Revisiting the Senators’ 2022 Draft Class

Sam Gagner, the Senators’ new Director of Player Development who played with the young Swede last season in Belleville, beamed when discussing Pettersson’s game. “He understands what his role is going to be if he plays in the NHL, and he works on those things,” he said. “His development is coming along great because of that. He’s a great guy for the other prospects to look up to because he has a great understanding of that, and he’s working to get better.” With a heavy shot and a great work ethic, he’s well on his way to a breakout season.

3rd Round, 87th Overall – Tomas Hamara, Left Defence

Whereas the Senators’ first two picks drew skepticism from analysts, their selection of Tomas Hamara generally received praise, as both Craig Button and Bob McKenzie ranked him in the second round. The Czechian defender played his draft season in Finland, dominating the lower levels and appearing in 24 games in Liiga. Unfortunately, he’s had a bit of a roller coaster developmentally, so the jury is still out whether he can emerge as a top-four two-way defenceman.

However, all signs are pointing to a resurgence in 2025-26. 2024-25 was his best season so far; after leaving Finland for the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in 2022-23, he struggled with injuries and adjusting to the North American game, leading to a trade request in 2023, and he was sent to the Brantford Bulldogs early in 2023-24. For a moment, it looked like he was headed to Belleville last season, but he returned to junior and had the breakout campaign the Senators were waiting for with 55 points in 58 games. Now that he’s graduated from the OHL, he’ll be one to watch in Belleville this season.

4th Round, 104th Overall – Stephen Halliday, Centre

Few would expect a team’s fourth-round pick to be the highlight of its draft class, but that’s exactly what the Senators got with Stephen Halliday. Drafted as a 20-year-old overage prospect out of the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints, the 6-foot-4 centre joined Ohio State University in 2022-23, and he was a point-per-game player for two seasons before joining Belleville at the end of 2023-24. He immediately caught fans’ attention with a team-leading nine-point performance in the playoffs, then returned as an AHL rookie in 2024-25 to lead Belleville with 51 points in 71 games.

Although he didn’t appear in any NHL games last season, he received a few call-ups to the big leagues, where he participated in a handful of Senators’ practices. “It was cool for them to reward me like that and to be able to practice with Timmy (Stutzle) and G (Claude Giroux) and learn from them,” he said in his Belleville exit interview. “Even during practice, they’re talking to me and giving me tips, and the practices even feel like games up there, with how intense they are. I feel like I was able to take some details away from those practices and utilize them in the second half of the year. It’s definitely cool, and it makes you really hungry to stay there.”

“He has NHL skill,” said Belleville head coach David Bell. “Everything’s quicker up there, the gaps are smaller, the lanes are smaller, the seams are smaller, so he’ll have to speed his game up…but when you have the skillset and the vision that he has, he’ll figure it out.” Halliday’s first NHL game is merely a matter of time, so look for him to become the first from the Senators’ 2022 Draft class to play in Ottawa.

5th Round, 136th Overall – Jorian Donovan, Left Defence

The Senators used their first of three fifth-round selections on yet another left-shot defenceman, Jorian Donovan. The son of former Senators’ defenceman and current development coach, Shean Donovan, Jorian has turned into one of Ottawa’s more intriguing defensive prospects. Although his AHL rookie numbers were average last season – three goals and 12 points – he proved he was a top junior player who can eat big minutes, helping the Saginaw Spirit win their first Memorial Cup in 2023-24.

“He came in and you could argue he was our MVP of the playoffs,” said Spirit GM Dave Drinkill. “He played so well for us and played some nights when Zayne (Parekh) was hurt, played 33-34 minutes and didn’t even look like he was out of breath. Ottawa fans have a real good one there for sure.” (from ‘Why the Senators have a ‘real good one’ with prospect Jorian Donovan,’ The Athletic – 2/06/2024)

5th Round, 143rd Overall – Cameron O’Neill, Right Wing

The Senators made two more fifth-round selections, neither of whom has made much of an impact yet. Cameron O’Neill was selected out of Mount St. Charles Academy, a high school program in Rhode Island, where he put up 57 goals and 133 points in 62 games. However, former Director of Scouting Trent Mann stressed patience. “He’s going to take a little bit of time,” he said, “but we’re comfortable with that because we do have some prospects and we can afford to wait a little longer.” (from ‘Analyzing the Senators’ 2022 NHL Draft picks,’ The Athletic – 11/07/2022).

