At the NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday, the Senators learned they would draft seventh overall in next month's NHL Amateur Entry draft.
After a wild roller coaster NHL season, the Ottawa Senators were hoping things might stay crazy at the NHL Draft Lottery on Tuesday night. But based on the odds, the lottery went exactly the way it was expected to.
The Sens entered the lottery with the seventh-best chance (6.5%) of getting the first overall selection. They didn't move up or drop down, so they'll select seventh overall at next month's draft.
The San Jose Sharks were the NHL's worst team and the ping pong balls fell in such a way (no one has a clue) that the Sharks will draft first overall.
The Sharks will almost certainly take Boston University's Macklin Celebrini. He's everybody's number one, and most people think Ivan Demidov is number two. But once you hit number three, opinions vary wildly.
But let's use the draft ranking from TSN's Bob McKenzie, who's always pretty close with draft order because he polls NHL scouts. He says it's all over the map after Celebrini.
If the Senators are choosing seventh, let's see who the five through nine guys are. Basically, we're giving the Senators two picks worth of wiggle room to stray from Bob's list either way. They might stray on their own or because some other team goes rogue. But it's a good bet that one of these players will be an Ottawa Senator.
5. Medicine Hat centre Cayden Lindstrom
6. London Knight defenceman Sam Dickinson
7. Saginaw Spirit defenceman Zayne Parekh
8. Denver University defenceman Zeev Buium
9. Finnish forward Konsta Helenius
GM Steve Staios has already said he would grab the best player available in the early rounds and then pick by need later. But if there are three or four players the Senators like equally when it's their turn to pick, you can bet the tiebreaker will be the player who embraces the physical part of the game.