It was no surprise who the Senators selected at 11th overall when they swung a deal to move up one spot in the draft , choosing the “hometown” boy in 6-6 center Logan Brown...a player many thought had made his way into the top ten after his impressive showing at the U-18. Brown quelled some of the whispers about his competitiveness and willingness to get his nose dirty over the second half of the season…significantly increasing his goal total and getting into the high traffic areas (especially the goal area) with more frequency.
| RND | PICK | RNK | PLAYER | POS | CTY | HT/WT | TEAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | 9 | Logan Brown | C | CAN | 6-6/220 | Windsor (OHL) |
| 2 | 42 | 54 | Jonathan Dahlen | C | SWE | 5-11/175 | Timra (Swe) |
| 4 | 103 | NR | Todd Burgess | RW | USA | 6-2/180 | Fairbanks (NAHL) |
| 5 | 133 | 111 | Max Lajoie | D | CAN | 6-1/185 | Swift Current (WHL) |
| 6 | 163 | NR | Markus Nurmi | RW | FIN | 6-4/185 | TPS Turku (Fin) |
Scouts were seemingly split on Jonathan Dahlen’s potential…some questioning his grit and size/skating combo, while others were intrigued by his offensive upside and strong showing at U-19 events and the Allsvenskan playoffs. Todd Burgess was praised by a couple of NHL scouts after the draft…not having seen him as a staff, however, perhaps if this information was known before the draft he would have been scouted, and on McKeen’s draft list. Max Lajoie was a highly-regarded player as a 16-year-old…a disappointing season resulted in him dropping to the fifth round. Ottawa will hope he can bounce back to earlier form. Markus Nurmi is a lanky winger that was a spare part on Finland’s U-18 team.
Grade - B: The Sens had a strong start to the draft by picking up a top ten prospect with impressive offensive potential in Brown and a skilled sniper in Dahlen. Having no other picks in the top 100 hurt the overall depth.