If the Penguins advanced to the Stanley Cup Final, as they did the prior two seasons, the pick would have been No. 30 or No. 31.
"Moving up to No. 22 is pretty important," Ottawa chief amateur scout Trent Mann told Postmedia. "With Pittsburgh in the mix, there's a chance you could always move down to the end of the first round because of their past history in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. For them to get beat out (Monday), the staff were pretty excited about the opportunity."
Pittsburgh, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, was eliminated from the Eastern Conference Second Round with a 2-1 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals in Game 6.
The Senators (28-43-11) also have the No. 4 pick, a result of falling back two positions in the NHL Draft Lottery, held April 28. The Buffalo Sabres won the lottery and pick No. 1, followed by the Carolina Hurricanes, who moved up nine spots to No. 2, and the Montreal Canadiens, who moved up one to No. 3.
"At No. 4 we could get our No. 2 guy," Mann said. "It depends on what the teams in front of us decide to do. Do they draft based on their needs? Now there's a change (at the top) in Carolina and we don't know how that changes things for them. There's a lot of factors that come into play."
Sweden defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is expected to be the No. 1 pick by Buffalo. Players available for Ottawa at No. 4 could be right wing Andrei Svechnikov of Barrie in the Ontario Hockey League; left wing Brady Tkachuk of Boston University in Hockey East; right wing Filip Zadina of Halifax in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League; defenseman Evan Bouchard of London (OHL); defenseman Noah Dobson of Acadie-Bathurst (QMJHL); defenseman Quintin Hughes of the University of Michigan in the Big Ten; and defenseman Adam Boqvist of Brynas in the Swedish junior league.
Pittsburgh (47-29-6) tied the San Jose Sharks (45-27-10) with 100 points but had more regulation/overtime wins (45-40) to finish 10th in the NHL standings.
The trade for Brassard also involved the Vegas Golden Knights, who have reached the Western Conference Final.
Ottawa received Pittsburgh defenseman Ian Cole, goalie prospect Filip Gustavsson, the first-round pick in the 2018 draft, and a third-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.
Pittsburgh received Brassard, Ottawa forward prospect Vincent Dunn, Vegas forward prospect Tobias Lindberg, and Ottawa's third-round pick in the 2018 draft.
Vegas received Pittsburgh forward Ryan Reaves and a fourth-round pick in the 2018 draft that belonged to the Vancouver Canucks.
