The NHL All-Rookie team was announced by the league on Friday.
For Senators fans, it was hard not to notice that the rival Montreal Canadiens are continuing to produce excellent entry-level players, even as they were emerging this spring as Stanley Cup contenders.
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Fresh off a surprising run to the NHL Eastern Final that included playoff series victories over elite teams like Tampa Bay and Buffalo, the Canadiens had three players receive All-Rookie Team votes in 2025-26.
Ivan Demidov finished first in voting among forwards with 195 points, Oliver Kapanen received six votes, and goaltender Jakub Dobes led all rookie netminders with 151 points.
2025-26 NHL All-Rookie Team
G, Jakub Dobes, MTL
D, Alexander Nikishin, CAR
D, Matthew Schaefer, NYI
F, Ivan Demidov, MTL
F, Beckett Sennecke, ANA
F, Jimmy Snuggerud, STL
2025-26 NHL All-Rookie Team Voting (by points)
Goaltenders
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1. Jakub Dobes, MTL, 151
2. Jesper Wallstedt, MIN, 44
Defensemen, Points
1. Matthew Schaefer, NYI, 194
2. Alexander Nikishin, CAR, 184
3. Zeev Buium, VAN, 9
t-4. Cole Hutson, WAS, 1
t-4. Yan Kuznetsov, CGY, ,1
t-4. Axel Sandin-Pellikka, DET, 1
Forwards
1. Ivan Demidov, MTL, 195
2. Beckett Sennecke, ANA, 191
3. Jimmy Snuggerud, STL,136
4. Ryan Leonard, WSH, 19
5. Fraser Minten, BOS, 16
6. Ben Kindel, PIT, 14
7. Justin Sourdif, WSH, 7
8. Oliver Kapanen, MTL, 6
9. Linus Karlsson, VAN, 1
Meanwhile, the all-rookie voting continues to shine an annual light on the tumbleweeds that roll through the Senators’ farm system. This is the third straight year that the Senators have failed to get even a single vote.
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The last Ottawa players to receive a vote for the All-Rookie Team came in 2022-23. Jake Sanderson finished second among defencemen behind Owen Power with 179 voting points, while Shane Pinto picked up a single vote among forwards.
Since Steve Staios took over as GM, he’s been a better steward of the club’s future assets. He did trade Detroit‘s first-round pick (from Alex DeBrincat deal) to Boston to acquire Linus Ullmark, but he held on to the club’s own first-round picks in each of the last two summers, selecting defensemen Carter Yakemchuk and Logan Hensler.
The jury is still out on both players, and the same is true for a prospect like Stephen Halliday, who played just 30 games this season. Not enough to get votes this year, and too many to qualify as a rookie next year.
The prospect pool starts to get pretty shallow after those three.
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Not that fans need convincing, but the recent voting is further proof that the club’s asset management and drafting over the past five years have generally failed to provide any sort of real organizational depth, let alone contenders for the NHL all-rookie team.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
This story was first published at The Hockey News’ Ottawa Senators site. Check out more from THN.com/Ottawa at the links below.
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