Image of hockey player Jonas Lagerberg Hoen from the X account of the NHL. Jonas Lagerberg Hoen was drafted 25th overall by the Ottawa Senators in the NHL draft on June 26, 2026. Photo by National Hockey League

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The Ottawa Senators chose the future over the present on Friday night.

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After sending captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers in exchange for the No. 9 and No. 25 selections in the first round of the National Hockey League draft in Buffalo on Friday, along with a second-rounder in 2027 and a 2028 first-round pick, the Senators opted to hold onto some draft capital.

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While the Senators already had dealt the No. 9 pick to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for skilled forward William Eklund on Tuesday, Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and general manager, opted to use the No. 25 pick Ottawa received from the Panthers.

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The Senators selected winger Jonas Lagerberg Hoen from Leksand IF Jr. He started the season, but suffered a devastating knee injury that required him to have ACL surgery. He was ranked No. 19 among European skaters by the Central Scouting Bureau.

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It was the middle of the night in Sweden when he was selected and he woke up his family to let them know he’d been picked.

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“I just woke up, I put the alarm on so I would be awake for the last picks of the first round, ” Lagerberg Hoen said from his home in Sweden on Saturday afternoon. “I put the TV on, I was half asleep and I didn’t really think it was going to happen.

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“They called my name and I was just so happy and woke up my family.”

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The 6-foot-2, 178-pound Lagerberg Hoen scored nine goals and 16 points in nine games with the Leksands IF under-20 team. He was ranked No. 45 by Sportlogiq. He will play in the Swedish second league next season.

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“We really liked him. He’s a goal-scorer,” said European scout Anders Ostberg, who is based in Sweden. “He can really skate, he can score from everywhere and he’s a competitive guy.

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“We had great interviews with him; he was great in the gym and he checks all the boxes.”

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The decision to draft Lagerberg Hoen won’t go over well with many who follow the Senators, but we have to be honest that nobody would have known him if he had been higher on the list of Central Scouting and the other respected draft lists that we see throughout the course of the season.

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Boyd said Staios did a good job of keeping the scouts informed of where the draft was going. The table felt that if they didn’t take Lagerberg Hoen at No. 25 then he’d be gone before the next pick at No. 32, which they used to select Jaxon Cover of the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights.

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Scouting is about making projections, and the Ottawa table felt that Lagerberg Hoen fit the bill for what this organization needs.

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“He’s big, he can skate, he’ll shoot the puck and he can score,” said chief scout Don Boyd. “He’ll go to the net. He’s probably got one of the better releases in Europe in his age group.