With the draft lottery now in the books, the Ottawa Senators will turn their attention to some of the other items on their off season To Do list.
Pierre Dorion and his staff are expected to meet on May 9th to go over their draft lists leading up to next month’s NHL Entry Draft. The Senators are locked in to the 12th spot heading into the opening round but as Dorion mentioned over the weekend, all options are on the table. He could move, he could move down or he could move out of the first round altogether.
Although based on what Dorion had to say following the lottery, it really does sound like they expect to pick 12th. Should be plenty of good options left on the board at that point.
To kick off the week, a quick round-up of some other news and notes related to the Ottawa Senators.
-The QMJHL playoffs are down to just two teams and both will feature a Senators prospect in their line up. Francis Perron and his Rouyn-Noranda Huskies take on Gabriel Gagne and the Shawinigan Cateractes in a series that kicks off on Wednesday. Much has been made about the remarkable season Francis Perron is having but Gagne is also an interesting prospect. The Senators gambled a little bit when they took Gagne in the second round of the 2015 draft but it’s a gamble that’s starting to pay off. Between injuries and a mid-season trade, it was sort of an up and down year for Gagne but he’s put it together in the post-season. He has 18 points through 16 playoff games and has been one of Shawinigan’s most consistent players the last few weeks.
-Expect to hear some news on NCAA forward Drake Caggiula in the next few days. He was in Vancouver to visit with the Canucks at the end of last week and it’s believed he was going to visit Ottawa at some point before making his decision. The Senators are one of five or six teams considered to be in the mix. Had his North Dakota team been eliminated before the end of the season, it seemed like Ottawa was the favourite because they were willing to get him into an NHL game before the end of the regular season. Now it seems like it’s a little more wide-open with every team thinking they have a good shot at landing him. We should find out this week.
-The World Championships get underway at the end of this week and it looks like a couple familiar faces are going to get a great opportunity with Team Canada. Both Mark Stone and Cody Ceci are practicing on the top power play unit for Canada in their first pre-tournament practice. That could change once a couple other players arrive for Canada but it’s certainly a great sign for those two early on. Canada opens the preliminary round on Friday against the United States.
-Don Cherry made a prediction on Saturday, suggesting that Bruce Boudreau would end up behind the Ottawa bench next season but there doesn’t seem to be much movement yet on that front. Dorion obviously wants to be thorough in his search but you would have to assume that Boudreau is right at the top of his list. Right now, the Minnesota Wild are the only other team looking for a Coach so Ottawa doesn’t have to rush things but they certainly don’t want to miss out on an opportunity if Boudreau is indeed their guy.
-And while Boudreau has seemingly jumped to the front of the line for the job in Ottawa, it certainly doesn’t mean other candidates are being automatically ruled out. The Senators were apparently quite impressed with Mike Yeo during his interview and prior to Boudreau being let go in Anaheim, they actually interviewed Yeo for a second time. This is a tricky situation for Dorion. Boudreau is clearly the strongest candidate on the market right now but the Senators have been clear that they want to run an exhaustive search and consider all options.