Like Nordberg, O’Neill’s development hasn’t seen the growth one would hope from a potential NHL player. He joined UMass in 2023-24 and struggled as a freshman, then put up even fewer points as a sophomore. Injuries have been a factor, and there is still time for O’Neill to find his game at the college level, but it seems unlikely he will ink a deal with the Senators.

5th Round, 151st Overall – Kevin Reidler, Goalie

The final fifth-round pick was Swedish goalie Kevin Reidler, who has shown some high-end potential but struggled to find consistent playing time. He was dominant in Sweden’s J20 Nationell and in the USHL for Dubuque, earning him a third-strong spot on Sweden’s 2024 WJC team. But at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, he played just eight games throughout the 2024-25 season. That prompted him to jump on the NCAA transfer portal, hoping to find a program where he could be a team’s uncontested starter. That led him to join Penn State University, where he’ll replace Calgary Flames prospect Arseni Sergeev, who’s off to the AHL this season.

It still wasn’t an easy decision for the 6-foot-6 goalie. “I try not to think too much ahead, even though you lie down at night in November and you want to play and the chance doesn’t really come for you, that’s when the ball starts rolling a little bit,” Reidler said on the Locked on Senators podcast. “Towards the end of the season, I began feeling it more and more, and I realized that, ok, I can’t really be in a situation like this where next year will potentially be the same.” Considering that Sergeev did the same thing as Reidler a year ago before signing an NHL contract in April, Reidler could be on the path to the NHL.

6th Round, 168th Overall – Theo Wallberg, Left Defence

It’s tough to tell what Theo Wallberg is at this point. The Senators’ fourth left-shot defenceman of the 2022 Draft was praised for his smooth skating, especially for his 6-foot-5 frame, but lacked consistency and physicality. That seems to have followed him to North America; after a strong season with Dubuque in the USHL and a promising freshman season with Ohio State University, he took a step back in 2024-25, dropping from two goals and 21 points to zero goals and eight points. Wallberg joined Reidler on the transfer portal and is now headed to Western Michigan University for 2025-26, where he’ll hopefully recapture his freshman totals.

7th Round, 206th Overall – Tyson Dyck, Centre

It’s rare for a seventh-round pick to pan out, and Tyson Dyck doesn’t look like he’ll buck the trend. He scored posted five goals and nine points as a freshman at UMass, then decided to transfer to the University of Wisconsin the following season, where he’s scored three goals and recorded 19 assists over two full seasons. He remains on the Senators’ radar after attending his third development camp this past June, and he’ll be joined by Blake Montgomery, Bruno Idzan, and Logan Hensler in 2025-26, which could work out in his favour. While the NHL is almost certainly out of reach, he could emerge as a valuable AHL contributor.

Was it a Good Draft?

If just looking at the draft picks, the Senators came away with a few late-round hidden gems in Halliday, Pettersson, and Donovan. Nordberg, Hamara, Wallberg, and Reilder have shown potential, too, and could still make the NHL someday. To come away with that out of nine selections, none of which came in the first 63 picks, that’s a decent return.

However, as mentioned earlier, the trades have already tainted this draft class. Ottawa had to settle for a subpar offer from the Detroit Red Wings to get rid of DeBrincat, they used third-round pick in March to acquire Travis Hamonic, who didn’t make the team’s blue line better, and a nonsensical no-movement clause made him an anchor on the team’s roster. What would the Senators look like now if they had kept those picks? Kevin Korchinski, who the Blackhawks selected with the Senators’ first-round pick, already has 96 NHL games under his belt, and the third-rounder became defenseman Elias Pettersson, who is also in the NHL. For a team focused on the present, the Senators struggled to understand what that looked like and inadvertently set their team back years.