Fansided

2018 NHL Draft: Report card grades for every team

By Jeremy Lambert

DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres, Andrei Svechnikov of the Carolina Hurricanes and Jesperi Kotkaniemi of the Montreal Canadians pose for a picture of the 2018 NHL draft on June 22, 2018 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres, Andrei Svechnikov of the Carolina Hurricanes and Jesperi Kotkaniemi of the Montreal Canadians pose for a picture of the 2018 NHL draft on June 22, 2018 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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DALLAS, TX – JUNE 22: Brady Tkachuk poses after being selected fourth overall by the Ottawa Senators during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX – JUNE 22: Brady Tkachuk poses after being selected fourth overall by the Ottawa Senators during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

Ottawa Senators – C

First Round Picks: Brady Tkachuk (LW) (4), Jacob Bernard-Docker (D) (26)

I didn’t hate Brady Tkachuk going here. I still believe Filip Zadina will turn out to be the better pro, but Tkachuk makes sense for Ottawa. Here’s what doesn’t make sense: keeping this pick. The Senators had the option to give the fourth overall pick this year to Colorado Avalanche in order to keep their 2019 first-round pick. Ottawa is not going to be good next year, especially if they end up trading Erik Karlsson. Brady Tkachuk may or may not be in the Senators lineup next season. This is a team that needs immediate help in order to stay out of the lottery and risk losing out on Jack Hughes next season. Knowing that, why didn’t they take Zadina or how come they didn’t give this pick to Colorado?

Now, Jacob Bernard-Docker is a pick that I didn’t like. Not with Nicolas Beaudin, Nils Lundkvist, Alexander Alexeyev, and Bode Wilde still on the board. Not only did the Senators go way off board with this pick, but they traded back and still took him. They could have traded back even further if this was the guy they wanted all along.

Other Notable Picks: Jonathan Tychonick (D) (48), Jonathan Gruden (C) (95)

They also grabbed Angus Crookshank in the fifth round. I don’t know if he’ll be any good, but his name is awesome. There’s good value in Tychonick and Gruden, so they deserve credit there.

I was prepared to give Ottawa a D, but upped it to a C based on their picks after the first round. They still botched the first round in multiple ways.

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