For the first time in years, the Ottawa Senators and their faithful had little interest in the NHL Draft Lottery. Their 2024-25 playoff appearance ended a seven-season drought, and although it ended after just five games at the hands of bitter rivals, it was a big confirmation that this team is headed in the right direction.
Instead, fans were more interested in whether general manager Steve Staios would forfeit this year’s first-round pick, and on May 5, he said it was highly likely that Ottawa would keep their pick in 2025. Per the punishment doled out after the bungled Evgenii Dadonov trade in 2021, the Senators had to decide whether to forfeit their first-round pick in 2024, 2025, or 2026. With only the 2026 pick remaining, it must be forfeited.
However, that may not have to be the case. Senators majority owner Michael Andlauer has remained hopeful that Commissioner Gary Bettman will be lenient with the Senators, especially when looking at the history of the NHL’s punishments, so the team has opted to play the long game with the forfeited pick. But there’s also the fact that the Senators don’t have enough prospects in their pipeline to be flippant with draft picks. The previous management regime treated picks and prospects flippantly, leading to a depleted farm system and few options to help support the top six should anything happen. With just over a year left before a decision needs to be reached, the Senators need to find a way to keep their 2026 pick.
The Senators Need More Prospects
Back in 2020, the Senators had one of the best prospect pools in the NHL, featuring future stars like Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson, and Drake Batherson, Ridly Greig, Shane Pinto, and Tyler Kleven. All those players became valuable members of the Senators and were a big part of the team’s playoff appearance. Others, like Josh Norris, Jacob Bernard-Docker, and Zach Ostapchuk, were traded away for players who better fit what Staios and Andlauer were trying to build.
Unsurprisingly, when those players graduated or were moved, the Senators were left with a depleted farm system. Normally, that’s not a problem; competitive teams move future pieces for players who can immediately contribute to a Stanley Cup chase. But over the next three seasons, the Senators failed to turn their young talent into a competitive team and remained in the bottom half of the league. With their subsequent high draft picks, they added more depth players, traded them to add players who didn’t work out in Ottawa, or moved them to fix previous mistakes. After three years of top-10 draft picks, they had almost nothing to show for it.
Related: THW’s 2025 NHL Draft Guide
Thankfully, Staios has brought the franchise back to focusing on the draft, adding several great players in the 2024 Draft. Seventh-overall selection Carter Yakemchuk headlined the class, but later selections of Gabriel Eliasson, Lucas Ellinas, Blake Montgomery, and Javon Moore all look to be heading in the right direction. It was a big first step in restocking the farm system, but more work still needs to be done. With that in mind, it was a no-brainer to keep the 2025 pick, and with the added challenge of not having a second-round selection after using it to acquire Fabian Zetterlund from the San Jose Sharks, a late first-round pick was essential this season.
That will remain true next season, too. Even though the Senators are projected to once again secure a playoff spot and end up with a late-first pick, adding another player who could contribute to the team’s middle six will be crucial for sustained success. Otherwise, Ottawa’s Stanley Cup window will close almost as fast as it opened. As The Hockey Writers‘ Paul Quinney pointed out, “It’s doubtful that this core group will remain together beyond the 2025-26 season, meaning that if the Senators have a shot at a Stanley Cup, their odds are as good as they’re going to get over the next three seasons.”
The NHL Rarely Holds to Its Punishments
The Senators aren’t the first team to be hit with a punishment involving a draft pick, but if the NHL goes through with their initial statement, it will be one of the first times the league doesn’t soften its ruling.
One example that people often point to, myself included, is the New Jersey Devils, who were initially fined $3 million and stripped of a third-round pick in 2011 and a first-round pick in 2011, 2012, 2013, or 2014 in 2010 for their salary cap circumvention with Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract. The Devils refused to give up a pick, however, and before the 2014 Draft, which looked like it would have to be the year they forfeited a pick, the NHL softened their punishment by decreasing the fine to $1.5 million and moving the Devils first-round pick from 11th to 30th (the last pick of that first round) instead of removing it.
