Senators Quick Hits: Jonas Lagerberg Hoen & Jaxon Cover
The Ottawa Senators left the 2026 NHL Draft with two different first-round swings, but a clear shared theme: upside over certainty. With Jonas Lagerberg Hoen at 25th overall and Jaxon Cover at 32nd, Ottawa doubled down on raw offensive talent, athletic traits, and long-term projection rather than polished, low-risk profiles. Both picks come with questions, but they also come with the kind of ceiling that can reshape how a prospect pipeline looks if even one of them hits.
Quick Hit One: Lagerberg Hoen Brings Pure Scoring Upside.
The Senators used the 25th overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft to select Lagerberg Hoen, a move that fits their growing appetite for high-end skill and offensive upside. On paper, this is exactly the type of pick that can swing a draft board late in the first round: a 6-foot-2 winger with elite finishing ability, strong athletic tools, and a reputation as a true goal scorer rather than a pass-first winger.
Lagerberg Hoen’s draft year wasn’t clean, as a knee injury limited him to just 11 games, but the flashes he did show were enough to keep scouts locked in. In a brief run with Leksands’ junior program, he produced at a point-per-game-plus pace before earning a short look at the SHL level. Even in a small sample, the scoring touch stood out. He has the ability to finish quickly off the rush and punish mistakes with a heavy wrist shot. The raw numbers from the previous season back it up as well, where he scored 27 goals in 38 games with very few assists, underscoring just how goal-heavy his profile is.
For Ottawa, this is very much a bet on talent over certainty. If Lagerberg Hoen had been fully healthy and produced a complete draft season, there’s a strong argument he would not have been available at 25. Instead, the Senators are banking on the combination of size, shot, and natural scoring instincts translating once he settles back into full health and consistent playing time. It’s a classic upside pick. But it could look very different in hindsight, depending on how his development path unfolds.
Related: Maple Leafs Move Goalie Ersson to the Senators.
Quick Hit Two: Jaxon Cover Brings Raw Talent.
With the 32nd overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, the Ottawa Senators doubled down on upside by selecting Jaxon Cover, a highly athletic but extremely raw winger whose path to the NHL is very much a long-term project. The pick fits a clear theme in Ottawa’s draft strategy. The team is betting on tools, speed, and projection late in the first round rather than playing it safe with a more polished but lower-ceiling prospect.
Cover’s story stands out immediately. Raised in the Cayman Islands and first developed through roller hockey, he only transitioned into high-level ice hockey in recent years, joining OHL London and producing a respectable 20 goals and 52 points in 67 games. For a player still learning the pace, structure, and details of the North American game, those numbers hint at real offensive instincts and natural athleticism. But they also underline how early he is in his development curve.
His appeal is obvious: elite skating ability, raw skill, and a frame that still has room to fill out. The risk is just as clear. Cover remains very much a project who needs time in junior hockey, likely another OHL season, before making the jump to Penn State in 2027. He’s the kind of player you draft because you believe the tools are worth the wait, even if the payoff is years down the road rather than immediate impact.
Why this matters for the Senators.
For Ottawa, this isn’t just about adding prospects—it’s about changing the identity of the system. Lagerberg Hoen gives them a pure finisher, the type of winger who can eventually slot into a scoring role without needing to carry play every shift. Even with the injury-shortened draft year, the organization is betting that his goal-scoring instincts and shot translate once he’s fully healthy and playing in a more consistent environment. It’s a calculated risk, but one that reflects a front office willing to chase top-six upside instead of settling for safer depth projections.
Cover, on the other hand, represents a completely different kind of gamble, but one that fits the same philosophy. He’s a long-term project. He is an elite athlete with a late-blooming hockey background, and is still learning the structure of high-level ice hockey. The Senators aren’t drafting him for what he is today, but for what he might become in three to five years if everything clicks. Taken together, these two picks show a front office willing to accept development time in exchange for the possibility of impact talent, which is exactly the kind of swing a team takes when it believes its core window is still opening rather than closing.