Eric Engstrand

October 2020 – The Senators’ fifth-round selection at 155th overall in the 2020 Draft was Eric Engstrand. The 6’4″ winger is a mobile skater, especially for a player his size. He broke out in the SuperElit league last season putting up 58 points in 37 games with 26 goals. He has a good shot and really leverages his size to get a booming snap shot off. He can be a little on the slower side when loading his shot but it comes off with a lot of pop. He has good hands around the net but finesses his way there rather than using his size to power through traffic. He needs to become a bit more agile on his feet, especially because he isn’t an overly physical player despite his size. He has no problem dealing with contact for the most part but isn’t the one that generally instigates it. His offensive profile seems intriguing but it again comes at the cost of drafting a 2000-born in his third draft cycle. He is a good prospect to add to the Ottawa system, especially as they generally operate under the salary cap. Picks like Engstrand and Egor Sokolov may be a bit closer to NHL ready despite the upside not being quite as high for both players, which means that the Senators could get some valuable contributions from players on their entry-level deals. One would hope that money doesn’t impact a team’s draft strategy but the global pandemic adds monetary restrictions ontop pf teams who already operate at an internal salary cap number. Tony Ferrari