Yes a defenseman for sure. Chabot and Zub are top four guys but everyone else is more third pairing guys. Yes Sanderson has a lot of upside but asking him to be a top four guy right out of the gate is very hard to do. Especially when he could be playing with Hamonic or Zaitsev.

How many rookie d-men have been immediate top 4 impact guy's in the past 3 or 4 years? Maybe Seider, Hughes, Heiskanen, Dahlin, Makar??

Victor Mete

For a hot minute maybe. look at him now.

I could see them in a playoff spot. Will be a couple more years til contention though. Need those RHD prospects to get it going.

Ignoring the Euro players, Sanderson to this point compares fairly well to that crop of NCAA defenders through their college years.

Cale Makar
Freshman Year: 34GP, 5G 21P (0.61 p/GP)
Sophomore Year: 41GP, 16G 49P (1.19 p/GP)

Quinn Hughes
Freshman Year: 37GP, 5G 29P (0.78 p/GP)
Sophomore Year: 32GP, 5G 33P (1.03 p/GP)

Jake Sanderson
Freshman Year: 22GP, 2G 15P (0.68 p/GP)
Sophomore Year: 23GP, 8G 26P (1.13 p/GP)

I'll include the obvious caveat that due to COVID and injuries, Jake Sanderson played much less hockey in those two years compared to Makar or Hughes. Though I also think it's fair to point out that at 6'2 190+lbs he's got a more pro ready frame than either of them had at the time.

For the record I'm not saying he's gonna come in and be Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes, but I don't think it's unreasonable to think that a player with his pedigree can come in and be a 2nd pair Dman as a rookie. The bigger concern is that Ottawa doesn't have a great option to pair with him. The best option would probably be Nick Holden, who is far from ideal, but would be fine in that role imo. The most likely option seems to be Hamonic, which I'm far less optimistic about. Brannstrom putting the pieces together is a wildcard option, but I can't see a world where they end up paired together tbh.

Yes that is a very strong argument that he will likely turn out to be just fine in that role. (I believe he will). Just see a lot of Ottawa fans declaring they are a better team than the leafs and have locked in a playoff spot by already assuming that Sanderson will be just fine playing with whoever he ends up playing with. There is a chance that he struggles for the first half of the year and other than Chabot and Zub Ottawa gets exposed by some teams with good depth that can take advantage of a weakness on the back end.

Personally I agree with how Dorion is handling the bank end situation tho, Hamonic's deal is up at the end of the year and until that time you don't really know what you have in Sanderson. There is no point in selling a first and/or a prospect for a defenseman to play with Sanderson when maybe you can wait a year, and use Hamonic's money to get Sanderson a better partner next offseason.

It was a joke, obviously