After years of watching Pierre Dorion prioritize size over skill and make risky moves with high picks, fans were anxious to find out how the Ottawa Senators’ new management group would approach the draft. The team, led by general manager Steve Staios, had made precious few significant moves leading up to the draft save for a blockbuster trade for goalie Linus Ullmark that sent away one of their two first-round picks. That left the Senators with six picks in the 2024 Draft and very little inclination of what they were going to do.
In the end, the Senators’ draft was somewhat underwhelming. They took two big swings with their first two picks, then went back to the tried-and-true method of adding players with size. The shortest player they selected over the two-day event stood 6-foot-2 while the lightest was 181 pounds. Few teams added as much power and strength as the Senators, and while there is some intriguing talent sprinkled throughout the class, one thing is obvious – Ottawa wants to get much tougher.
Round 1, 7th Overall – Carter Yakemchuk
With Zeev Buium, Sam Dickinson, and Zayne Parekh still available, the Senators instead went for the 6-foot-3 Calgary Hitmen defender Carter Yakemchuk. He was one of the most productive defenders in the Western Hockey League in 2023-24, scoring an incredible 30 goals and 71 points while also putting up 120 penalty minutes in 66 games. While he was generally ranked lower than the aforementioned defenders, Staios was honest with his assessment. “He’s a 6-foot-3 defenceman who not only brings offence but has got some grit to his game. We still feel that there’s a lot of rawness to him as well. So we feel that the potential is really really high for Carter. Good character kid.”
Big, gifted offensively, and very raw is a great way to describe Yakemchuk. While he could carry the play on his back and pull off moves that defencemen shouldn’t be able to make, he also made some incredibly poor decisions throughout his draft season. In one game against the Lethbridge Hurricanes, I watched him catch the puck up near the blue line, dash ahead of the defenders, and attempt a spin-o-rama for a goal, leaving the crowd breathless. Then, on the next shift, he went for a poke check while defending, completely miss-timed the maneuver, leaving him way out of position and allowing the Hurricanes forward to easily bypass him for a great scoring opportunity while Yakemchuk had to hustle back to help out.
Yes, there’s incredible potential in Yakemchuk. He could be an Alex Pietrangelo-type of defenceman, bringing high-end offence and nastiness to every shift. That would be an incredible partner for Jake Sanderson, who is much more defensively responsible. However, Yakemchuk will need to improve his decision-making, awareness, and skating before he gets to that point. For the first selection from the new management, it was bold and intriguing, but maybe riskier than it needed to be.
Round 2, 39th Overall – Gabriel Eliasson
Following their acquisition of a big, physical defenceman, the Senators decided to stick to the script and add another big, physical defenceman with Gabriel Eliasson. At 6-foot-7, he was one of the biggest prospects at the 2024 Draft and one of the most physical. With HV71 of the J20 Nationell, he racked up 120 penalty minutes (PIM) in just 36 games, an average of just over three minutes a game, and in international competition, he had 77 PIM in 22 contests, plus another 20 PIM in seven U18 World Championship games. Every time he steps on the ice, he has to hit something, and given his size, it’s going to be big.
While most fans admitted that, while Yakemchuk was a reach, his potential was high-end, fans and scouts have been more critical of the Eliasson selection. The towering Swede has very little offence to his game, resulting in few pre-draft rankings placing him above 50. His penchant for violence leaves him with a lot of unnecessary penalties, which frequently puts his team at a disadvantage. But he was also one of the youngest players up for the draft, which drew some comparisons to former Senator Marc Methot, who wrote on X, “I sincerely mean this when I say that I see a lot of similarities in his style and how he sorta looks “awkward.” I was identical in many ways. People just need to be patient, which I realize is difficult nowadays.”
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While Eliasson still projects to be a bottom-pairing defenceman in the NHL in a similar vein to Tyler Kleven, he’ll have plenty of time to round out his game. He’ll be heading to the University of Michigan in 2025-26, which means that he’s at least four to five seasons away from turning pro.
Round 4, 104th Overall – Lucas Ellinas
The Senators didn’t make another selection until the fourth round, where they picked up 6-foot-2 forward Lucas Ellinas from the Kitchener Rangers. He had an average rookie season in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), scoring 16 goals and 33 points in 67 games, but in the playoffs, he broke out, putting up five goals and eight points in just 10 appearances. His skating is on the weaker side, but he’s capable of playing anywhere on the ice and brings a solid two-way game. His playoff appearances also hinted at some high-end playmaking skills, which made him one of Elite Prospects’ top breakout candidates for 2024-25. However, arguably the best thing about him is that, as a kid, he was a fan of Erik Karlsson and the Senators. For a fourth-round pick, that’s solid value; at worst, he’s a bottom-six forward, but if he develops more of an offensive touch, he could be a hidden gem.
