News Article: Ottawa Senators 2014 NHL Draft Preview (THW) + Free Guide + Virtual Picks

[UpsideHockey]

Ottawa Senators 2014 NHL Draft Preview by Mike Burse

Excerpt:

"General Manager Bryan Murray is set to lead the Senators into his eighth Draft in Philadelphia at the 2014 NHL Draft. His assistant general managers Pierre Dorion and Randy Lee will be right at his side during this busy time.

The three of them,along with input from the Senators unheralded scouting staff, have a very good record of success in the recent history of the NHL Draft.

After all the hours of scouting prospects the day finally comes that the organization will pick those that they feel have potential to be of value. Unfortunately due to trades the Ottawa Senators currently only have four picks in the 2014 NHL Draft.

Top 10 Prospects

Curtis Lazar, C (Top Six)
Chris Driedger, G (Average Starter)
Cody Ceci, D (Top Four)
Mark Stone, RW (Top Six)
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, C (Top Nine)..."

Click here for full article ft. rest of the Top 10 prospects and some draft targets for the Sens and more...
***
Also see who the Flames virtually selected in the in depth 3 round mock draft, The Next Ones Final Edition, complete with commentary, stats and demographics on all picks:

Teaser: Sam Bennett goes 4th to the Flames

Link here

***
The official THW draft HQ page is live as well:

2014 NHL Draft Guide: The Next Ones

Much to be added (we constantly updated as new material published), but a great starting point for your draft needs.

- featuring profiles (>100 thus far), rankings, mocks, unique perspectives & much more


***

• 2014 NHL Draft Guide: The Next Ones
• Chris's List - Top 210 Final Rankings - The Next Ones
• 2014 NHL Mock Draft: Next Ones 3 Round Final Edition
• 2014 NHL Draft War Room: Prospect Profile Index - > 100 prospects
• Connect on Twitter

​

Click to read more...

 

[Xspyrit]

With Jason Spezza waiting to pack his bags to leave the Senators there will be a large hole in their offense. Based on the players currently under contract, and Jason Spezza leaving ,the current top six forward group would be: Bobby Ryan, Kyle Turris, Clarke MacArthur, Erik Condra, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Neil.

Stopped reading...

Neil was 13th and Condra was 14th in ice-time per game last season...

The actual top-6 forwards under contract actually would be (considering Spezza, Michalek and Hemsky are all gone) :

Turris
MacArthur
Ryan
Smith
Stone
Zibanejad

So

MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
Smith-Zibanejad-Stone

But Smith at the least is certainly going to be upgraded as he is better suited for a bottom-6 role.

Greening and Hoffman would also get top-6 ice-time before Condra and Neil. And I would say a few more prospects too (like Puempel or Lazar for example)

 

[BigRig4]

Stopped reading...

Neil was 13th and Condra was 14th in ice-time per game last season...

The actual top-6 forwards under contract actually would be (considering Spezza, Michalek and Hemsky are all gone) :

Turris
MacArthur
Ryan
Smith
Stone
Zibanejad

So

MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
Smith-Zibanejad-Stone

But Smith at the least is certainly going to be upgraded as he is better suited for a bottom-6 role.

Greening and Hoffman would also get top-6 ice-time before Condra and Neil. And I would say a few more prospects too (like Puempel or Lazar for example)

Yeah for me the stopping point was "the defense is a relative strength". Couldn't quite figure out how Driedger is higher than Ceci in the prospect rankings either. Appreciate the effort though.

 

[Micklebot]

Stopped reading...

Neil was 13th and Condra was 14th in ice-time per game last season...

The actual top-6 forwards under contract actually would be (considering Spezza, Michalek and Hemsky are all gone) :

Turris
MacArthur
Ryan
Smith
Stone
Zibanejad

So

MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
Smith-Zibanejad-Stone

But Smith at the least is certainly going to be upgraded as he is better suited for a bottom-6 role.

Greening and Hoffman would also get top-6 ice-time before Condra and Neil. And I would say a few more prospects too (like Puempel or Lazar for example)

My guess is they did their depth charts base on positions, so top 2 Centers; Turris Zibanejad, top 2 RW; Ryan, Condra/Stone/Neil?, top 2 LW; MacArthur, Greening/Hoffman?

Either way it's off, but I don't blame them for not puting Stone in (19 Games last year) or Hoffman (25 games and likely unsigned at the time or writting). There is no way you pencil in Puempel or Lazar in an article like this, they've yet to play a game, so how are they in our top 6?. So the only complaint I'd have is those two over Greening which imo is a coin toss.

 

[King Karlsson]

A bit of a reach to put Dzingel as our 5th best prospect..

 

[UpsideHockey]

I'll try and pass along feedback to the author.

Any thoughts on the mock draft picks of the Sens in the linked mock?

 

[YouGotAStuGoing]

I'll try and pass along feedback to the author.

Any thoughts on the mock draft picks of the Sens in the linked mock?

Pettersson is a decent 2nd round pick, but if Pollock is there I'd much prefer him.

I like Spencer Watson with the 3rd rounder, too.

 

[UpsideHockey]

Pettersson is a decent 2nd round pick, but if Pollock is there I'd much prefer him.

I like Spencer Watson with the 3rd rounder, too.

Pollock the safer route, but Pettersson higher upside.

 

[UpsideHockey]

Thought the Sens really had a solid draft weekend given the picks they had - really good value for all of their picks.

Tons of info here on all the picks:
downloadable Draft Results spreadsheet