Now this is where the rankings start to get interesting. The 11th-15th range has some very good prospects, but that cannot be said for every farm system. Some of them actually have the potential to be quite impactful players, which is a good sign for the system. Here are the 11th-15th best prospects for Ottawa:
15. Filip Gustavsson, G
I have Gustavsson 3rd amongst goalie prospects because he has played (and succeeded) in a men’s league whereas Sà¸gaard has not, but he has yet to assert himself at the AHL level whereas Hogberg has and Daccord looks like he has the higher upside as of now. I could see an argument for him being higher than Daccord or even lower than Sà¸gaard, but one thing is clear: he needs to have a better season in Belleville if he wants to gain the organization’s trust on their depth chart.
He only played 31 games in the AHL last season, but a .887 SV% is not going to be good enough. In an even smaller sample of 7 games in the previous season, he posted a .912 SV% on a terrible team, so it’s not as if he is incapable of playing at that level. It’s easy to get discouraged about him as a prospect after the season he had, but we need to keep in mind a few things: first of all, he is still only 21 and has a few more years left to develop. Secondly, Hogberg had a down year in 2017-18 but now it looks like he could be an NHLer. Thirdly, Gustavsson’s best season in the SHL gave him a .918 SV%, so he obviously has the talent to be able to succeed.
I have to keep him a bit lower at 15th for now, but there’s no reason why he can’t be a big riser in the system one year after being one of the biggest fallers.
14. Jonny Tychonick, LD
I was very high on Tychonick after the Senators drafted him in 2018, and my long-term outlook on him is still positive. I like his offensive ability from the backend, but his freshman season at UND was a bit of a disappointment, especially in comparison to his buddy Jacob Bernard-Docker. Tychonick had just 4 assists in 28 games, which pales in comparison to his almost point per game pace in the BCHL in the previous season.
He was sometimes scratched in favour of older defensemen on the roster, although that will become less of a problem as he becomes more of a veteran. His overall skill is what keeps him within the top-15, but I can’t have him above other prospects who had such great seasons and seem closer to the NHL than him. Tychonick is probably more of a project who will play three more seasons at UND and potentially one in Belleville, but he’s somebody to keep around, that’s for sure.
13. Shane Pinto, C
I feel bad for Pinto because he was taken 32nd overall when there were lots of very good forwards still available on the board, and fans were hoping for someone such as Bobby Brink or Arthur Kaliyev. He was probably taken too high, but the Senators obviously loved him and were worried that he wouldn’t be available later. As with many of their picks, he is still a solid prospect and has unfairly gotten a bit of a bad rap.
It’s hilarious that he is yet another Senators prospect who will go through the UND program, joining JBD, Tychonick, and Wolanin. Pinto’s offensive production of 32 points in 30 games for the Lincoln Stars was impressive considering he led the team despite the fact that they played 62 games total. He is a classic Senators centre prospect who does not profile as a top-line player but is said to have some skill and he could be a good two-way player who can help in the middle of the lineup. I don’t expect too much from him at UND as a freshman since he won’t be getting too much ice-time, but I think he could be a prospect that fans begin to love once he either gets more playing time or starts to play in Belleville.
12. Joey Daccord, G
Because Daccord played one NHL game at the end of the season, I feel like people are getting a bit too ahead of themselves in terms of the kind of prospect he is. Don’t get me wrong, I really like him and think he can become a starter as soon as 2020-21, but he still needs to prove himself in Belleville and eventually Ottawa. I have him below Marcus Hogberg because Hogberg has proven himself in both the SHL and AHL, whereas Daccord has had one fantastic season in the NCAA but not too much else.
The soon-to-be 23-year-old will unfortunately be behind Hogberg and Gustavsson in the AHL, so he might actually spend the majority of the season in Brampton of the ECHL. However, there’s a realistic scenario where he leaps ahead of Gustavsson (and perhaps even Hogberg) in the depth chart. He’ll be in a 3-way battle for ice-time for the next couple of seasons, and right now, Daccord is the fastest riser amongst them. I’m liking his progression so far, but I need to see how he handles Belleville before ranking him even higher.
11. Jonathan Davidsson, RW
I’ve said this before, but Davidsson is very much a forgotten prospect. He was acquired in the Matt Duchene deal, but Vitaly Abramov has gotten more attention because he played in Belleville and had a fantastic QMJHL career. However, Davidsson almost made the Blue Jackets last October before he went back to Sweden, and I think there’s a decent chance he surprises people by making the Senators out of camp.
His last two seasons in the SHL have been decent with 21 points in 37 games and 31 points in 52 games. When he played the entire 52-game season in 2017-18, he was 2nd on Djurgardens in scoring, so his point totals are more impressive than they might appear. He has already played in 144 SHL games, so he is one of the most NHL-ready prospects that the Senators have besides maybe Drake Batherson. He has never been projected to be an offensive force in the top-six, but he could end up being a solid 2nd/3rd line tweener who can be valuable throughout the lineup. His proximity to the NHL is what puts him as high as he is.
The Top 25 list now looks like this:
11. Jonathan Davidsson 12. Joey Daccord 13. Shane Pinto 14. Jonny Tychonick 15. Filip Gustavsson 16. Mads Sà¸gaard 17. Max Veronneau 18. Angus Crookshank 19. Jonny Gruden 20. Parker Kelly 21. Olle Alsing 22. Morgan Klimchuk 23. Michael Carcone 24. Kevin Mandolese 25. Mark Kastelic
Stay tuned for parts 4-5 and tell me how wrong I am!