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The draft is just one day away! I always get excited when the draft comes around and I’m especially excited because it will be in my hometown of Vancouver and I will be attending the first round. Hockeybuzz has been doing a site-wide mock draft over the past few weeks, and yesterday I was on the clock for the 19th pick. I also made a trade in this scenario that I’ll talk about later, so here are my thoughts on the mock draft as well as various other things for this week’s Think Tank:

Selecting Bobby Brink

With the 19th overall pick in the mock draft, just like the writers at Silver Seven Sens, I selected Bobby Brink from the Sioux City Musketeers. Here was the rationale I gave for taking him:

I was really hoping that Alex Newhook was going to fall all the way to 19th, but Jeff Paul was smart to take him at 17th for the Golden Knights. Nevertheless, I was still very happy to take Bobby Brink, as his offensive production with the Sioux City Musketeers in the USHL was incredible. His 68 points in 43 games ranked 3rd in the league behind only Jack Hughes and Alex Turcotte (while sitting ahead of Trevor Zegras, Matthew Boldy, and Cole Caufield), so nobody should be questioning whether he can be an effective point-producer.

He's undersized at just 5'8", 165 lbs, but there are plenty of smaller players who excel in the NHL now despite their size. He is also not the greatest skater, which isn't great considering how small he is, but not every player is going to succeed the same way---he has obviously been dominant for a reason. He has the potential to be an elite playmaker, and that's something that the Senators need more of.

It certainly helps that he is a right-winger too just because Ottawa is incredibly thin in that position, although that's not why I made the pick. Brink is still the best player available at 19, but he definitely fits a need as well. He isn't committed to the NCAA until 2020-21, so he might not be in the NHL for a few years, but I think the reward will be very high when his time comes.

I know others would have wanted to take Ryan Suzuki in this spot, but I think Brink’s offensive numbers are just so much more impressive that I couldn’t pass up on that kind of ceiling. Ottawa does love their USHL players, although I’m not sure if Brink would be a target of theirs because of his size.

Trading for the 21st overall, selecting Thomas Harley

After many back-and-forth discussions with Pittsburgh, I made a fairly significant trade. I moved Christian Jaros and the 44th overall pick in exchange for Zach Aston-Reese, Erik Gudbranson, and the 21st overall pick. Here is what I had to say on why I made the deal:

I'm not that sold on Jaros as an impact defensemen, and I think he'll end up being a 3rd pairing defensive defenseman at best---which is something that can be found rather easily. Zach Aston-Reese isn't necessarily a game-changer either, but I do think that he can be a quality option on the 3rd line (or better) and is still just 25 years old. Obviously I don't want Gudbranson on the Senators for his playing ability, so that's why I asked to move up in the draft in order to take on his contract.

He is making $4M over the next two seasons, which will help get the Senators to the cap floor and really won't impact them at all since they won't even be competitive. By taking on his contract, Ottawa gets to move up from 44th to 21st, which is quite the leap early in the draft. I'd still like to see what Jaros can do, but I think both parts of this deal gives the Senators more value overall without giving up very much.

I know some people are quite high on Jaros, but his results this year were pretty underwhelming and I wouldn’t lose much sleep over losing him, plus I really like Aston-Reese. After getting the 21st overall selection, I took defenseman Thomas Harley from the Mississauga Steelheads:

It's less than ideal that there are way more left-handed defensemen available in the first round compared to right-handed ones since Ottawa's need is clearly on the right side, but Harley is the best player available and it would be foolish to draft for a need at this stage in the rebuild.

Harley was fantastic offensively with the Mississauga Steelheads this past season as he had 58 points in 68 games, which ranked 9th amongst all OHL defensemen and 1st (by 18 points) amongst draft-eligible OHL defensemen. He was also on a low-scoring team that had only two players with more points than him, making his numbers look even more impressive. Although comparisons are rarely ever realistic, he has been compared to Thomas Chabot, which is exciting if that means he has a somewhat similar ceiling.

He's a big player but his foot speed has been improving, and that makes him a potentially elite prospect when you combine that with his offensive ability from the backend.

It’s fun to think about this happening in reality because in this case, Ottawa would have three picks in the top 32.

The Hog re-signs

Pierre Dorion was able to re-sign Marcus Hogberg to the perfect two-year contract:

#Sens have signed Marcus Hogberg to a two year deal. Second year is a one way contract worth $700,000.

— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) June 19, 2019

Keeping him around for two seasons instead of one is great, plus having the first year as a two-way deal and the second year as a one-way fits the team’s needs. Hogberg will spend the majority of 2019-20 in Belleville but will still play some games in the NHL when Craig Anderson and/or Anders Nilsson get hurt, so a two-way deal is necessary. But he will probably want a backup or even starting job the year after, which is why the one-way deal for 2020-21 is perfect. Anderson won’t be under contract by then, so there will definitely be room for Hogberg on the roster.

Will he turn into an NHL goalie eventually? It’s no guarantee, but he deserves a chance after succeeding in the SHL and now in the AHL. There’s a chance that he isn’t good enough in 2020-21 but has a one-way contract, although the downside is pretty small if that does happen. Kudos to Dorion for this smart signing.

Ceci trade finally?

We’ve been through this many times before, but Ken Warren is reporting that Dorion is in talks with teams about a Cody Ceci trade:

Cody Ceci in the midst of trade talks in advance of NHL draft https://t.co/X4UBJgpO9U

— Ken Warren (@Citizenkwarren) June 19, 2019

He doesn’t say that a trade is imminent or that he will 100% get moved, but he made it sound like a deal could happen as soon as tomorrow if Ottawa isn’t happy with what Ceci is asking for in a new contract. Dorion said that both sides had already talked about a new contract so it seems that Ottawa would still be willing to keep him around for the right price, but luckily their own cheapness might save themselves for once.

I could genuinely see Ceci being traded tomorrow or signing a six-year contract worth over $5M per season, and it’s hard to tell which way the Senators are leaning. It could a pretty interesting draft day if his name pops up again early in the day.

Jesse Puljujarvi on his way out

Jesse Puljujarvi rumours have been ongoing for awhile now, and now it looks inevitable that he will be on a different team next season:

Jesse Puljujarvi will not play another game for #Oilers, his agent tells @SportsnetSpec.https://t.co/AXEZzKD2NV

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) June 20, 2019

The ask for him is so hard to nail down, although Ryan Rishaug makes it seem as if the Oilers might be content with something as little as a 3rd line forward:

Couple of Oiler quick hitters as we touch down in Van -
-Broberg a very good possibility at 8
-If Puljujarvi deal can land a 3line F, they do it, if not they may stand pat
-Benning likely in play - create space for young D
-Connolly should be a prime UFA target for them.

— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) June 19, 2019

I feel like the Oilers will be looking for more, but if that’s truly all it would take, Ottawa should be all over that by offering Zack Smith or Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Exercises discussing what an exact deal for a struggling Puljujarvi would look like are usually a bit pointless, but the point here is that Ottawa should be looking at him as a trade option. Puljujarvi definitely needs to take a big step forward in his NHL career, but he also hasn’t been put in a position to succeed.

He’s 21 years old, has averaged just 12:28 of ice-time per game in his career, has been jerked around from line to line, and simply needs a fresh start in order to be as good as he can be. I don’t know if he will ever reach his potential, but I don’t think he will be nearly as expensive as he once would have been, and he could be a fantastic buy-low option for the Senators.

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