Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Senators get Alex Trebek to announce No. 3 overall draft pick

LFRi1CoCF_xu
The Senators enslist the help of Alek Trebek to select Tim Stutzle with the third overall pick.

It’s tough to top Jeopardy’s Alex Trebek announcing your pick, although the Ottawa Senators hope that the players they choose end up being an even bigger deal.

The Senators headed into the 2020 NHL Draft with interesting options at picks three and five, and now we know how they handled them. The Senators selected Tim Stutzle with the third pick, then turned around to grab Jake Sanderson with the fifth.

Delightfully, Trebek announced the Stutzle draft pick for the Senators. When the fifth pick came around, Senators GM Pierre Dorion did the duties.

(Too bad there wasn’t some “Celebrity Jeopardy” Trebek parody action for the Senators at the NHL Draft, SNL-style. OK, maybe I’m getting greedy.)

In between those picks, the Red Wings selected Lucas Raymond fourth overall.

Senators select Stutzle at No. 3, Jake Sanderson at No. 5

Stutzle, 18, continues the trend of German-born players becoming high draft picks. The speedy forward shot up the ranks thanks to his excellent skating, with some wondering if he should go second overall. That said, there are some questions about Stutzle’s overall game, at least compared to the cream of the 2020 NHL Draft crop. With two high-end picks available, the Senators clearly decided that they could roll the dice that other factors will catch up to Stutzle’s skating.

Much like Stutzle, Sanderson also rose through the 2020 NHL Draft ranks. As time goes on, prospect-minded hockey fans will debate whether Sanderson should’ve been the first defenseman to go, or if it should have been smooth-skater Jamie Drysdale.

Sanderson, 18, is the son of prolific former NHL forward Geoff Sanderson. To deepen the comparison, the Ducks chose Drysdale with the sixth pick.