Round 4, 112th Overall – Javon Moore
Another solid pick-up later in the draft, the Senators grabbed left-winger Javon Moore with their second fourth-round selection. He was projected as a third-round pick thanks to his incredible season with Minnetonka High School, where the 6-foot-4 forward scored 26 goals and 53 points in just 28 games before making his debut in the United States Hockey League (USHL) with the Sioux City Musketeers. Like many of the other picks so far, Moore is a physical player, but he’s much smarter about when and where he uses it; with Minnetonka, he had just two PIM, and last season, he had just 10.
Moore has a lot of top-end skills already, and on his best shifts, he looked like an NHL forward. He skates well, handles the puck with ease, and competes hard. He doesn’t have the same awkwardness in his step that Eliasson has, which is common for bigger players, earning him comparisons to Jakub Voracek. However, as a high school hockey player, there’s a lot of risk involved in the pick, which is likely why he fell from his lofty projection. He’s set to join the University of Minnesota next season, which is a great place for him to hone his skills for the next couple of seasons.
Round 4, 117th Overall – Blake Montgomery
In typical Senators fashion, Ottawa had to grab an overage prospect, but they thankfully waited until their final fourth-round pick to do so, selecting second-year eligible forward Blake Montgomery. Last season, he played mainly in the U18 and High School circuit, where he was far from dominant, but this season, as a rookie with the USHL’s Lincoln Stars, he looked like a much more complete player. In 58 games, he led the team with 22 goals and finished third with 43 points. Had he put up just two more points, he would have led in scoring, too.
There are a lot of similarities between Montgomery and Moore in that they both stand 6-foot-4 and bring some intriguing puck skills to the ice. In his review of the Senators draft class, Corey Pronman wrote, “Montgomery is a big winger who skates well and had a productive first USHL season. He has some skill, but I wouldn’t call him a natural offensive type who makes a lot of plays. It’s more that he’s a great athlete who has some physicality and OK skills that will make him appealing to NHL teams” (from ‘Ottawa Senators NHL Draft picks tracker: Grades, fits and analysis,’ The Athletic – 28/06/2024). He’ll spend one more season in the USHL before heading over to the University of Wisconsin, which is currently the home of Senators’ prospect Tyson Dyck.
Round 5, 136th Overall – Eerik Wallenius
On the surface, Eerik Wallenius is a fairly typical late-round pick. He’s a 6-foot-4 defenceman who played most of the 2023-24 season at the U18 level in Finland for HPK, where he scored three goals and 14 points in 37 games. He was more productive in his 14-game stint with the U20s, scoring three goals and eight points in that span, which likely earned him a single-game call-up to the Liiga in December, where he played five and a half minutes before returning to the junior circuit. However, he mostly brings a smart, defensive mindset to his team with some physicality. His NHL upside is limited, but he has his fans, most notably insider Grant McCagg, and he could end up a bottom-pairing defender.
Normally, I wouldn’t be upset with a pick like that. Fifth-rounders have just a 33% chance to play any games in the NHL and half that to play over 100 games. But, to grab Wallenius, the Senators passed on Justin Poirier, Jakub Fibigr, Luke Misa, Clarke Caswell, Mac Swanson, and Ryerson Leenders, all of whom were projected to be third-round picks or better. If they wanted size, there was also 6-foot-3 center Karl Sterner, 6-foot-1 defenceman Daniil Ustinkov, and 6-foot-1 right-handed defender Parker Von Richter, who had similar projections yet were passed over entirely. To take such a big risk on a low-ceiling player while potential home runs were still on the draft board feels like a return to the Dorion era that focused too heavily on role players and ignored prospects that would make the franchise better. It’s minor, but there was an opportunity missed here, which is frustrating.
Senators Get Bigger, But Do They Get Better?
Overall, the Senators did a fine job with their six picks. They addressed a big need on the right side of their defence with Yakemchuk and took some calculated risks to address their need for goalscoring with Ellinas, Moore, and Montgomery. But Ottawa primarily added toughness and tenacity, which wasn’t on a lot of radars heading into the draft. It’s hard to describe a team with Brady Tkachuk as captain as lacking toughness, yet that appears to be the conclusion that the Senators’ scouting department reached. This is still primarily the team that Dorion put together, though, so that might have impacted some of the decisions, but it certainly could have been much worse.
The biggest criticism, though, is that it could have been better. While it’s impossible to know how these prospects will pan out (see Leevi Merilainen), it was hard to watch the team pass on so many prospects that were universally ranked higher than they ended up. For example, Henry Mews had to wait until the third round, Aron Kiviharju fell to the fourth round, and Clarke Caswell went in the fifth. All those prospects could have been second-rounders according to several scouts. Hope is still high on several players, but this class could be remembered not by what it was, but by what it could have been.
