The style of Ottawa Senators management was revealed last night, as they went the "safe" route as opposed to a potential hit or miss player.

Yesterday I posted a list of 12 potential targets that may or may not have still been around when the Senators selected at #28, and sure enough half of them were taken, which left half of them left.

Shane Bowers, who ended up being the player Ottawa selected out of the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL, is a player who can best be described as safe. Sure, he will probably end up playing at some point, but he is a player who doesn't really stand out in any one area but does a bit of everything well. I compared him to the same things that were being said about Colin White a couple of years ago, and while White has developed into a solid prospect we still don't know what he will give at the pro level.

The problem with drafting players from that league is that you never really know what you are going to get, especially for players that aren't part of the US National Development program. Bowers had 22 goals and 51 points in 60 games, but while the league has developed some quality players, it isn't quite the elite night after night of the CHL or even the European elite leagues, which is where most of the top end prospects came from.

The Senators left a huge 6'6" Mississauga Steelheads defenseman on the table in Nicholas Hague, but then again so did a whole lot of other teams as he seems to be the big faller in the draft so far, the highest rated player in Bob McKenzie's rankings to not get picked (ranked 25th). The size and skill of Hague was intriguing, a big body who can use it who also has offensive upside doesn't come along very often while forwards like Bowers seemed to be in abundance in this particular draft.

Only time will tell, and Bowers, like White before him, is at least a couple of years of NCAA hockey away from turning pro. He will attend Boston University in the fall. He is certainly a solid prospect, but they could have taken a bit of a risk and went for a riskier pick with more upside. But what do I know?

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