Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion confirmed that prospect Jake Sanderson will join the team after the NCAA season during a media availability Friday afternoon.
Sanderson is a sophomore defenceman for the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks. Dorion said that he and senior vice-president of player development Pierre McGuire travelled to Grand Forks, N.D., to talk to Sanderson as well as draftee Tyler Klevan.
Dorion added that it was clear that Sanderson would join the Senators as soon as possible.
"Jake will be joining our team, he knows it," Dorion said. "Hopefully, his year's done after they win the Frozen Four and they win the NCAA championship because you want to bring winners into your organization, possibly a Hobey Baker."
Asked if he had intentions to send Sanderson down to AHL Belleville in the event that they make the playoffs, Dorion did not want to speculate on his plans.
"We're not there yet," he said. "We made him the promise that he would play with the Ottawa Senators depending on where we would be at the start of the season and he knows that. When we met, he looked me in the eyes and told me his intentions were to join our team."
Don't be too excited for this trade deadline
Asked about his plans for the trade deadline, Dorion didn't mince his words. For him, March 21 could see one of the quietest trade deadlines.
"Don't get too excited for this trade deadline," he said. "In all my years as GM, this has been the quietest. And when you talk to teams that could be offloading players, quite a few of them, it's been extremely quiet."
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