Just when we thought we had profiled every potential player that could be targeted by the Blue Jackets in the first round of this year's draft, another name popped up. Last week at the NHL's scouting combine, the Blue Jackets took only two players out to dinner.
One was to be expected: Medicine Hat Tigers center Cayden Lindstrom. The other comes as a bit of a surprise: Oshawa Generals winger Beckett Sennecke. While it was surprising at first, the deeper I dive into Sennecke, the more I'm intrigued. This feels like a Blue Jackets type of pick.
First, let's dive into why Sennecke isn't rated in the top-5 or 10 of this year's class to begin with. By the numbers, he sure looks like he should be.
For starters, an impressive 16 year old season in the OHL was somewhat overlooked because Sennecke was a 5'10" (undersized) winger. Still, he scored 20 goals and 55 points in 60 games, which honestly is not bad for a first year player in that league.
But over the last year or so, a lot of that has changed. Sennecke hit a surprise growth spurt and is now listed at 6'3", 180 pounds. He's still thin, but gaining 5" in height will certainly draw some attention.
As his height grew so drastically, his skating stride became a little bit clunky. That's not to say he's a bad skater; it's just not a conventional style. I think this has put some teams off when they've scouted him, and I do understand that. In my opinion, it's not that big a concern.
At 17 years old, with basically a new body; Sennecke turned a lot of heads with the Oshawa Generals this season. He finished third on the team in scoring with 68 points (27 goals) in 63 games. In the playoffs, he added 10 goals and 22 points in 16 games - again, finishing third on the team.
He went from a seldom talked about draft prospect, to a guy ranked in the teens by many. In fact, I think it's safe to say that he's one of the fastest risers in the entire draft.
With that said, I don't know that I can see a team taking a chance on him inside the top-10 - let alone with the fourth overall pick, held by the Jackets. But, clearly there is some interest here, so let's talk about how they could land Sennecke on draft day.