Ottawa Senators select two forwards in first round of NHL Draft

Jaxon Cover, right, stands with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman after being drafted by the Ottawa Senators during the NHL hockey draft Friday, June 26, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

The Ottawa Senators added two new forwards to their prospect pool after making two selections in the 2026 NHL Draft in Buffalo on Friday.

The 25^th overall pick, acquired by the Sens after trading former captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers, was spent on Jonas Lagerberg Hoen, a right-winger from Sweden.

The 18-year-old Lagerberg Hoen played in only 9 games with the Swedish under-20 team Leksands IF after suffering an ACL injury.

In those games, the six-foot-three and 178 lb forward tallied 9 goals and 7 assists.

Using the 32^nd pick in draft, the Senators selected Jaxon Cover, an 18-year-old London Knights forward, and a relatively new-comer to ice hockey.

Cover grew up in the Cayman Islands playing roller hockey and was only introduced to ice hockey in 2020. In April 2024, Cover was selected by the Knights in the fourth round of the OHL draft.

“If you really, truly do love something, you don’t need to play it your whole life or you don’t need to grow up playing,” Cover said. “I want to teach kids from unconventional places that even though you’re from an unconventional place, you could still play a sport that you love.”

Last season in the OHL, the six-foot-two right-winger scored 20 goals and added 32 assists in 67 games.

The Senators had initially been forced to forfeit the pick that was used to select Cover as a disciplinary measure for the team’s involvement in a 2021 trade that was later nullified. However, in March the NHL decided to instead grant the Senators the final pick of the first round.

The Ottawa Senators other draft selections include:

• Round 3, pick 72 — Adam Nemec: A six-foot-one, 180 lb Slovakian forward who scored 14 goals and 21 assists in 31 games with the Sudbury Wolves in the OHL last season.
• Round 3, pick 87 — Oscar Holmertz: A Swedish centre who played in Sweden’s under-20 league last season. In 24 games last season, the six-foot-one forward scored 13 goals and added 23 assists.
• Round 3, pick 91 — Louis-Felix Bourque: A Stoneham, Que. native, the six-foot-two right-winger scored 24 goals and added 25 assists in 54 games with the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs last season.
• Round 4, Pick 110 — Elliot Lennon: A six-foot-five goaltender from Kirkland, Que., Lennon is committed to Brown University for the 2027-28 season.  
• Round 5, pick 151 — Harris Pangretitsch: A six-foot-four, 219 lb defender from Toronto who pitched in with 2 goals and 12 assists in 67 games with the Soo Greyhounds in the OHL last season.
• Round 6, pick 183:

With files from the Canadian Press.

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