NHL Draft - Full Recap of Ottawa Senators' Picks

The draft has come and gone, Dany Heatley is still an Ottawa Senator, and our prospect cupboard is filled once again. Ottawa nabbed 3 defencemen, 5 forwards, and a goalie. Here they are, along with a link to our original coverage of the picks:

D Jared Cowen (first round, 9th overall - link), F Jakob Silfverberg (second, 39th overall - link), G Robin Lehner (second, 46th overall - link), D Chris Wideman (fourth, 100th overall - link); C/LW Mike Hoffman (fifth, 130 - link), LW Jeff Costello (fifth, 146 - link), LW Corey Cowick (sixth, 160 - link), LW Brad Peltz (seventh, 190 - link), and D Michael Sdao (seventh, 191 - link).

Obviously, the big story of the night was the first pick of Jared Cowen. Here's a guy who was a consensus top 5 pick until his knee injury, and still managed to stay in every professional scout's top ten. He has missed a few months' development, but Ottawa has already stated they aren't going to rush him. Also, from his comments at the draft, it seems like he's taking the rehabilitation of his knee very seriously. Some fans are mad at Murray and company for picking Cowen over Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson, but come on - the Sens have one of the best Swedish scouts in the game, and if MPS was worth taking over Cowen, you know Anders Forsberg would have insisted on drafting him.

Also, for those who missed it, be sure to check out the video of Brian Burke letting Bryan Murray know that we weren't getting Nazem Kadri.

With the addition of Cowen, Ottawa has a tremendous blue-line coming down the pipe. Brian Lee and Chris Campoli are both young, solid defenders, while Ottawa's first two draft picks last year, Erik Karlsson and Patrick Wiercioch have exceeded all expectations.

The rest of the picks after the jump...

Ottawa is in dire need of secondary scoring, and second round pick Jakob Silfverberg is hoped to provide that. However, it'll be a few years yet - Jakob will spend 09/10 playing in the SEL, and then probably come to North America for the 10/11 season and join the AHL to adjust to North American hockey.

The other second rounder was the goalie, Robin Lehner. I was a little disappointed in this pick, as I feel drafting goalies in early rounds often is a waste of a pick (picking goalies is incredibly hard), the Senators seem very confident with him. He's going to be coming to North America next year to play Major Juniors, which shows his commitment to playing in the NHL, which is nice. He was also the highest rated European goalie according to most rankings, and scout Anders Forsberg compares him to Henrik Lundqvist (a goalie that was coached by Lehner's dad). We can only hope.

Here's a Sens Online video on the second round picks:

In the fourth round, Ottawa selected Chris Wideman, a small, smooth skating, puck moving defenceman who helped bring Miami University to the Frozen Four finals. From the sounds of it, he's a poor man's Erik Karlsson. Wideman likely won't be ready for a number of years

A pick that I'm really excited about is our fifth rounder, Mike Hoffman. Hoffman was overlooked in last year's draft, but had an absolutely huge season in the QMJHL this season, placing second in goals scored in the league. The Senators' organization can always use some goal-scoring depth, so Hoffman should be a great addition.

Rounding out the draft were a couple of power forwards in Costello and Cowick, a gritty winger in Brad Peltz, and lastly, a bruising d-man who likes to drop the gloves in Michael Sdao. Look up the word "Sdao" on YouTube, and you'll find an incredible number of videos of the dude fighting. Here's just one example:

All 9 draft picks will be headed to the Senators' development camp, which starts this Tuesday.