The Senators signed their 2023 fifth round pick to a three-year, entry-level contract yesterday.
The Ottawa Senators announced yesterday that they signed 2023 fifth-round pick Matthew Andonovski to a three-year, entry-level contract.
The 2005-born defender spent the last three seasons with the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL.
"Matthew has made significant progress since being drafted last summer," said Senators GM Steve Staios. "He's a big, strong defensive defenseman who plays with sizeable edge."
During the 2023-24 season, Andonovski had his most productive OHL season scoring seven goals and 25 assists for a total of 32 points in 65 games.
He started the season with a bang, scoring his first OHL goal in his 111th game. He followed that effort up by immediately scoring his second goal the very next game.
Andonovski's strengths rest in his defensive ability. He has never failed to finish an OHL season with a positive plus-minus. In fact, he led the league in plus-minus this past season with a +58.
That was accomplished on a strong Kitchener team. Even more impressively, Andonovski was a +25 during the 2022-23 season when only five players on the team reached the +20 mark. He was the only player in the top five who scored fewer than 29 points.
His is clearly a player who understands the finer points of shutting down the opposing teams offense.
A large part of being a good defensive player is awareness and hard work. Staios remarked that Andonovski's greatest strengths were his competitiveness and determination.
At 6'2, he plays a physical brand of hockey. In front of the net he boxes out offensive players and makes them pay the price for going to the dirty areas. He also ended up leading the Kitchener Rangers in penalty minutes last season with 124.
Ottawa Senators fans should be excited about Andonovski's improved ability to contribute in the offensive zone. Adding some offensive tools to his dominant defensive skillset makes Andonovski and intriguing prospect to watch.
While he currently projects as a solid AHL prospect, if the young defender continues to add offensive tools while maintaining his defensive acumen, then Andonovski may be able to burst onto the NHL scene.
Andonovski is eligible to return to Kitchener next season.