Here comes the cavalry.
Days after their season ended in heartbreak, both Jacob Bernard-Docker and Shane Pinto have officially decided to make the jump to the National Hockey League.
The now 20-year old Jacob Bernard-Docker was a first round pick (26th overall) of the Senators back in 2018.
He racked up an impressive 18 points in 27 games with the Fighting Hawks this season but battled injuries a little bit down the stretch. A right-hand shot, Bernard-Docker is a smooth-skating defenceman that excels in his own end of the rink but also has the ability to jump into the play.
He won the award for “Best Defensive Defenceman” in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) this past season.
Meanwhile in Shane Pinto, the organization is adding another smart two-way player that recently proved there is some serious offensive upside to his game. The 32nd overall pick in the 2019 draft, Pinto is coming off a season where he registered 32 points in 28 games, including 15 goals.
Pinto went home with some hardware too, winning the awards for NCHC Player of the Year, Defensive Forward of the Year and Forward of the Year. He’s also up for this year’s Hobey Baker award.
And then there’s Jake Sanderson.
As of late yesterday, all signs point to Sanderson returning to UND but still no official announcement. Garrioch mentioned in his latest column that Sanderson hadn’t completely closed the door.
Ottawa’s 5th overall pick in the 2020 Entry Draft certainly looks like he has the potential to be a game-changer for the Ottawa Senators. Elite skate, elite defender and massively underrated offensive abilities. He seemed to get better as the year rolled along to the point where he was regularly the best player on the ice for North Dakota down the stretch. And that’s at just 18 years of age.
There has been plenty of talk about what’s best for Sanderson’s development in the next year. Truth is you can’t really go wrong with a player that talented. He would certainly make one hell of a deadline addition next year for the playoff-bound Ottawa Senators.
Both Bernard-Docker and Pinto are on their way to Ottawa and are expected to join the Senators at the end of their seven-day quarantine period.
The Senators also played a game last night but I don’t wanna talk about it.
