Draft Day Memories w/ Oskar Pettersson

The next wave of Senators prospects will be drafted into the organization in less than two weeks, when the National Hockey League holds the 2025 Draft on Friday, June 27 and Saturday, June 28, at the Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles, California.

And with the top prospects in hockey set to make new memories, as they’re selected by NHL clubs and begin their professional careers, we checked in with some of your favourite Belleville Sens players to see what they remember most about hearing their name called on draft day.

Oskar Pettersson (F) – Ottawa Senators (2022 – 3rd Rd)

“You only experience the draft once and you’re never going to get it back, so make sure you’re living in the moment as much as you can. Don’t be stressed about it and just have fun.”

That’s advice from Senators forward Oskar Pettersson to prospective National Hockey League draftees, as he reflected recently on his selection day experience from a couple of years ago.

The developing Swedish forward says his draft day experience, when Ottawa selected him in the third round in 2022, was a bit more unique than what some of his North American teammates may have experienced, even though the attention on young prospects is the same.

“In Sweden, it’s a little bit different,” said Pettersson. “After Christmas, there’s an under-20 league where the best teams from the north and south are playing each other, and I think you get noticed a little bit more, because the competition gets better. But when the attention really took off for me was after winning gold at the under-18, and I had a pretty good tournament.”

Pettersson says a good amount of that attention came from clubs like Ottawa, who he felt would be a great starting point for his pro career.

“I had a couple of teams that I thought would be maybe a bit more interested, at least that’s the feel I got from those meetings. But Ottawa was one of the teams that I felt we had some really good meetings with, and I had a good feel for Ottawa.”

The draft is always a hectic time for any player, but especially for a young man who’s wrestling with the decision of moving to North America to pursue their hockey dreams. Pettersson said with that in mind, he decided to stay home on draft day, instead of attending the event in person, in Montreal, Quebec.

“I could have gone over, but I decided to stay at home with my family and have all of my best friends over,” said Pettersson. “I don’t regret that at all, it was actually great. I had 10 to 15 of my best friends over, and a lot of them are guys that I played with, so it was really cool to share my experience with those guys. They’ve seen me since my first step on the ice.”

And, Pettersson says, another interesting wrinkle in not attending the draft in person was dealing with the six-hour time difference and how picks are announced. Pettersson says he almost missed his pick when Ottawa selected him in the third round.

“It was a little bit weird, the second round started at 5:00 p.m. here that day, and we were following along on TV. After the first round, they don’t show every pick; it kind of rolls along on the bottom of the TV,” said Pettersson. “So, Ottawa was up, and I thought this might be it, but then nothing happened, and they rolled onto the next pick. But then I saw at the bottom, before the next announcement, that my name came up! It was a bit funny, because I didn’t get to hear my name called, and suddenly it was just there on the screen and everyone freaked out!”

However, the celebrations didn’t last long past a dinner, with Pettersson having to sort out the logistics of getting himself to the Sens Development Camp in Ottawa just 48 hours later.

“I flew over (to Ottawa) on the Sunday, so on the Saturday after the draft, I was just trying to soak everything in and process what was happening,” said Pettersson. However, I also had to pack my belongings and prepare to travel over for the dev camp. There were some hectic weeks.”

Pettersson says when it comes down to it, it’s hard to put the emotions of achieving a goal like that into words, noting that his selection was an important milestone not just for himself, but the entire hockey community in his hometown of Halmstad, Sweden.

“It’s not a big hockey city, where I’m from, so it was a big thing for my buddies to see me get selected as well. Everyone was just super happy.”

The Belleville Sens have announced six guaranteed dates for the upcoming 2025-26 American Hockey League season, including the 2025 Home Opener on Saturday, October 18, 2025.

Fans can visit the Belleville Sens website anytime for information on season seat memberships, flex packs, and the latest happenings around the club. Details on single-game tickets and the 2025-26 American Hockey League schedule will be released in the coming weeks.

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