The Productive Weekend That Was For The Ottawa Senators

This past weekend was full of surprises for Ottawa Senators fans.

It was assumed the team was seeking offensive depth at the Draft. However, the club selected a right-shot defenseman with their first pick in back-to-back Drafts.

Ottawa Senators general manager Steve Staios hinted Wednesday that if there was a deal to be made where he could gain an asset, he wouldn’t hesitate to trade back in the opening round. Staios did just that, moving the Senators 21st overall pick to Nashville for picks 23 and 67.

The Ottawa Senators GM parlayed that 67th pick and a 2026 sixth-rounder acquired from Colorado in the Kevin Mandolese swap to acquire d-man Justin Spence from the Los Angeles Kings. The 24-year-old is added insurance if Nick Jensen is unable to open next season due to his recovery from recent hip surgery. At worst, Spence will likely play ahead of Nik Matinpalo alongside Tyler Kleven, if Jensen is in fact healthy.

The team selected a pair of 17-year-olds, along with two goaltenders, one of whom was from Russia, and another Russian player. The Senators hadn’t drafted a Russian player since 2005 when the club selected centre Ilya Zubov and blueliner Dimitri Megalinsky.

And capping it off Sunday, the team agreed to terms with pending unrestricted free agent Claude Giroux. According to the source, the negotiation was a “grind,” but ultimately, Giroux agreed to a club-friendly deal.

The contract breakdown, including possible bonuses, is as follows:

$2,000,000 base salary

$250,000 for each plateau of playing in 20, 30, 60 games

$500,000 for winning one round in the playoffs

$250,000 for winning Round Two

$500,000 for winning Round Three

$500,000 for winning the Stanley Cup

Ottawa Senators: Senators Land RD Jordan Spence as Steve Staios Seeks to Add Roster Depth

Ottawa Senators: “A Dream Come True” For Senators No.1 Pick Logan Hensler

As for the Draft itself, Senators head scout Don Boyd and NCAA/USHL amateur scout Dan Boeser met the media Saturday to discuss the team’s selections.

23 Logan Hensler, RD, University of Wisconsin

Age 18 6’3″ 198 lbs, Woodbury, MN

2024-25 U of Wisconsin NCAA 32 games 2 goals 10 assists 27 penalty minutes

USA U-20 WJC 7 games 1 assist 8 penalty minutes

Don Boyd – “He came into Wisconsin, he’s changed his game a little bit. He continues to grow. The fact of the matter is that he’s a right-handed shot, that he’s a real good skater and can move pucks. And we have to have that kind of skill to get the puck out of our end. He closes defensively. He can meet the rush and stop it. He can go back and get pucks very quickly, turn and move it up ice.” 

Dan Boeser – “The coaches have have a good plan for him. He’s going to take on an even bigger role than he had this year. Maybe more special teams get time on the power play penalty kill. So yeah, he’s a he’s a tremendous kid, well liked by his teammates, well liked by the coaches.”

93 Blake Vanek RW Stillwater H.S. Minnesota

Age 17 6’3″ 205 lbs, Stillwater, MN

2024-25 Stillwater H.S., MN 29 games 22 goals 31 assists 23 penalty minutes

Chicago USHL 9 games 4 goals 1 assist 17 penalty minutes

US National U-18 team 6 games 1 assist 0 penalty minutes

Blake, the son of former longtime NHLer Thomas, will play next season for the Wenatchee Wild in the Western Hockey League and told Full Press Hockey via Zoom on Saturday that he plans to play in the NCAA in 2026-27.

Dan Boeser – “Obviously, he’s got an August birthday. So obviously, close to next year’s draft, there’s a lot of runway with him. He’s obviously comes from a hockey family with his dad, so there’s that piece that we like. He’s been around the game, knows the game well, big body six, two and a half, still has a lot of room on that frame, had a really unique experience this year of making a deep run in the Minnesota High School State tournament, which is a really important experience for those kids in that area, and then dipped his toes into the USHL junior level, which he was really impressive. It’s not easy to step into that league, especially at the end of the year.Going to be a big man when he’s when he’s all done, he competes, can shoot the puck, he scores in the dirty areas. So there’s, there’s a lot to like about him, like the path that he’s going to take next year, going to Wenatchee.” 

97 Lucas Beckman G Baie Comeau QMJHL

Age 17 6’2″ 183 lbs, Montreal, QC

2024-25 Baie Comeau QMJHL Reg season 52 games 2.65 GAA, .914 Sv Pct, 31-18-2

Playoffs 11 games 2.57 GAA, .922 Sv Pct, 5-4-2

Canada U18 2 games 0.75 GAA .955 Sv Pct, 2-0-0

Beckman led all QMJHL goalies in playoff save percentage (.922) and served as the backup for Canada at the U18 Hlinka Gretzky tournament. His parents are professional Ultimate Frisbee players and have won world championships. Lucas’ dad, Lorne, is responsible for introducing the rules for the sport and is in their Hall of Fame.

