Uncategorized

How the Ottawa Senators Stole the 2020 NHL Draft

September 8, 2022
Jack Richardson

   Leading up to the 2020 NHL Draft, the pool of draft-eligible players was viewed by scouts as one of the deepest the league had seen in years. Just over 2 years later, it seems they were spot on. 

   It was no coincidence that the Ottawa Senators targeted this draft as the most important one in their grueling rebuild. General Manager Pierre Dorion managed to stockpile a multitude of picks in that draft, including 3 first-rounders. 

   Pick #3, acquired from San Jose in the Erik Karlsson trade, saw its value increase exponentially throughout the 2019-2020 season as the Sharks fell from grace and had a terrible season. 

   Pick #5 was the Senators’ own selection, a product of their third straight bottom-3 finish in the NHL’s overall standings. 

   Finally, pick #28 was acquired from the New York Islanders in exchange for Jean-Gabriel Pageau. The Islanders had an impressive run to the Eastern Conference finals, so their pick slid all the way down to #28. 

   Tim Stützle, Jake Sanderson, and Ridly Greig were selected with these 3 picks, respectively. All 3 appear to be on track to be major pieces of the long-term success of the Ottawa Senators. 

   Let’s dive into what makes these players special and what they’ve done in the past few years: 

TIM STÜTZLE (3rd overall)

   Unlike Sanderson and Greig, Stützle is already a key part of the Senators’ core. After being drafted 3rd overall he stepped right into the NHL, making his debut on his 19th birthday. To date, Stützle has 87 points in 132 career NHL games which leads the 2020 draft class by a healthy margin. Many pundits have tabbed Stützle as the steal of the draft nearly two years removed. 

   While I think it’s still early to make broad assumptions like that, Stützle has been everything the Senators could have asked for and more. He finished the 2021-22 season with 30 points in his final 30 games. Being a point-per-game player in the NHL as a 20-year-old is not something that should be scoffed at and he seems primed to absolutely explode this season with some new additions to the Senators. 

   Stützle’s development really took a turn when he was forced into a centre-ice role early last season. He entered the league as a winger after playing the position during his draft year for Mannheim. At the time of the 2020 draft, there was much debate surrounding Stützle vs Quinton Byfield for the second and third overall selections. Those pulling for Byfield argued that the Senators needed more centre depth in their system and Stützle didn’t fit that mold.

   Thankfully, he was able to seamlessly transition to centre with very few hiccups. Tim Stützle is well on his way to becoming an absolute superstar in the NHL, which is pretty much all the Senators could have hoped for when he fell in their lap at 3rd overall. 

JAKE SANDERSON (5th overall)

   Sanderson was the most controversial pick of the 3 first-rounders. Drafted 5th overall, he was one of only two defensemen taken inside the top-10. Not to say Sanderson wasn’t a highly regarded player going into the draft, but most experts had him just outside the top 10. So the Senators went slightly off the board at #5 by taking the talented blue liner. 

   Had they not taken Stützle at #3, it’s fair to assume that they would have sprung for a more offensive option at #5. Sanderson was praised as a mobile defensive-defenseman who was essentially a one-man breakout thanks to his elite puck-moving ability. That being said, some fans were skeptical of the pick because, in such a deep draft, the Senators had an opportunity to take two franchise-altering players and potentially a third. On draft day, Sanderson was not viewed as a top-end defenseman. 

   Nearly two years later, Jake Sanderson could prove to be the most important piece the Senators drafted during the rebuild. He eased into a top-4 role at the University of North Dakota (UND), strengthening his defensive game before taking more steps offensively towards the end of the year. Instead of joining his UND teammates Shane Pinto and Jacob Bernard-Docker in Ottawa after his Freshman year, Sanderson elected to return to UND for his Sophomore season. 

   Unfortunately, Sanderson’s year didn’t go as planned due to a few injuries and COVID outbreaks. Regardless, in the 23 games he managed to suit up for at UND, Sanderson proved why he is rated as one of the best prospects in hockey. He took a massive step offensively, scoring 26 points in 23 games. His Sophomore production as a defenseman was eerily similar to Cale Makar at the same age. While winning a Norris trophy and a Conn Smythe might not be in the cards for Sanderson (yet), the fact that the precedence for his production was set by the current best defenseman in the NHL says a lot about his ceiling. 

   Heading into the Senators’ 2022-23 training camp, Sanderson is penciled into a top-4 role behind Thomas Chabot and Artem Zub. Not only are these more lofty expectations, but with the moves the Senators made this offseason, playoffs are a realistic expectation for this team. Barring another training camp blockbuster by Dorion, it appears the Senators are relying on Sanderson to be the top-4 option they have long been after. 

No pressure, kid. Thankfully, he seems to enjoy the spotlight: 

RIDLY GREIG (28th overall)

   Greig is often the forgotten prospect out of the Senators’ 2020 first-rounders, but he seems primed to make himself a household name perhaps as soon as this season. 

   Selected 28th overall, Greig has spent the past couple of seasons in Belleville (AHL) and Brandon (WHL). Due to the pandemic, Greig was able to play in some AHL games in 2021 owing to the CHL’s season being postponed. During those games, he put up a respectable 3 points in 7 games. Belleville Senators Head Coach Troy Mann had nothing but good things to say about Greig’s quick AHL stint: 

   Greig has only improved from there. This past season he put up 63 points in just 39 games for the Brandon Wheat Kings as the team’s captain. More recently, he represented Team Canada at the World Juniors in Edmonton. Greig played in 4 round-robin games before getting injured early in the team’s Quarterfinal matchup. In those 4 games, Greig registered 3 goals and 3 assists which was enough to earn him 2 (!) player of the game awards. 

   A feat like that is pretty rare in such a short tournament, but it speaks to what kind of competitor Greig is. He brings an edge to his game that leaves Senators fans salivating at what he could bring to a playoff team. 

   Unlike Sanderson, there doesn’t appear to be a spot for Greig to lose in training camp. He’ll have to blow the doors off to force his way onto the roster, but it’s only a matter of when and not if Ridly Greig will make his NHL debut. 

   Technically, the Senators would be smart to just let Greig sit in the press box for the 1st game of the season, given he is suspended for 1 NHL game after an infraction committed during the 2021-22 preseason. 

   Although he brings a Brad Marchand type of edge to his game, Greig is no stranger to highlight-reel plays: 

   He’s an intriguing piece that Senators fans should be keeping an eye on during the preseason. 

   Tim Stützle, Jake Sanderson, and Ridly Greig were all selected by the Ottawa Senators on October 6th, 2020. This was also the day the Senators unveiled their brand new uniforms & logo. This signalled a metaphorical page being turned on a fairly dark chapter in the team’s history. 

   It’s almost poetic that these 3 players were picked on a day that will be reflected on for the next 15 years as the day the Ottawa Senators turned it around. 

-Jack Richardson

Twitter: @jackrichrdson

Photo: Brandon Zeman. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.