What should the Ottawa Senators do on draft day? AC students have tips for team brass.

Algonquin College students are weighing in on what the local NHL team should do ahead of the draft and on draft day.

The 2025 NHL Draft happens June 27 and June 28 in Los Angeles at the Peacock Theatre.

According to TSN’s mock draft as of May 2025, the Senators could draft a forward which fits the team’s timeline and current needs.

However, there is a looming question: could general manager Steve Staios end up trading the first-round pick?

Staios did say that they will “highly likely” keep the first-round pick, but nothing is ever certain when it comes to a general manager’s word in the National Hockey League.

The Senators were defeated in the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Toronto Maple Leafs in six games.

Algonquin College Senators fans have some mixed feelings as the draft approaches to begin a crucial off-season.

Nathan Leitch, an accounting student at the college, believes there should only be two ideas in the management plan heading into the draft.

“The play should be either you use the pick and go draft a forward, which they need badly to insulate the bottom six,” Leitch said. “Or you trade the pick and go get an impact forward for the current vision of the team.”

Myles Frech, an HVAC student, has a very strong opinion on why the Senators should trade the pick.

“They should be moving late first-rounders like this pick to rebuilding or cap-strapped teams who have good players,” Frech said. “I personally would like a guy like Alex Tuch from Buffalo or Marco Rossi from Minnesota.”

With a sour taste in his mouth after losing to the Maple Leafs, Senators fan and radio student Jakob Casey wants them to get more aggressive with spending draft capital.

“After finally making the playoffs, they should most certainly be more enticed to spend draft capital like first-round picks, even the first-rounder in this year’s draft,” Casey said. “I fully believe even on July 1, free agency, they should be aggressively buying for the bottom six of the forward core.”

Ottawa has a salary cap space of $15 million to spend on extensions or signing free agents. They have eight current unrestricted free agents and two restricted free agents on expiring contracts. The team can either sign the players to new contracts or let them hit the free agency.

The Senators are forfeiting their first-round pick in the 2026 draft because of a league-imposed penalty related to the Evgenii Dadonov no-trade clause complications in 2021.