The Ottawa Senators bet on upside late in the first round of Friday’s NHL Entry Draft.
With their 25th overall selection, acquired on Sunday as part of the return for Brady Tkachuk, the Sens selected Swedish right winger Jonas Lagerberg Hoen.
Under an hour later, they used the 32nd overall pick on Cayman Islands native Jaxon Cover, one of the most intriguing prospects available in the entire draft considering he had only began playing ice hockey at the age of 13.
“We had a plan going into this thing to get some skill in our lineup, so it fell into place that way,” said Senators head scout Don Boyd.
Lagerberg Hoen hails from Mora, a small town in central Sweden about an hour north of Leksands, where he came through the junior ranks. During the 2024–25 season, Lagerberg Hoen graduated to the U-20 Leksands IF squad, finishing second on the team with 27 goals in 38 games.
He began the 2025–26 season with nine goals and 16 points in nine games and even got into two games with the professional Leksands team, but saw his season end in October due to a knee injury.
Senators European scout Anders Östberg said that Lagerberg Hoen has completely healed from the injury and would travel to Ottawa for development camp in the coming days.
“He had a very impressive rehab. He was very professional, he didn't move too fast, he listened to his body, and the physical rehab coach in Leksands said that he did a tremendous job,” said Östberg.
Boyd said that the organization was concerned that the winger would not still be available by the 32nd overall pick.
“My feeling about it is that we did the right thing at the right time, we got the player we wanted,” said Boyd.
“He’s a little bit like Filip Forsberg in one way, he’s got an ability to toe drag and shoot, he goes to the right areas to score,” said Östberg, adding that the 6-foot-2 winger didn’t fit the mold of a typical Swedish prospect.
“We really liked him. He’s a goal-scorer. He can really skate, he can score from everywhere, and he’s a competitive guy. We had great interviews with him; he was great in the gym, and he checks all the boxes.”
The Leksands program has graduated players like the aforementioned Forsberg (11th overall in 2012), Oliver Ekman Larsson (sixth overall in 2009), Victor Rask (42nd overall in 2011), and Emil Heineman (43rd overall in 2020), to the NHL in the past two decades.
The team was demoted from the top tier of Swedish hockey after this past season, meaning they’ll compete in the second tier Allsvenskan in the 2026–27 season.
“He’s got a pro contract there, and he’ll have a big role there, so it’s going to be a really good level for him to develop,” said Östberg.
As for Cover, he’s had much less of a traditional prospect upbringing. He grew up in the Cayman Islands playing roller hockey, only beginning to take his skills to the ice at the age of 13 when he began attending St. Andrew’s College just north of Toronto.
“I've been tracking Jackson for the last three years, so I have some familiarity with his progress from U-16 hockey, to prep school, to his first year in the OHL, so it's been a steady climb for him,” said area scout Beau Moyer.
“Here's a kid that's only played one year in AAA hockey before moving on to prep school, so we're looking at a player that has a high skill set, but he also has a very high ceiling.”
Boyd said that the scouting staff was searching for scorers and potential with their picks, and found exactly that in Cover, who finished second on the London Knights with 20 goals and 52 points.
“It’s a great story, but we drafted him because we believe he's got ability, we believe he's got skill, we believe he's going to have a chance to be an offensive guy,” said Boyd.
“I think that he has that knack for making a big play when you least expect it. He plays with little fear, where you know he's not afraid to beat somebody one on one to create no offensive chances,” described Moyer.
“You know he's in a very good program in London, they have a great track record of producing hockey players. We saw a steady, steady improvement all season long, where after the trade deadline he turned into a real important player on their team down the stretch.
“We like the competitiveness, but we also like the skill set that he brings to the table, and if he could keep making those steps month to month, we're going to be happy with what type of player we have there.”
With the selection, Cover became the first player ever drafted out of the Cayman Islands and into the NHL. He had no indication the Sens would select him on Friday night.
“I didn’t really know, like I was just kind of hoping for the best, and if I didn’t hear my name called tonight, I would have been completely fine with that because if you told me I’d be in this situation even at the start of the year I wouldn’t believe you,” said Cover.
