Senators' Dorion itching for draft lottery: Simulator 'part of my routine'

Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion is eagerly anticipating the NHL draft lottery, so much so that he's been using a simulator to conduct his own on a daily basis.

"Every morning, it's part of my routine," Dorion said Tuesday during a video conference call, according to Ian Mendes of TSN. "When we get one and two I stop. So, some days it takes a few minutes longer, but wherever we pick we know we're going to get three great players in the first round, especially two hopefully in the top five."

Dorion and the Senators hold three picks in the first round of this year's draft and can expect two of them - their own and the pick acquired from San Jose Sharks in the deal for Erik Karlsson - to be high-end selections. Based on the league standings when the NHL suspended play on March 12, the Senators own the second-best odds to win the lottery and the Sharks' chances are third-best.

The draft, originally scheduled for June 26-27 in Montreal, has been postponed indefinitely, but Dorion said the Senators will be prepared whenever it does proceed. He added that though Ottawa's scouting reports are incomplete due to the halting of hockey seasons worldwide, he's confident in his organization's ability to draft quality prospects.

"Now what we're doing is watching a lot of video of players," Dorion said. "It's good for us because when you've seen the players play and then you add the video element to it - which is what our scouts are doing - it will prepare us even better for this upcoming draft.

"For sure, we planned on doing some scouting after the trade deadline. But our scouting is in great hands under (chief amateur scout) Trent Mann. ... Under his tutelage, our scouts know what they needed to do."

Copyright (C) 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.