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Carter Bear, Everett Silvertips (Photo credit: Evan Morud)

Senators Mock Draft 2.0 – Looking at All Seven Rounds

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Dayton Reimer | Last updated May 28, 2025 8:25 AM ET

2With one month left until the 2025 NHL Draft, the Ottawa Senators aren’t in a great position to make a big splash. The team won’t pick until 21st overall, owns just six draft picks, and is without a second-rounder after sending it to the San Jose Sharks along with Zach Ostapchuk for Fabian Zetterlund and Tristen Robins at the 2025 Trade Deadline. The last time Ottawa was in a similar situation was back in 2014, when they ended up with just one NHL player, Andreas Englund.

That’s not to say that the Senators can’t find some hidden gems. At last year’s draft, Steve Staios’ first as general manager, Ottawa found great value in their later picks, adding Blake Montgomery, Javon Moore, and Lucas Ellinas in the fourth round. While it might be too early to make any definitive statements, all three look like potential top-six producers. Even if they fail to hit that, ending up with three solid NHL players with offensive upside is a big win for the middle of the draft. So, with the draft board becoming clearer every day, we can start to look at some potential prospects the Senators could target later in the 2025 NHL Draft.

Method to the Madness

This is the second mock draft for the Senators. In the first edition, I looked at just the Senators’ first-round draft pick, using my own draft ranking and some additional mock drafts to make an educated guess on who could be available when the Senators make their selection. While I feel that I was fair in my assessment, a view shared by other Senators’ writers, I admit that it is impossible to separate all of my biases, especially when I am making every selection. That would only be amplified in a full seven-round mock draft; in all honesty, I’m not sure I could come up with 124 players, let alone all 224 that will be selected.

To help mitigate these concerns, I used FC Hockey’s Mock Draft Builder to simulate the rest of the teams in the draft and give me a better sense of who could be available at each of the Senators’ six picks. While the simulator brings its own biases to the table, it allows me to respond to each pick like a general manager, using my information to make the best pick from the players remaining. I’ll also try to select the best player available, following the comments made by Senators’ scout Don Boyd in last week’s amateur scouting meeting. There are still a few areas I will be prioritizing, as I wrote about in each selection, but for the most part, I will go with the player I believe is the best available.

With that, let’s see who the Senators ended up with.

Pick #21 – Carter Bear, C, Everett Silvertips (WHL)

The first round went as most have predicted thus far, but there were two surprising selections. Firstly, Cullen Potter was selected ninth overall by the Buffalo Sabres, which is a bit of a reach on a promising but raw prospect, then Cole McKinney, generally regarded as a fringe first-rounder, was taken 17th overall by the Montreal Canadiens. While still a reach, it’s a bit more understandable from a team’s second first-round pick, although it was also surprising to see them select Ben Kindel with their first pick. He’s a safer selection than McKinney, but still a reach.

However, because of those surprising selections, Carter Bear was still available, which I feel makes a lot of sense for the Senators, who need some scoring punch in their pipeline. Bear finished the 2024-25 season with 40 goals and 85 points before a torn Achilles sidelined him for the playoffs. Without him, the Everett Silvertips struggled to find consistent offence and eventually fell to the Portland Winterhawks in the second round after finishing first in the Western Hockey League (WHL).

Ottawa doesn’t have a lot of potential top-six contributors waiting in their system right now, which is a bit of a problem. While they don’t need a potential superstar to compete with Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Dylan Cozens, or Drake Batherson, having another scoring option gives the Senators flexibility and makes them a tougher team to play against as they chase the Stanley Cup. Without it, they will lag behind their competition, much like last season, averaging just 2.95 goals per game – a far cry from the teams in the running for the Stanley Cup year in and year out. Depth has always been crucial for playoff success, and adding Bear puts them in a much better place in that regard.

But what makes Bear such a great pick for the Senators is his relentlessness. He chases down pucks, fights for possession in the corners, and hustles on the backcheck and forecheck. He makes things happen when he’s on the ice, and although he’s not the biggest player, he’s far from small at 6-foot-1 and uses his strength to create opportunities for his team. Imagine pairing a player like that with Tkachuk or Ridly Greig.

I also considered:

Pick #94 – Haoxi Wang, LD, Oshawa Generals (OHL)

Without a second-round pick, the Senators have to wait until nearly the end of the third round to make their second selection, but I was surprised by the selection available to me. So, with the pick acquired from the Florida Panthers (and still unconfirmed on it’s placement), I went with Haoxi “Simon” Wang, a gigantic 6-foot-6 defenceman who split time between the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the Oshawa Generals, and the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s (OJHL) King Rebellion. He didn’t have a ton of points, recording just two assists in his 32-game OHL stint, but he looked incredibly promising in those appearances. He was physical, intelligent, and a surprisingly smooth skater. He still has a long way to go, but the Senators have the time to let Wang develop into a potential Victor Hedman.

