You can follow me on Twitter @ShackTS After a slow first round of the draft last night, the league blitzed through rounds 2-7 this morning/afternoon. Here are the six selections that the Senators made:
Jonny Tychonick, D, 48th: Penticton Vees (BCHL)
Tychonick instantly becomes one of my favourites because of his name and the joke possibilities. The good news too is that he has a chance to become a very good offensive defenseman. With 47 points in 48 games in the BCHL, Tychonick was second amongst defensemen in points per game. For comparison, first round pick from 2016 Dante Fabbro also played for Penticton, and he had 67 points in 45 games, although those were quite incredible numbers for Fabbro.
According to ISS, his only real weakness is his size and strength, which is something that many small players around the league are proving to be not that big of a deal:
Jonathan Tychonick* (From ISS):
— Paul (@Sens_Army_) June 23, 2018
Size/Strength: Below Average
Skating: Very Good
Puck Skills: Very Good
Shot: Very Good
Offensive Play: Very Good
Defensive Play: Good
Physical Play: Good
Competitiveness: Very Good
Hockey Sense: Very Good
The interesting thing about Tychonick is that he'll be joining Jacob Bernard-Docker at the University of North Dakota next year, and they might even play on the same pairing. Along with Christian Wolanin, that will be three Senators defense prospects to be playing in North Dakota in two seasons.
I’m all for drafting defensemen that can get up in the play and help on the offensive side of things, so I like the pick.
Jonathan Gruden, C, 95th: US U-18 (NTDP)
Gruden seems like a great value pick in the 4th round, as his rankings were much higher:
Jonathan Gruden draft rankings:
— Paul (@Sens_Army_) June 23, 2018
ISS: 84
McKenzie: 74
Button: 71
Future Considerations: 90
McKeen's: 53
Hockey News: (NR)
Pronman: (NR)
Wheeler: 55
He put up solid numbers in the US Development Program and in the USHL, as he was 4th on a stacked U-18 team in scoring and 5th on the USHL team. For a 4th round pick, that’s not bad at all, especially considering Colin White had similar production (54 points in 54 games in the USDP) in his draft year.
The possession and zone entry/exit numbers like him as well, which is always nice:
Johnny Gruden --> 95th overall
— Sens Charts (@SensCharts) June 23, 2018
A strong offensive player in the USDP. #Sens received good value for their 4th round pick. pic.twitter.com/Y5ThYMIrSx
Angus Crookshank, LW, 126th: Langley Rivermen (BCHL)
Another excellent name for the Senators. The North Vancouver native is another BCHL player, and is committed to the University of New Hampshire for next season. Crookshank really stepped up his game this year by adding 24 to his point total in just 11 more games.
For what it’s worth, it looks like he has some good hands along with his scoring ability:
Angus Crookshank, the #Sens 5th round pick at #126, scored some real beauties in the #BCHL last season 🚨
— Sens Prospects (@SensProspects) June 23, 2018
Crookshank put up 45 Points (22G, 23A) in 42GP and will play for #NCAA New Hampshire next season. pic.twitter.com/ZuaKJNhVDX
Kevin Mandolese, G, 157th: Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL)
With an .884 SV% in 34 games this year, Mandolese obviously doesn’t have eye-popping stats, but he was still ranked higher than where he was actually taken. And with goalies from the Q, it’s impossible to tell who is good anyway, and I usually defer to smarter goaltending analysts:
The #Sens grab Kevin Mandolese LATE with pick #157. Excellent size and great patience on his edges - which is probably his best attribute. It'll be interesting to see if he gets any faster as he gets stronger. Good value on that pick right there. #NHLDraft
— Gregory Balloch (@GregBalloch) June 23, 2018
At some point Mandolese will have to translate that skill to better stats, but typically goalies in the CHL won’t excel until after being drafted anyway. Either way, like with Tychonick and Gruden, it looks like they got good value with this pick.
Jakov Novak, LW, 188th: Janesville Jets (NAHL)
Novak is a bit of a mystery, as there’s hardly anything online about the type of player he is. I do know that he is a late 1998 birthday who was passed over in the draft last year, so he’ll already be 20 in October. He led the NAHL in points with 73 in 56, and there were only three other players who had 60 points. The strange thing is that he managed to rack up 131 PIMs, so I’m not sure if he needs to work on his discipline or not.
It looks like Novak will be playing for Bentley University in 2018-19.
Luke Loheit, RW, 194th: Minnetonka High (USHS)
Just like with Novak, not much is known about Loheit, which is common for some 7th rounders. He is committed to the Penticton Vees for next season, and then Minnesota-Duluth for the 2019-2020 season.
I won’t pretend to know much about him, but he was ranked 194th by Hockeyprospect.com and 152nd amongst North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, so at least this isn’t a totally off the board Tim Boyle-like pick. Once he gets to Penticton and plays there for a season, we’ll be able to evaluate his play a bit more.
This is the second straight year that Ottawa did not draft any Europeans, which is a bit strange. I’m not sure if that’s part of a certain strategy, but it is odd to not see them taking any Swedes. Nevertheless, I’m feeling not too bad about this draft on the whole, and for those interested, scout for The Athletic Corey Pronman gave the Senators a B:
Pronman gives the Sens a B for their draft, which is probably fair. Says:
— Trevor Shackles (@ShackTS) June 24, 2018
"They did well. I think they could have done better, but the team’s in better shape than it was two days ago."
If you’re interested, here’s Chief Amateur Scout Trent Mann on the draft haul:
“We believe we’ve picked up some kids today that are going to make the Ottawa Senators a lot harder to play against.…
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) June 23, 2018
Sens Chief Amateur Scout Trent Mann speaks to media following the 2018 NHL Draft. pic.twitter.com/69Fmmf2s7k