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NHL Draft: Senators, others have quality to chose from in Round 2

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The first round of the 2019 NHL Draft featured eight players from the U.S. National Development Team, which sets the record for most players from the same team to be drafted in the first round.

The Ottawa Senators have been handed a gift.

Their biggest challenge isn’t seeing what’s right in front of them. No. That’s in plain view. The biggest hurdle for general manager Pierre Dorion and Co. is not to botch it.

Don’t overthink it.

Accept the offering that has been laid before you.

It’s been a bad season for the Senators, so getting this break at the 2019 NHL Draft should feel good for Senators fans who’ve needed one.

Losing Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone and Matt Duchene at various points was a disaster. Their owned is despised. And even on Friday during Round 1, when they should be excited about the next young, talented addition joining the club, they instead had to watch the Colorado Avalanche select at No. 4, a pick that was theirs prior to trading for Duchene.

A season to forget. And perhaps they can start doing that on Saturday morning when Round 2 begins and they’re on the clock with the 32nd overall pick. Given how the first round panned out, and how there’s still a bevy of talent available to them, there’s a reason for optimism.

Depending on who you ask and what trade board you pluck the names from, there are several names that could have gone in Friday’s first round that ended up not for various reasons.

Arthur Kaliyev is just one example.

He was ranked 13th by The Athletic and by EliteProspects.com in their final draft rankings yet his name wasn’t called on Friday.

Why? Rankings aren’t the be-all, end-all, but outside of HockeyProspect.com, seven different websites/pundits had him ranked as a first-round draft pick.

But like any player who’s highly-touted but slips, often times there are questions. And Kaliyev has a few attached to his name.

Another name that wasn’t heard over the speakers in Vancouver on Friday was Bobby Brink.

Brink, whose middle name is Orr, after Bobby Orr, of course, is still available despite most lists having him ranked inside the first round.

Elite Prospects and Hockey Prospects each had him at 15th on their lists, while others had him in the 20s and a couple had him sliding into Day 2.

Best of the Rest
Pavel Dorofeyev - LW/RW - highest pre-draft ranking - 16th (Elite Prospects)
Nils Höglander - LW - highest pre-draft ranking - 18th (The Athletic)
Patrik Puistola - LW - highest pre-draft ranking - 19th (The Athletic)
Matthew Robertson - D - highest pre-draft ranking - 19th (Future Considerations/ISS)
Vladislav Kolyachonok - D - highest pre-draft ranking - 22nd (Hockey Prospects)
Nicholas Robertson - C/LW - highest pre-draft ranking - 25th (The Athletic)

The draft reconvenes at 1 p.m. E.T. on Saturday. Here’s the full order for the second round.

Round 2
32. Ottawa
33. Los Angeles
34. New Jersey
35. Detroit
36. Carolina (from BUF)
37. Carolina (from NYR)
38. Edmonton
39. Anaheim
40. Vancouver
41. San Jose (from PHI)
42. Minnesota
43. Chicago
44. Ottawa (from FLA-SJS)
45. Philadelphia (from ARZ)
46. Montreal
47. Colorado
48. Vegas
49. NY Rangers (from DAL)
50. Montreal (from CBJ-VGK)
51. Winnipeg
52. Florida (from PIT)
53. Toronto
54. Detroit (from NYI-VGK)
55. New Jersey (from NSH)
56. Washington
57. NY Islanders (from CGY)
58. NY Rangers (from TBL)
59. Carolina
60. Detroit (from SJS)
61. New Jersey (from BOS)
62. St. Louis

MORE:
New Jersey Devils take Jack Hughes with No. 1 overall pick
Rangers select Kaapo Kakko with second overall pick
USA Hockey big winner of Round 1
2019 NHL Draft tracker — Round 1

Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck.