The Ottawa Senators are next in the NHL prospect pool overview series.
Tony Ferrari digs into the Senators’ strengths and weaknesses, latest draft class, positional depth chart, next player in line for an NHL opportunity and more. A player who no longer holds rookie eligibility in the NHL is considered graduated and no longer a prospect for these exercises, with few exceptions.
Initial Thoughts
The Senators finally did it. They made the playoffs for the first time since 2017 and gave the rival Toronto Maple Leafs a scare in the Battle of Ontario.
Although they didn’t take down the Leafs in the first round, they had some enlightening performances from some of their most promising young players. Brady Tkachuk was a bit up-and-down, but he ended up with seven points across the six-game series. Tim Stutzle added five points. Jake Sanderson had moments where he looked like one of the best defensemen in the NHL, playing high-level hockey at both ends of the ice.
The Senators will look to go further next year. Unfortunately for the Sens, they don’t have much in the pipeline that could be highly effective in the NHL, at least not this season.
The team’s top prospect, Carter Yakemchuk, didn’t have the best year in the WHL, taking a fairly large step back statistically from 30 goals and 71 points in his draft year to 17 goals and 49 points this past season. He did play 10 fewer games, but that isn’t enough to warrant a 22-point drop-off. It’s hard to be a 30-goal defender, and that’s why there was some concern with the realistic projection of his numbers last year.
That said, Yakemchuk is still quite the prospect. He should have been included in Canada’s world juniors camp last year, and there was talk of him joining the Sens at the end of the season. He still has a big shot, but his mean streak and physicality will get him into the NHL. Yakemchuk could be a very interesting addition to the Sens in another year, but a season in the AHL will likely be good for his development.
A few of the Sens' more intriguing prospects are also on the back end, with most of them being more defensive-minded than offensive defensemen.
Jorian Donovan had his first full AHL season, and it went well for the defensive-minded blueliner. His game is efficient and simple for the most part. He just tries to snuff out attackers and eliminate the scoring chance. When he gets the puck, he’ll make the most immediate and simple play to get the puck to safety.
When it comes to Gabriel Eliasson, it’s all about adding the physical edge. The hulking 6-foot-7 defenseman is out to eliminate opponents from the ice when he takes his shift. He uses his size to his advantage, crushing players in open ice or along the boards. There isn’t much offense in Eliasson’s game, but he’s a strong physical presence.
After starting the season in the United States League, Blake Montgomery joined the OHL’s London Knights and helped them win the Memorial Cup. He has an enticing package of tools with a power game to go along with his speed, but this past year was the closest we’ve seen to him putting it all together. There is still room to refine some of the smaller details in his game, but there were plenty of encouraging signs after he arrived in London. He’ll be heading to the University of Wisconsin in the fall, where he can further refine those details.
When the Sens traded for Xavier Bourgault, there was hope that he could rekindle his game in their system with a fresh set of opportunities. Unfortunately, that bounceback didn’t quite happen, and Bourgault remains a prospect with a frustrating path. His skill and offensive mind are NHL caliber. He understands how to generate offense. He’s just been unable to piece play together consistently enough to produce at the level he is capable of. Turning 23 in October, this might just be the last season in which Bourgault is viewed as a potential NHLer.
Tyler Boucher will be one of the most interesting case studies to look back on. He was probably drafted a bit too high at 10th overall, but he’s had some tough luck with injuries as well. Last season marked the first time he played over 42 games in a year since his age-16 season with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program.
Boucher is a physical forward who loves to engage and impose his will on opponents. He has a great shot as well. We haven’t seen Boucher even get the chance at becoming the fully realized version of himself, and we may never get that chance. This season could be the start of the next chapter for Boucher, though.
After potentially saving the Senators' season in his 12-game run, Leevi Merilainen is set to be the full-time backup for Ottawa. He showed plenty of potential, and his presence could help make Linus Ullmark the best version of himself. Merilainen has built himself into the Sens' top goalie prospect thanks to his size and technical ability.
U-23 Players Likely To Be On NHL Roster This Season
Leevi Merilainen (G), Ridly Greig (C/W)
2025 NHL Draft Class
Round 1, 23rd overall - Logan Hensler, D, Wisconsin (NCAA)
Round 3, 93rd overall - Blake Vanek, RW, Stillwater (Minn. H.S.)
Round 4, 97th overall - Lucas Beckman, G, Baie-Comeau (QMJHL)
Round 5, 149th overall - Dmitri Isayev, LW, Yekaterinburg Jr. (Rus.)
Round 6, 181st overall - Bruno Idzan, LW, Lincoln (USHL)
Round 7, 213th overall - Andrei Trofimov, G, Magnitogorsk Jr (Rus.)
Logan Hensler’s draft stock was interesting to follow. Coming into this past year, he was a potential top-10 pick after a successful run with the NTDP. A slow start at the University of Wisconsin had him sitting outside of the first round on many public lists, but a strong finish ultimately got him drafted in the first round at 23rd overall.
Hensler is a highly mobile defender who is quite effective moving the puck in transition. Henlser’s defensive game took a step this year as well, using his feet to retrieve dump-ins and evade pressure or cut off attackers looking to go wide, forcing them down into the corner. Hensler finished his freshman season strong, but he will likely play another year or two before turning pro. He immediately becomes one of the Sens’ top prospects.
