Ottawa Senators – Ottawa used the 25th pick as trade targets instead of drafting it, while still leaving a major hole in the forward group after Brady Tkachuk’s exit. Day 1 also brought goalie Samuel Ersson and forward André Burakovsky into a cap situation that already looks ti
OTTAWA — The first round of the 2026 draft for the Ottawa Senators will be remembered for risky picks, questionable trades and moves they didn’t make.
The expectation around the night was simple: the Senators were expected to trade the 25th-overall pick. Instead, they held onto it as trade targets—then watched Mason McTavish, Pavel Dorofeyev and JJ Peterka fly to other destinations.
It added to the sense that another elite winger should have been part of the plan after Ottawa earlier this week dealt for William Eklund with the ninth-overall pick from San Jose. Yet the forward group still feels incomplete, especially with the massive hole left by the trade of Brady Tkachuk.
Senators GM Steve Staios said earlier this week the team wasn’t trying to rebuild or retool. Friday’s moves, though, left plenty of room for debate.
Their two picks, at Nos. 25 and 32, came with a clear type in mind: find the next star to replace the one that walked away. Instead, the selections of Jonas Lagerberg Hoen at No. 25 and Jaxon Cover at No. 32 were off-the-board choices with higher upside but more risk.
“Plan was to get some skill in our lineup,” said head scout Don Boyd.
Lagerberg Hoen’s profile was always going to be a tough sell for anyone relying on the mainstream projections. Most mock drafts didn’t project him as a first-round pick. with Sportsnet’s Jason Bukala having him outside his top-100 prospects rankings. The Senators still went for him anyway—banking on a six-foot-two natural goal-scorer—despite the fact that he played only nine games last year with his Swedish junior team due to a torn ACL.
He had 27 goals in 38 games the previous year. Senators scout Anders Ostberg felt the injury hurt his stock, but the selection still landed as a surprise.
Cover, the London Knights forward, carried his own kind of surprise. Bukala ranked Cover at 63. Cover grew up as a roller-hockey player in the Cayman Islands and only started ice hockey six years ago.
His season with London was strong: 20 goals and 52 points in 67 games. Ottawa is hoping that rapid rise can keep going, betting on his “untapped potential” to be greater than most in the draft class.
But the bigger question hanging over Friday wasn’t just who Ottawa chose—it was what they didn’t do. There’s an argument that the largest wager the Senators made was keeping the 25th pick while trading away the ninth selection. If Ottawa was chasing stars, the better target would have been at ninth overall, not 25. The Eklund trade only needs to hit for that logic to land.
The Senators’ second swing felt like another leap for the future. And that’s where skepticism has room to grow: Ottawa hasn’t hit on any picks significantly since it aced the 2020 draft with Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson. Those two players are signed through 2031. It’s likely that neither of the players selected Friday will make a major impact until then. raising the blunt question of why keep the picks at all.
The forward group isn’t deep enough either. The team needs another top-six forward. Staios may still make a move on Day 2 of the draft or in free agency, but his work on Night 1 doesn’t do much for the immediate future.
It also doesn’t help that the Senators now have little cap space to play with because of other moves Staios made on Friday.
Ottawa acquired goaltender Samuel Ersson from Toronto for a 2027 fifth-round pick. Ersson needs a contract because he is a restricted free agent on July 1. His recent record with the Philadelphia Flyers has been grim: he struggled mightily the last two seasons with a .878 save percentage. He was the worst goaltender in terms of goals saved above expected in 2024-25, and fifth worst last season.
Ersson doesn’t appear to be a reliable backup. The numbers are hard to soften, because they typically mean you’re not good enough to be in the NHL anymore.
The Burakovsky move carries the same kind of head-scratching. The Senators acquired André Burakovsky for a sixth-round pick in 2027. Some believed he would be bought out in Chicago after a dismal season despite playing a large swath of games with Connor Bedard.
Instead, he arrived in Ottawa. But Burakovsky scored just one goal in his last 37 games.
Why trade for Burakovsky when Ottawa is now $9 million away from the cap and still needs another true top-six forward?
There’s also the question of timing, given what Staios had already put together before the Tkachuk trade. Jordan Spence offers a clearer case for keeping momentum. He signed a four-year, $20-million extension Friday.
It’s a fair deal for both sides. Spence proved he can handle top-four minutes. Last season, he played the best hockey of his career in an elevated role due to the many injuries Ottawa faced.
Spence is also an analytics darling who has been overlooked time and again because of his five-foot-11 frame—small for a defenceman in today’s NHL.
So why add two players like Ersson and Burakovsky?
The Senators could add valuable players in free agency or in a trade without eating up valuable cap space on marginal players. That’s the uncomfortable contrast with how the 25th-overall pick was handled. Keeping it seems to indicate the team is looking to the future rather than trying to win now.
Ultimately, judgment has to wait until the off-season ends. But currently, the direction feels muddied, and maybe it should feel that way a week after your captain asks out.
Right now, there are more questions than answers.
Ottawa Senators 2026 draft Steve Staios Brady Tkachuk William Eklund Samuel Ersson André Burakovsky Jonas Lagerberg Hoen Jaxon Cover Mason McTavish Pavel Dorofeyev JJ Peterka Jordan Spence