Don Boyd – “While he was a 17-year-old, he took over the team, basically, and carried it 52 or 54 games. That doesn’t happen a lot of times with a young goaltender, his numbers were significant, save percentage, goals against. He’s a character kid, a little bit funny. I think he’s got his his head about him. He’s got some size. He’s competitive, but most of all, he’s a young kid that’s 17 year old and and took over the net and and ran with it and did quite a good job of it. You know, the numbers show that he’s not flappable in any way, calm, and and he understands his game. He’s going to be easy to coach for our development people. And he’s got two more years in junior hockey, he played 52 games this year, so he won’t play any less.” 

149 Dmitri Isayev LW Avto Yekaterinburg MHL

Age 18, 5’9″, 148 lbs, Togliatti, Russia

2024-25 Yekaterinburg MHL Reg season 44 games 22 goals 23 assists 30 penalty minutes

Playoffs: 5 games, 2 goals, 2 assists

Yekaterinburg KHL 3 games 0 goals 0 assists

Selected 149th overall, Isayev was ranked as high as 83 by Smart Scouting. Of note, the Ottawa Senators do not have scouts in Russia and rely on video. They interviewed Zoom through an interpreter.

Don Boyd – “Well, number one, we do do a lot of work on film is, Isayev is a smaller player, but surprisingly enough this kid is a competitor. He’s got speed, he does have skill, he makes the play. I think that there’s a lot more there for a kid like that. So for us, it was important that we did that. We could have went another couple of other ways, but we chose not to. We think there’s more there. We think there’s a chance for him to be a player down the road. We spoke with him. We did the interview process with him twice. We have an interpreter in Russia that does help us out a significant amount, and the interviews were good. He’s a he’s a bright-eyed kid and he wants to come over here.”

181 Bruno Izdan LW Lincoln USHL

Age 19 6′ 0″ 194 lbs, Zagreb, Croatia

2024-25 KHL Sisak ALPSHL 19 games 21 goals 9 assists 6 penalty minutes

Lincoln USHL Reg season 36 games, 22 goals, 22 assists, 20 penalty minutes

Playoffs: 6 games, 3 goals

Idzan is only the second Croatian selected in the NHL Draft (1999 Goran Bezina PHX) and was a teammate in 2022-23 of Ottawa Senators prospect Gabriel Elliason while playing in Sweden’s HV71 organization.

Dan Boeser – “Well, he’s certainly taken the interesting path. He comes from a really tight, hard working family that all work at the same place. I think they own some type of store together. And you see that that work ethic when you watch him play, that’s the first thing that stands out. He’s got a motor. He has energy. He’s a goal scorer. He came into the USHL by chance with a strange connection through the coach there. That’s how we ended up in Lincoln. And like I said, sort of with Hensler situation, stepping into the big 10, it’s very difficult to step into the USHL, especially mid-season, and have the success that he did, the production that he did, the goal of scoring. I think he finished in the top three in the league points per game, if I’m not mistaken. So that just shows that he’s an offensive guy. He’s able to score. He was really impressive on their power plays. He was involved in their offense like he was one of the drivers. He’s an older kid. He’s an ’06, maybe a little bit of a late bloomer in that regard. And he’s going to step into the University of Wisconsin next year, and he expects, in our in our talks with him to play an offensive role there as well. So, yeah, interesting path, but there’s a goal scoring touch there. That’s that’s hard to pass up on.”

213 Andrei Trofimov G Magnitogorsk MHL

Age 18, 6’2″, 187 lbs, Magnitogorsk, Russia

2024-25 Magnitogorsk MHL 26 games 2.10 GAA, .929 Sv Pct, 13-7-2

Of note, former Ottawa Senators goalie coach Zac Bierk remains with the club in a development capacity and studied countless hours of video on Trofimov. Bierk is utilized to study and work with young goaltenders in his role.

Don Boyd – “Our goaltending development group, and ‘Petey” (Senators goalie coach Justin Peters helping from the NHL side is a tremendous boost for us. It’s a support system for us. And, you know, Zac Bierk took on a role this year and traveled and did some development stuff for us, and did a lot of work. They put hours in on this, and they put a list together we trust and and go with that list. He’s a year older. He’s an ’06, but he put up tremendous numbers. He only played 29 games, but his numbers were real good. And we have some contacts there that he came highly recommended. “Petey” and Zac couldn’t talk about him enough to us. So that decision was made right at the end of the draft.”