When Ottawa took Blake Vanek, the son of former NHLer Thomas Vanek, it was a bit surprising. He put up 22 goals and 53 points at the Minnesota high school level, and he played a handful of games with the NTDP and the USHL’s Chicago Steel. He has great size and an excellent shot, and he flashes some nice puckhandling. He struggles to keep up with the pace of play at times, though, so he likes to slow things down with the puck or come in as the third man, trying to attack high-to-low after teammates have already pushed defenders back. He’s heading to the WHL next season, where he will look to work on some of the details in his game.
The Senators drafting Lucas Beckman in the fourth round was one of the more intriguing selections of the draft. The QMJHL netminder looked great for Baie-Comeau this past season, and when he joined Canada at the World Men’s Under-18s, he was stellar in a backup role, winning both games he played. Beckman doesn’t try to do too much, relying on his mobility and fluidity in the crease. He stays calm in chaos around the net and just looks to cut down angles. He could be the sneakiest goalie pick of the draft.
In what was a bit of a shock, the Senators took Russian winger Dmitri Isayev. Ottawa doesn’t regularly draft Russians, and Isayev doesn’t even fit the style Ottawa generally goes for. He’s small and skilled, but he tries hard defensively and has some games where he is constantly stripping pucks from his opponents. He plays with pace and has some creativity, but there are plenty of habits to eliminate to find success in North America, but he could be a very good Russian pro in the next couple of years. Isayev will be a very interesting player to track.
The Senators have never shied away from drafting overage players, and this year, it was USHL standout Bruno Idzan. He started the year playing in the Alps Hockey League with Croatian club Sisak, where he was scoring the lights out with 21 goals in 19 games. He moved to the USHL where he continued to score a ton in preparation for his freshman NCAA season at the University of Wisconsin. Idzan has always been able to flash his speed in transition, and he’s become a very good shooter from all over the zone. He is going to need some refinement, so college is a great route for him.
To cap off their draft, the Senators took a swing on a Russian netminder, which is always a very good bet to take late in the draft. Andrei Trofimov has decent size and plays with a good technical base. His numbers in Russian junior hockey were very good, and he allowed no goals in a relief effort at the VHL level in his pro debut.
Strengths
Arguably, the Senators’ top two prospects are both right-shot defenders, with Yakemchuk and Hensler looking like legitimate NHLers in different roles. Beyond those two, the projects they have at right defense could be quite interesting.
Hoyt Stanley is a big defender who has had a couple of solid seasons at Cornell in the NCAA. Djibril Toure is a project who brings incredible size at 6-foot-7 and some very solid skating. He isn’t a refined player and spent time in the ECHL this past year, but there is hope that in the long run, he may be a solid bet who can play some NHL minutes.
Weaknesses
The reality of the Senators’ prospect pool is that aside from Stephen Halliday and Bourgault, both of whom will likely play on the wing in the NHL level if they make it there, the center depth is incredibly poor.
The Senators have a prospect pool that’s not indicative of a team that has been out of the playoffs for much of the last decade. They haven’t had a ton of success drafting outside of the franchise-altering 2020 class that brought in Stutzle, Sanderson and Greig. This has left the pipeline with little to no high-end talent, and the pivot position is where that’s most obvious.
Hidden Gem: Stephen Halliday, C
Stephen Halliday led the AHL’s Belleville Senators in scoring in his first full pro season. His mobility and pace have always been the two issues that have led to some doubting his NHL upside, but he excels at slowing the game down.
He was drafted as an overage prospect, and now that he’s 23, it might be time for him to get an NHL shot to see if he can slow things down and produce at the NHL level as he did at the NCAA and AHL levels. If he can’t, there may not be much of an NHL future, but if he can, he will bring a unique element to the Sens' bottom six and the kind of depth scoring they need moving forward.
Next Man Up: Leevi Merilainen, G
The Senators don’t have a skater who is ready to jump into the NHL roster, but they’ll have Merilainen start the year as their backup. His run from last season likely should have earned him the role then, but with Anton Forsberg locked in as the backup primarily because of his cap hit, it wasn’t quite time for Merilainen to be in the NHL full-time.
Merilainen can play somewhere between 25 to 30 games or more. That would allow Ullmark to stay fresh for the playoffs when the Sens are hopefully back in it for a second straight year.
Prospect Depth Chart Notables
LW: Javon Moore, Blake Montgomery, Dmitri Isayev, Lucas Ellinas, Bruno Idzan
C: Stephen Halliday, Xavier Bourgault, Jake Chiasson, Owen Beckner
RW: Tyler Boucher, Blake Vanek, Oskar Pettersson
LD: Jorian Donovan, Gabriel Eliasson, Matthew Andonovski, Filip Nordberg, Tomas Hamara, Theo Wallberg, Eerik Wallenius
RD: Carter Yakemchuk, Logan Hensler, Hoyt Stanley, Djibril Toure
G: Leevi Merilainen, Mads Sogaard, Lucas Beckman, Vladimir Nikitin, Kevin Reidler, Jackson Parsons, Andrei Trofimov
For a deeper dive into the prospect pool with player rankings, check out the Yearbook and Future Watch editions of The Hockey News in print.