Pick #97 – Michal Pradel, G, Tri-City Storm (USHL)

My gamble to wait for a goalie paid off with Slovak Michal Pradel still available early in the fourth round. The 6-foot-5 netminder made the transition from Europe to North America, joining the United States Hockey League’s (USHL) Tri-City Storm, and although some of his early starts were a bit shaky, he got better with every game. By the time he joined the Slovaks for the U18 World Championship, he was one of the tournament’s best goalies, putting up a .914 save percentage over seven games. With the Senators needing another goalie prospect, I thought there was no better time to grab a goalie with the potential to emerge as an NHL starter.

Michal Pradel, Team Slovakia (Photo by Leila Devlin/Getty Images)

Because the Senators’ picks were so close together, I considered several players for both selections:

Pick #149 – Mikkel Eriksen, C, Färjestad BK J20, (J20 Nationell)

At this point in the draft, my list was getting pretty short, so I decided to take some bigger swings with the following picks. Bear, Wang, and Pradel are all good bets to make the NHL and fill out the Senators depth chart nicely, but you can’t win big if you don’t take risks. With that in mind, I swung for the fences with Mikkel Eriksen, the youngest player available in the draft.

Hailing from Oslo, Norway, the nephew of former NHLer Espen Knutsen spent all of 2024-25 playing in Sweden. In the J20 Nationell, he scored an impressive 22 goals and 43 points in 40 games, which put him first on his team and 16th in the league in goals. Internationally, he represented Norway multiple times and was a point-per-game in nearly every tournament. Despite his 5-foot-11 frame, he plays a heavy, engaged game, drawing penalties and throwing hits, and demonstrates high-end intelligence and vision with the puck. He needs to improve his skating and defensive coverage, but there are a lot of tools here that could interest the Senators.

I also considered:

Pick #181 – Lasse Boelius, LD, Ässät (Liiga)

Martin and Annborn ended up going 175th and 179th, respectively, but Reber and Boelius were both still available, putting me right back where I was with the Senators’ fifth-round pick. To keep things balanced, I went for the defenceman and grabbed Boelius, who produced at a similar pace to Aron Kiviharju in his draft season, with both scoring two points in seven games in the Liiga as 17-year-olds. He’s a great transitional defenceman with fantastic vision and skating, and while he needs to work on his defensive game, similar things were said about Erik Karlsson when he was drafted. Already playing big minutes at a young age and demonstrating poise and maturity, he’s definitely worth the risk.

Lasse Boelius, Team Finland (Photo credit: Pasi Mennander)

I also considered:

Pick #213 – Anthony Cristoforo, RD, Windsor Spitfires (OHL)

With the Senators’ last pick, I went with an overage right-shot defenceman, Anthony Cristoforo. He was a well-regarded prospect in 2024, but plummeted in Central Scouting’s rankings, going from a B-grade prospect to 101st among North American skaters on the Midterm Ranking, down to 194th on the Final. Teams were worried about his dynamism, leading to him not being drafted. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler still considered him one of the best undrafted players from the 2024 Draft, but admitted he needs to prove to teams he has what it takes to get to the next level, writing “He’s going to have to take a big step next year to convince people he’s got NHL upside but he plays a modern style and has most of what you want from a 5-foot-11 defenseman” (from “Best undrafted players at the 2024 NHL Draft: Tomas Galvas, Alexander Zetterberg and more,” The Athletic – 6/29/24).

Windsor Spitfires’ defenceman Anthony Cristoforo. (David Jewell / The Hockey Writers)

Cristoforo definitely took a big step forward in 2024-25, upping his production from 38 points to 61 points in 65 games with the Windsor Spitfires. He also grew another inch and became much more consistent in his own end, helping the Spitfires claim first in their division and second in the Western Conference. Given that he’s also a right-shooting defender, he could find a space in the Senators organization.

I also considered:

How Realistic Is This Draft Class?

I mentioned how surprised I was that Bear was available, as it seems unlikely he’ll drop out of the lottery picks, although TSN’s Craig Button ranked him 24th in his latest ranking, likely because of the injury, so it’s possible that the Senators could land him. However, I still think that’s highly unlikely. I also think it’s unlikely that Wang falls to the third round. His offensive totals are low, but his size alone will almost certainly keep him in the second round. The Athletic’s recent mock draft has him going 33rd, and even Button, who’s surprisingly cooler on him than most, has him gone by the 74th selection. If he’s available, he’s a great addition for Ottawa, but I don’t see it happening on draft day.

The rest of the picks at least feel plausible. Pradel is projected to be a third-round pick and could slip into the early fourth round. Eriksen and Boelius will likely be mid-round selections, and while Cristoforo may not be around in the 200s, he’s most likely set up to be a late selection.

Overall, I’m happy with this draft class. It’s not the deepest pool, but it gives the Senators a lot of good options to continue to improve their farm team and their organizational depth. While I’m sure I could do better, I’m confident I could do much worse.

What do you think of this draft class? Let me know down in the comments.