Ottawa Senators Need a Goalie From the 2025 Draft

But after those two, the Senators have almost no one who could be called up if someone gets injured. Mads Sogaard is next on the depth chart, but he missed all but 10 games last season – two in the NHL and eight in the American Hockey League (AHL) – and recorded just a single win while averaging a .846 SV%. The Great Dane has struggled to adapt to professional hockey after being selected in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft, and while he still has plenty of upside, his health is a big question mark.

After Sogaard, the Senators have just two other goalies in their system. Kevin Reidler, a 2022 fifth-round pick, is the older of the two, but, like Sogaard, he barely played last season, appearing in just eight games with the University of Omaha-Nebraska. He’s set to join Penn State University next season, where he’ll hopefully have more opportunities to play, but he’s still a big mystery in terms of NHL potential. The same can be said about Vladimir Nikitin, a seventh-round pick in 2023. He’s been a workhorse in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) and helped get the Nanaimo Clippers into the playoffs last season with a .924 SV% over 13 starts, but before that, he struggled for playing time in Russia’s junior league and was far less consistent. So far, it’s unclear whether his skillset can translate to more competitive leagues.

The Senators could also turn to Michael Simpson or Malcolm Subban in a pinch, but both are currently on AHL-only deals and would need new contracts to come to Ottawa. However, based on their numbers last season, it doesn’t look like that will happen any time soon. The better and easier option would be to use one of their picks on a goalie to help boost their farm system.

Joshua Ravensbergen

The 2025 goalie crop may not have any sure-fire starters like Yaroslav Askarov or Jesper Wallstedt available, but there are a few names that could become solid goalies in the future. The most promising of those is Joshua Ravensbergen, who is projected to be the only goalie taken in the first round this year and will likely be available when the Senators pick 21st overall.

Ravensbergen’s game is built on size and athleticism, using his 6-foot-5 frame to cover large parts of the net and strong positioning to cover the rest. In 2023-24, he led the Prince George Cougars to first place in the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Western Conference and took them all the way to the Conference Final before falling to the Portland Winterhawks. Last season, the team lost several of its top producers, but he remained a consistent presence in net, dropping to just a .901 SV% over 51 games from a .907 SV% in 31 the previous season.

According to The Hockey Writers’ Jesse Courville-Lynch, “[Ravensbergen] has also been able to dominate between the pipes with the Prince George Cougars in the Western Hockey League (WHL) because of his calmness and ability to perform well in clutch moments and with all of the tools he has, teams could be interested in him as a future starting goaltender at the NHL level.”

Lucas Beckman

The Senators don’t have a second-round pick, which likely prevents them from targeting the consensus next-best goalies, U18 World Junior standout Jack Ivankovic and Pyotr Andreyanov, the top-ranked European netminder. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have solid options available in the third round and beyond, one of which is Lucas Beckman. A relatively small goalie at 6-foot-2, he jumped over Ivankovic to claim the number two spot among North American goalies on the NHL Central Scouting’s Final Ranking thanks to a strong final stretch with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

In his draft profile, Jordan Orth wrote, “Finding holes in Beckman’s game is hard, as he is a really sound, all-around netminder. The biggest downfall to the QMJHL regular-season wins leader is his size. Being on the smaller side could see him fall in the draft somewhat. But with that being said, being as sound as he is in the crease starts with being very calm and poised under pressure. Fighting through traffic to get eyes on shots from farther out has helped Beckman immensely this season, showing a strong capability of tracking the puck movement.”

Michal Pradel

If the Senators are hesitant because of Beckman’s size, they could look to 6-foot-5 Czech goalie Michael Pradel. His numbers don’t look fantastic with the United States Hockey League’s (USHL) Tri-City Storm, but after leaving Slovakia for North America in January 2025, he continuously improved after each start, finishing with an excellent performance at the U18 World Championship. In seven starts, he had a .914 SV% and a 4-3-0 record, pushing the Slovaks to the Semi-Final before falling to Canada.

Although Pradel is generally projected to be a third-round pick, The Hockey Writers’ Matthew Buhrmann thinks he has the talent deserving of a higher selection. “After developing in Slovakia’s junior ranks, Pradel has now solidified himself as a legitimate NHL draft prospect,” Buhrmann wrote in Pradel’s profile. “His blend of size, mobility, and potential makes him one of the more intriguing goaltenders available in 2025. His transition to the USHL, along with strong international performances, has boosted his stock significantly, with many scouts projecting him as a mid-round pick. I would not be shocked to see him in the 30-50 range after his great performance at the U18s, but only time will tell.”

Louis-Antoine Denault

If the Senators want size and prefer to use a later draft pick, they couldn’t do much better than Louis-Antoine Denault, who should be available later in the draft. The Quebec Remparts’ starter towers over his peers, standing 6-foot-8, but hasn’t lost any quickness with his size. Despite facing the 10th most shots in the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), he finished the season with a .902 SV%, a very respectable total, especially considering the Remparts are a young, developing team that is going through some growing pains.

The fifth-best North American goalie according to NHL Central Scouting, Denault hasn’t shown up on many mock drafts yet, meaning he’ll likely end up a late-round selection, but he could be a hidden gem. He plays a very technical positional style, covering lots of the net with a wide butterfly stance that takes away almost all of the bottom half of the net. But he’s also incredibly athletic, quickly moving across his crease and tracking the puck very well to steal away scoring chances from odd-man rushes, as seen in the above clip.

Remparts head coach Éric Veilleux was full of praise for his 18-year-old netminder. “At his height, someone with such athletic ability, there aren’t tons of it,” he said to NHL.com. “He’s a very intelligent young man who comes from a good family. He’s a down-to-earth little guy, and as a goalkeeper, that’s a quality that often helps him find his bearings, and that’s exactly what he did after Christmas. […] He’s a very good person, a hard worker.”

Senators Must Use Picks Strategically

On top of their first-round pick, the Senators have five picks between Rounds 3 and 7, which doesn’t give them a lot of time to boost their weaker prospect pool. Still, if they use their picks wisely, they can address all the gaps in their farm system, including a top-six scoring forward, another top right-shot defender, and, of course, a goalie. If they miss an opportunity to select one of the four listed above, they also could look at Elijah Neuenschwander, Patrik Kerkola, or London Knights standout Austin Elliott, all of whom will be available later. Ottawa proved last year that they could do a lot with a little, grabbing Blake Montgomery and Javon Moore with two late selections, so there’s little doubt they can do that again.