Ottawa Senators’ Targets With the 32nd Pick in the 2026 NHL Draft

The Ottawa Senators are set to pick 32nd overall at the 2026 NHL Draft after the NHL returned Ottawa’s pick in March, adjusting the original punishment for the team’s role in the botched Evgenii Dadonov trade in 2021. Had the league not taken the pick in the first place, the Senators would have picked 23rd overall, but having something is better than nothing.

While the 2026 Draft class may not be the deepest compared to recent years, the Senators still have some good options with the last pick in the first round to strengthen their prospect pool. Predicting how the first round will shake out is practically impossible, but based on recent mock drafts, the Senators should be able to address some of their biggest weaknesses with their pick.

Analyzing the Senators’ Farm System

While the Senators’ farm system still ranks near the bottom of the league, the team has done a great job at boosting its defensive pipeline. Carter Yakemchuk and Logan Hensler lead the way as potential top-four contributors, and behind them is a cohort of solid two-way players. Jorian Donovan, Tomas Hamara, Matthew Andonovski, and Hoyt Stanley have shown some solid upside this season, while Filip Nordberg, Theo Wallberg, Eerik Wallenius, Gabriel Eliasson, and Djibril Toure offer size and grit as potential bottom-pairing defenders.

Unfortunately, focusing so heavily on defence has left the Senators with a shallow forward group. After the 2025 Draft, Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis wrote that the Senators’ offensive depth was one of the worst in the NHL, and in the 10 months since, not a lot has changed. Stephen Halliday and Javon Moore were about the only two forward prospects who took steps forward developmentally this season, and neither of them projects to play higher than the middle six. Like the defence, there’s still a lot of grit among the forwards, but they all top out as bottom-six players in the NHL.

Heading into the 2026 NHL Draft, the Senators would be wise to focus on their biggest gap and try to find a forward with top-six offensive potential. There should be a few available near the end of the first round, and although they come with some risks, Ottawa needs to take some big swings to improve its prospect pool.

Mathis Preston

There’s no question that Mathis Preston has top-10 skills, but for most of the 2025-26 season, he struggled to put it all together. A major injury didn’t help things, but scouts were frustrated with his lower compete level on defence and lower-than-expected totals, causing him to plummet down the rankings. Combined with a 5-foot-11 frame, it looked like he might not even be a first-round pick.

However, that’s great news for the Senators, as Preston would instantly become the team’s top forward prospect if they picked him 32nd overall. He is a speedy, dynamic winger with great puck manipulation through traffic, which is reminiscent of his former teammate, Berkly Catton. Given his late birthday, Preston still has a lot of development ahead of him, and there are already signs he could be figuring things out after a strong U18 World Championship. There’s now a chance he gets taken earlier, but if he falls, the Senators need to snap him up, which is why I took him in The Hockey Writers’ annual Writers’ Mock Draft.

Marcus Nordmark

Marcus Nordmark is another player with high offensive skills who could slip into the Senators’ reach. He finished the 2025-26 season with an incredible playoff run, putting up 23 points in just 11 games with Djurgårdens U20, the fourth-highest total in the league. When he has the puck on his stick, there’s little he can’t do; he has great vision for setting up excellent passes, a lethal wrist shot, and a dangerous combination of vision, IQ, and confidence. He has all the makings of a home-run pick despite being projected near the end of the first round or the early second.

The only issue – and it’s a big one – is his defensive engagement, as he can disappear when playing without the puck. He’s highly inconsistent in his effort and decision-making, and there are times when he is a liability to his team. Still, the upside of a play-driving second-line winger is there, and, like Preston, he looked better at the U18s. That should be enough to intrigue the Senators, who could desperately use his offensive prowess in their system.

Maddox Dagenais

While he almost certainly will go higher, no list of draft targets would be complete without mentioning Maddox Dagenais. Teams will be very intrigued by the 6-foot-4 centre, but there are concerns about his all-around game. He can be very disengaged without the puck, and he didn’t have a great U18s. He’s also not strong in the faceoff dot, and some teams reportedly see him as more of a winger, which will lower his value slightly.

Yet Dagenais fits the Senators’ mould to a tee, playing a physical, aggressive game, full of big hits and board battles. He’s also no slouch with the puck, scoring 30 goals with the Quebec Remparts this season. He’s a highly effective player when he’s on his game, and he’s still growing into his body. It even works well that he might be better on the wing, as the Senators are pretty good on centre depth at this time. Like the others, he brings some risk, but if he’s available, he’d be a great fit for the physical style of hockey the Seantors play without sacrificing offensive upside.

Senators Have Lots of Options at 32nd

Having the last pick in the first round is a mixed bag. Most of the top prospects will be gone by that point, and on average, players taken 32nd overall don’t have a high chance of being an impact player in the NHL. But it also has the advantage of giving the team the most time to come up with their pick or take advantage of a player who’s unexpectedly fallen. That will leave the Senators with a lot of options as the first day of the 2026 Draft wraps up, and no matter what they do, they’ll almost certainly be in a better position than they were before.