to be tight. You know, you're looking at the standings—who's winning, who's losing, and whatnot—but we just try to keep it tight in the dressing room and focus on ourselves.”

That focus has helped Sanderson and his teammates avoid the kind of prolonged, season-destroying slumps that has plagued this team in the past. This season, Ottawa has gone through three losing streaks of four or five games, but each time, they’ve responded well—bouncing back from the first two with 10-2-1 runs. Their most recent skid, which ended on Saturday, has been followed up by an encouraging 2-0-1 stretch.

There's still a long road ahead, but it seems like the boys are becoming men.

Sanderson’s recent surge in confidence was likely bolstered by his participation in the Four Nations Face-Off, a true best-on-best that was a long time coming. It’s remarkable to think he began the event as Team USA’s seventh defenceman, only making the roster due to Quinn Hughes’ injury.

Those days of playing a supporting role are over. Jake Sanderson is set to be a star for the next decade.

By Steve Warne
Site Editor | The Hockey News Ottawa

This article is from The Hockey News Ottawa. For more Sens coverage all season long, be sure to bookmark THN Ottawa. And check out the latest articles below:

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