Sens leaning towards keeping 2025 first-rounder, says Staios
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The Ottawa Senators are leaning on keeping their first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, general manager Steve Staios said on Monday.
"It's highly likely we'll keep our pick," Staios told reporters at the Senators' end-of-season availability.
The Senators will have to surrender their first-rounder either this summer or next summer due to how they handled forward Evgenii Dadonov's limited no-trade clause that came to light in March of 2022. The previous summer, Ottawa dealt Dadonov to the Vegas Golden Knights and did not inform the team of Dadonov's limited no-trade clause, which should have prevented him from being acquired by the Anaheim Ducks in a later deal in March of 2022. The league voided Vegas' deal with the Ducks and the Sens were deemed to be at fault, leading to the dismissal of then-general manager Pierre Dorion.
“The penalty that was imposed on the franchise was not something I took lightly, not something I was happy to do, but I felt I had to do it,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in November of 2023.
The Senators were eliminated in six games by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the NHL Playoffs on Saturday. It was their first trip to the playoffs since falling in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017.
Staios' decision will mean that the Senators will not have a first-round selection in next year's draft.
The NHL Draft is scheduled to begin on Friday, June 27, with the draft lottery set to determine the selection order later on Monday. As a team that qualified for the playoffs, the Senators are not eligible to win the draft lottery.
Among the top prospects expected to be taken are forward Michael Misa and defenceman Matthew Schaefer. Learn more about the next generation of talent entering this year's draft with TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie's Draft Ranking.