The league also softened their 2021 punishment against the Chicago Blackhawks, who were found to be negligent in the sexual assault of a player by a staff member. The team was fined $2 million and general manager Stan Bowman, senior vice president of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, and head coach Joel Quenneville were banned from the NHL. Less than three years later, the ban was lifted on all three, leading to Bowman joining the Edmonton Oilers in July 2024 and the Anaheim Ducks hiring Quenneville as head coach earlier this month. Both stated they learned from their mistakes and have receipts to back it up, thus leading to the NHL’s punishment reversal.
The only time the NHL stuck to its guns was with the Arizona Coyotes in 2020, who violated the NHL’s Combine Testing policy by hosting a private combine testing for prospects before the annual NHL Draft Combine and were therefore ordered to give up their 2020 second-round pick and their 2021 first-round pick. While the NHL’s bylaws recommended a fine for the infraction, Bettman stepped in and changed the punishment to better reflect the crime.
The Punishment Never Made Sense
One of the biggest reasons the Senators should push the NHL to soften its punishment is that, when looking back on previous infractions, Ottawa’s sentencing never fit the crime. There’s no question that former general manager Pierre Dorion needed to be punished for his role in the Dadonov trade, in which a 10-team no-trade list was not disclosed to the Vegas Golden Knights and only discovered when Vegas tried to trade Dadonov to the Anaheim Ducks in March 2022. It was a massive oversight by the Senators’ management team and cannot be permitted to happen in a professional league.
But, when looking at precedent, it doesn’t make sense why they were told to forfeit a draft pick. The Coyotes were found to be gaining an unfair advantage in the draft, so the NHL gave them a disadvantage. That punishment fits the crime. So did the Toronto Maple Leafs’ punishment in 2009, when they contravened the collective bargaining agreement by signing Swedish defenceman Jonas Frogren. The team was ordered to forfeit a fourth-round pick and was fined $500,000, but the contract was not nullified, and Frogren joined the team the following season, playing 41 games and recording seven points in his only NHL season. That is about what a team can expect from a fourth-round pick, thus, the punishment made sense.
There was also an instance in 1978, long before Bettman, when the NHL stripped the New York Islanders of a fourth-round pick because they acquired it from the Cleveland Barons, who folded the night before the 1978 Draft and were absorbed by the Minnesota North Stars. All of the Barons’ draft picks were cancelled, including the Islanders’, who flipped their 1978 fourth-rounder to Cleveland in January, plus two players, for Wayne Merrick. The NHL never made an official statement, but it’s likely that because the draft capital remained even, both picks were discarded. The Washington Capitals, who also acquired a pick from the Barons, were allowed to keep it because it was the only pick involved in the deal.
All those punishments made sense when considering the circumstances. The Devils’ punishment, however, didn’t follow that line, which the NHL seemed to recognize after a few years. With the added ownership change in 2013, the NHL reconsidered it’s initial ruling, stating, “The Devils recently applied to the League for reconsideration and relief from a portion of the original penalty, citing primarily changes in circumstances which, in the club’s view, changed the appropriateness of the sanctions initially imposed. After due and thorough consideration, the League has decided that a modification of the original circumvention penalty associated with the Kovalchuk contract is warranted and, accordingly, has amended the sanctions.” (from “Senators to forfeit first-round pick for role in 2022 nullified Evgenii Dadonov trade: Why now?” The Athletic – 01/11/2023).
The Senators also underwent an ownership change around the same time as their punishment, and, according to Andlauer, the league didn’t fully disclose how serious the issue was. “It was basically, from the seller’s perspective, really a non-issue,” recounted Andlauer on what he was told before the Senators’ sale. “I don’t know if a first-rounder is a non-issue to you guys, but it is (an issue) to me…The commissioner had a lot of time to deliberate (on the punishment). Two teams wanted a pound of flesh. Why I inherited this is beyond me.” (from ‘BAINES: Sens deserve stiff penalty, but why was Andlauer told grievance was a ‘non-issue?’ Ottawa Sun – 01/11/2023).
Just like the Devils, the Senators changed ownership between the time the infraction was committed and the punishment was doled out. Furthermore, Staios and Andlauer have replaced all but three people in the team’s front office. There’s no one left who was involved with those dealings, and the punishment from the NHL should reflect that. The team has done everything it can to prove to the NHL that this punishment needs to be adjusted. Now the NHL just has to listen.
