Article content

The Ottawa Senators will head to the National Hockey League draft in June armed with their first-round pick.

General manager Pierre Dorion confirmed Thursday the Senators wouldn’t turn over that top selection to the Colorado Avalanche, but would instead relinquish their first-round pick in 2019 as part of the deal that brought centre Matt Duchene to Ottawa in November.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or The Senators will keep their top selection in the 2018 NHL draft Back to video

The Senators can’t slip further than No. 5 in the draft lottery April 28 in Toronto, and they will have the second-best odds of winning the lottery at 13.5 per cent, and that’s why Dorion is “99.9%” certain he won’t be giving up that pick to the Avalanche.

The Senators may not get Swedish defenceman Rasmus Dahlin, who is considered the top prospect in the draft, but expect to draft a solid player in the top five.

“We never know what can happen, but we’ve had the chance to go scout quite a bit,” said Dorion, who headed to Barrie on Thursday night to see top prospect Andrei Svechnikov, a winger with the Colts of the Ontario Hockey League. “I’ve had a chance to see who they think is a top five, and we’ve even gone to see the top 10 to 12 to see if they felt anyone else could be in that range.”