Published May 29, 2024 • 7 minute read
William Nicholl leaps on to the back of Sam Dickinson as the London Knights celebrate their series-clinching victory over the the Kitchener Rangers. Derek Ruttan/Postmedia Network
The Ottawa Senators scouting staff has made its list.
Now, they’re checking it twice.
Led by chief scout Don Boyd, the Senators amateur staff from across North America and Europe gathered for nearly a week earlier this month at the Canadian Tire Centre to begin formulating the final list for the National Hockey League draft set for June 28-29 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
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With two selections in the first round — including No. 7 overall and the Boston Bruins pick at No. 25 — the Senators left those lengthy sessions with a good idea of where they feel everybody should be ranked heading into the draft, but that doesn’t mean the club’s list is done by a long shot.
Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, Matt Nichol, Ottawa’s director of healthy and performance, Boyd and some members of the amateur staff will participate in the NHL’s Scouting Combine taking place next week in Buffalo.
They’ll get another chance to test and meet with as many as 100 prospects for this year’s annual crapshoot. That could result in invitations to Ottawa for some prospects to allow Nichol and his staff to do further testing before decisions are made on what route to take.
The Senators can’t do enough homework on these players before deciding whether they’ll make an investment by taking them and that’s why the list is a continuous work in progress.
“I always like to call the list a living, breathing animal,” Boyd told Postmedia from his London home Tuesday afternoon during a break in the Memorial Cup. “It could change anytime and it changes on the (draft) floor sometimes. The actual printed list will be done Thursday (before the draft).
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“Then, it’s final and it gets done that way, but it really is a living, breathing animal because we work on it all year. We go to the meetings, we got to the combine, we do our own testing plus we do our own interviews over and above the combine.
“We’re doing background checks along the way here. You’re talking to coaches, managers and the academic people that handle the kids during the year. There’s a lot of more that goes into it than sitting in a meeting room in Ottawa for six days and putting a list of players together.”
This will be Boyd’s first draft as the club’s chief scout after the club parted ways with assistant general manager Trent Mann last summer, but Boyd has plenty of experience and the 71 year old is well-respected.
A former player at Bowling Green, he spent nine years coaching junior before turning to the scouting ranks. Boyd spent a lot of his career as the chief amateur scout of the Columbus Blue Jackets and also served as an assistant GM under Doug MacLean.
GETTING A STRONG PROSPECT
There will be focus on the club’s No. 7 overall selection when the Senators are called up in Round 1.
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While the Senators were hopeful they’d make the playoffs for the first time in seven years this spring, the dream didn’t become reality and, as a result, they were a lottery team that has a chance to add a high-end prospect.
“There’s two or three different ways to look at it,” Boyd said. “At No. 7 there’s a possibility of getting a good defenceman there. This year, in the top 10-to-12-to-14 guys, there’s a number of defencemen that everybody likes. Again, that’s why there’s vanilla and chocolate because you pick the one you want.
“There’s also been some players that have risen dramatically in the second half of the year and there’s some good forwards out there that can bring some good skill, size and skating. Everybody talks that maybe this isn’t a good draft this year and it’s better next year, but then when you get to this point you think you’re going to be able to get a player.”
Boyd is confident the Senators will be able to get a good prospect no matter what happens with the six teams selecting in front of them.
“We’re going to get a player that’s going to add character to our lineup along with some size and speed,” Boyd said. “I really believe that we can do that because there’s enough players deep enough in several areas to be able to do that.”
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In former NHL GM Craig Button’s mock draft, he projected the Senators taking London Knights defenceman Sam Dickinson with the No. 7 overall pick. Button, TSN’s director of scouting, had six blueliners rated in his top 16 picks.
“Teams are going to take the best player available,” Boyd said. “The reason I mention the defencemen is just because this is one of those years where there’s a number of defencemen available and it goes well past the top 16 or 17 selections.”
That’s why there’s such a strong discussion among the scouting staff to determine where everybody fits.
“We keep a running list all through the year with our rankings like every team does,” Boyd said. “But there’s always a healthy debate and if there isn’t going to be healthy debate, then you might as well just hire one person to do the job. The atmosphere is transparent and open-minded when we got into our meetings.
“We want to hear all the opinions. We have a group of people that is diverse enough that we get those opinions and they differ. In some cases, they differ greatly, but they’re also open-minded enough to come to a decision as a group later. Not everybody has to be happy about it, but we’re doing it for the team and we’re not doing it for ourselves.”
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DIFFICULT TO PREDICT
There is no question when San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier steps to the microphone to make the No. 1 overall pick, he’s going to take the consensus player.
Macklin Celebrini, 17, a Vancouver-born centre, posted 32 goals and 64 points in only 38 games at Boston University. Rated as the top prospect in the draft, he was named the 2024 winner of the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in NCCA hockey last season.
He also was projected to go No. 1 by Craig Button in a mock draft he released the day after the lottery was held.
The general consensus among Boyd and those who follow the draft closely is that, after Celebrini, it’s difficult to predict which route this first round will take because every scouting staff looks at players differently.
“You’ve got the Russian factor there too,” Boyd said. “You’ve got the big defencemen, some very, very skilled forwards and it’s going to depend on who gets into that area and that market. If teams start taking players from Europe, and Russia specifically, then that could change the landscape.”
That’s interesting because Button had three Russians in his top four picks and teams don’t even know if they’ll have access to those players with the Kontinental Hockey League often tying these prospects into long-term contracts that won’t allow them to exit the country.
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“Some teams will have patience with that and they’ll know that if they wait long enough they’ll get the players,” Boyd said. “You have to do your homework and know what’s going on, but it’s real talking point among teams and every team has a different philosophy on it.”
BUSY WEEKEND
Every team leaves the draft table with wide smiles and the Senators won’t be any different.
Boyd is confident the club also will get a strong prospect at No. 25.
“We have our No. 25 pick and we also have a second-round pick in the mid-30s so we think we’ll be able to get players out of there,” Boyd said. “We don’t have a third-round pick, but we can make those three or four picks in the fourth round work for us.
“This draft is deep enough to get players you like and you’re always going to get players that may take a little longer, but there’s always surprises. There are guys who have become Hall of Fame players that weren’t taken in the first round. They’re out there, you’ve just got to do your due diligence and believe you’re getting the right one when you make the selection.”
Generally speak, at some point or another over the past several years, the Senators have taken a goalie with one of their picks. That’s an option they’ll look at and discuss with goalie coach Justin Peters.
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“It’s been discussed and it’s always on our minds,” Boyd said. “Historically, we’ve always taken a goalie at some point in time. Our philosophy is that you need to have organizational depth at that position. I don’t think you ever need to take a goaltender, but our philosophy has always been that you have to have organizational strength and depth at that position.”
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WHERE THEY’LL PICK
The Senators are scheduled to make the following selections. This can all change if Staios opts to make trades before the draft or at the table and that’s quite possible.
ROUND 1
No. 7: Own pick
No. 25: Boston pick acquired in the deal with Detroit for winger Alex DeBrincat last summer
ROUND 2
No. 39: Club has its own selection
ROUND 4
No. 104: Club has its own selection
No. 112: From Detroit as part of DeBrincat deal
No. 117: From Tampa in Mathieu Joseph trade
No. 127: From Florida. It’s a conditional pick that could be upgraded to a third-round pick in 2025 if Panthers win the Stanley Cup.
ROUND 5
No. 136: Own selection
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