Senators back their gambles with Hoen and Cover

Senators pick – Ottawa’s whirlwind offseason moved fast: Brady Tkachuk was dealt to Florida for a pair of 2026 picks, then the Senators used No. 25 on Jonas Lagerberg Hoen and No. 32 on Jaxon Cover—two selections built around upside, one shaped by injury risk and the other by

When the Senators traded Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers, it felt like the franchise was resetting overnight. Two days later. Ottawa had already acted on the asset it received: the ninth-overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. later flipped for a return headlined by winger William Eklund. a San Jose Sharks seventh-overall pick back in 2021.

But the more immediate jolt came on Friday night. when Ottawa used the other 2026 selection acquired in that Tkachuk deal — No. 25 overall — to pick Swedish sniper Jonas Lagerberg Hoen out of the Swedish junior league. On the same night, the Senators also addressed their second-round needs with a selection at No. 32 overall: OHL winger Jaxon Cover. One pick is built on proven scoring with a body setback; the other comes with offensive promise and a steadier upward trajectory that still needs rounding out.

Hoen arrives with size, finishing, and a question mark about timing. Drafted at 25th overall, Jonas Lagerberg Hoen is listed with a 2025-26 team of Leksands Jr., Sweden. In 9 games, he posted a stat line of 9G-7A-16PTS.

During Friday night’s broadcast. Sportsnet’s Jason Bukala — formerly the Florida Panthers’ director of amateur scouting — framed Hoen as a natural offensive weapon. “This guy’s a pure shooter. He’s a big body — he’s over six-foot-two, he’s going to grow more into that frame,” Bukala said. He added that the first step is the part that needs improvement: “The thing with him that’s going to have to improve: his first three steps out of the gate. He’s going to have to get just a little bit more separation. But he’s got the length, and he knows how to rip it.”.

Bukala also pointed to the Ottawa process behind the decision. describing how head scout Don Boyd and the Senators’ leadership evaluated the fit. “This is scouting at its finest. [Senators head scout] Don Boyd has went out and found a guy. he’s identified him. he’s said to Steve Staios. ‘We really value this guy. and he’s going to put the puck in the back of the net for our organization going forward.’”.

The risk is straightforward and personal: Hoen’s 2025-26 season didn’t fully play out because of an ACL injury that sidelined the goal-scoring winger for nearly all of his campaign in Sweden. In the middle of that disruption, his upside was still visible. Sam Cosentino, on the same broadcast, described the kind of draft decision Ottawa is making with Hoen. “This guy played nine games this year — he had nine goals,” Cosentino said. “He had an ACL injury, and he’s out. So. you’re taking a bit of a risk here. based on the fact that you haven’t had a full season of viewings on him.”.

Cosentino noted what teams usually want before pulling the trigger — a fuller season of evaluation — and what Ottawa may have had less of because the injury interrupted the view. “You would have had some inventory maybe from the year previous. ” Cosentino said. before emphasizing that the skill itself is there. “But in terms of the high-end skill, this guy possesses it. He’s a big guy, he can really shoot the puck, he’s had goal-scoring at just about every level. Fascinating pick.”.

Hoen’s recent proof of scoring sits in the year before the injury. In 2024-25, the teenager amassed 27 goals in just 38 games for Leksands. In 2025-26. before the season was cut short. he still produced at a rate that carried weight for scouts and front offices: with 16 points in nine games. he finished the year with the second-best points-per-game pace in the Swedish junior league. The league impact from the prior season was even clearer in raw totals; his 27-goal run in 2024-25 ranked as the fourth-highest sum in the league.

Just as important for the Senators is that Hoen is expected to be ready. After missing much of the 2025-26 schedule, Bukala said Hoen heads into the coming campaign back at full health. “At the end of the year here, he tested, he’s 100-per-cent healthy, the whole nine yards,” Bukala said Friday. “They got the medical on him, they feel good about it. We’ll see where it goes.”.

There’s also a long-running thread to Hoen’s profile: he has shown a goal-scorer’s touch from early in his development. As a 15-year-old, Lagerberg Hoen amassed 42 goals in 24 games for his under-16 squad. The following campaign brought another heavy output: 26 goals in 19 games.

That history fed into the kind of scouting language Bukala described from Ottawa’s internal evaluations and pre-draft planning. “This is where. when you’re building your pre-Draft list a year in advance — like. my staff right now at The Pro Hockey Group. we’ve already identified 73 guys for next year’s draft. ” Bukala said. “Why?. Because they popped, they’ve given you something to latch on to already. So. for Don Boyd and his staff in Ottawa. when they saw this kid score 27 tucks last year. with his size. and the growth opportunity. they said. ‘Listen. let’s keep an eye on this kid — he’s going to be a sleeper.’ Good on them here.”.

Then comes Cover at 32nd overall, the second pick Ottawa made Friday night. Jaxon Cover, the Senators’ selection at 32nd overall, is listed with a 2025-26 team of the London Knights in the OHL. Over 67 games, Cover recorded a stat line of 20G-32A-52PTS.

Drafting a player late in the second round always carries some uncertainty. and Friday night’s setup didn’t hide that. The pick is described as carrying risk, but the ceiling is also clearly part of the case being made. Cover’s offensive upside is evident in the production he put on display in his first full season with the London Knights.

There’s a direct path in the numbers: Cover contributed 20 goals and 32 assists in 67 regular-season games, earning enough trust to be used across roles. The NHL projection shared in the coverage places him as a third line forward.

Bukala, again speaking during the broadcast, described the kind of instincts Cover brings. “He was an inline hockey player. and you can tell that he was an inline guy growing up before he dedicated himself to ice hockey — he handles the puck. he’s really creative. he’s got a flair for the offence. ” Bukala said. “He’s just learning the nuances of the game. but he’s playing in London for Dale and Mark Hunter — Dale and the rest of that staff. they’re going to coach that into him.”.

The reasoning behind Ottawa’s confidence, according to Bukala’s description, includes how much Cover was trusted in the lineup. “They clearly trust him a lot, because he was used in a variety of roles this year. … You’re banking on the offence here.”

Cover’s path to the draft also has a sharper twist than most of his peers. He arrived at the 2026 Draft after a rookie season with the London Knights in which he put up 20 goals and 52 points for the club in his first full season. Before that OHL debut, he spent three seasons at St. Andrew’s College in Aurora, Ont. The program has connections to NHL mainstays like Robert Thomas and Warren Foegele.

In 2024-25, Cover won the Prep Hockey Conference Championship with St. Andrew’s, described as the top prize for North American prep school programs.

Off the ice, his journey includes movement between countries. Cover has “no doubt had the most unique journey” to the 2026 Draft. Born in Florida, he lived in the U.S. for only a month before moving with his family to the Cayman Islands, where his mother, Nan, was born. Growing up on Grand Cayman, Cover became a standout roller-hockey talent on the island. At 10 years old, he started attending skating camps in Toronto, his father Patrick’s hometown. But ice hockey didn’t enter the picture until he was 13, and he didn’t play competitively until age 14.

Now. four years after beginning competitive ice hockey. he is set to step into the NHL pipeline after being selected as a first-round draft pick. The Senators’ draft choices on Friday night. one built around a shooter’s skill cut short by an ACL injury and the other around an offensively fluent. still-developing winger. make the common thread unmistakable: Ottawa is buying what it believes comes next.

Ottawa Senators Brady Tkachuk Florida Panthers 2026 NHL Draft William Eklund Jonas Lagerberg Hoen Leksands Jr Jaxon Cover London Knights OHL ACL injury