Editor’s Note- In the aftermath of the madness of another Trade Deadline, Ottawa General Manager Pierre Dorion made an appearance on the Athletic Podcast “Two-Man Advantage” hosted by Pierre LeBrun and Scott Burnside. Because there are way too many podcasts these days, it’s likely that many of you didn’t have the chance to tune in. Thankfully Hella Strange has put it in writing for us and added some thoughts along the way. You can listen to the full interview here.
WRITTEN BY- Hella Strange
Many Senators fans were ready to panic leading into the trade deadline. Pageau remained unsigned. The media indicated Ottawa was not going get a first round pick, and rumours began to surface that Pageau might remain a Senator after the deadline.
People were ready to crucify general manager Pierre Dorion.
Meanwhile, Dorion just quietly went about his business, accumulating several assets that will help the Senators for several years to come. Acquiring a 1st and a 2nd round pick for Pageau was an absolute steal, especially when one considers the 6-year 5 million dollar contract he was immediately signed to by his new squad, the New York Islanders.
This contract was too rich in both term and dollar for the rebuilding Senators. Pageau may have been a fan favourite (and for good reason), but there was simply no room for a contract such as that, which also includes a no-trade clause.
When asked about the events of the trade deadline, Dorion appeared rather nonchalant.
“It was just your typical any other day. We were done by 3:00, did a press conference,stayed in the office till about…quarter after 7…went home…had dinner our game started at 7..was trying to figure out when Rudy Balcers and Matthew Peca were going to get there…and that was pretty much the excitement of my day.”
“In Ottawa, we always try and take care of the media, so we tried to do two early deals so every sports channel could talk about our deals. “We wanted to make sure TSN had something to talk about in the first three hours, so we were fortunate enough that we were able to make some good trades, we feel, on our side for the plan and for the rebuild in the first few hours, so the people on TSN could discuss the Ottawa Senators as much as possible.”
It was difficult to tell if he was joking or not. But either way, the Ottawa Senators were the talk of NHL that day. Several hockey panels even gifted him the coveted “GM Of The Day” award.
Virtually no one expected the Senators to even get a 1st round pick for Pageau, let alone a 1st and a 2nd. Dorion really hit a home-run with this trade.
It has become evident that he is a much-improved GM than his first day/year on the job; his recent moves speak for themselves. But he is still willing to learn from some of the game’s best.
“I can tell you that Lou and I have developed a pretty good relationship in my four years as general manager. He’s someone at times who I’ve gone for advice on some things…you know, just advice about protocols of a GM.. I’ve gone to him about when should I speak up in GM’s meetings on subjects matters, I’ve gone to him on certain things…so we’ve developed a bit of a relationship. Obviously, I did talk to him before we hired D.J Smith and Jack Capuano, because I know he had a history with both…so we’ve always had a pretty good history.
“When it came to making the deal with him, they were the first team that stepped up and offered a first, so I knew they were serious. We all knew here in Ottawa that they wanted this player, so we found a way to work out a deal…we were fortunate enough to do one that I think helps both sides. It helps the New York Islanders right now, but it also helps us and what we’re trying to achieve here in Ottawa and build a championship team for years to come in getting those two picks in this year’s draft.”
Now there are a select few who have taken it upon themselves to use this as another opportunity to slander Pierre Dorion. The common complaint appears to be “he has traded all our good players away”.
As painful as it is in the short term, these are necessary steps towards building an elite contender. And the moves are now just beginning to pay dividends.
The Erik Karlsson trade looks mighty good at present. The Senators recouped well over the value of Karlsson, and dodged a massive bullet by not offering him a ludicrous 8-year 11.5 million dollar contract. And once the 1st round pick slides seamlessly into the line-up next year, this trade will look even better. Especially if that player’s name turns out to be Alexis Lafreniere.
How about the return on Duchene, another player who earned far too rich a contract for what he is worth, and a player who never had any intention of signing in Ottawa? In this trade the Senators received Columbus’ two quality prospects (Vitaly Abramov & Jonathan Davidsson) along with a 1st round pick that turned out to be defensemen Lassi Tompson. Tompson, who captained Finland at the World Juniors, looks like he could be the perfect defense partner for Chabot in the future. He will be a key cog in Ottawa’s power play unit the moment he joins the big squad.
And what about that Ryan Dzingel trade? Anthony Duclair projects to be a far better play than Dzingel ever was. Plus, the Senators received two second round draft picks!
The idea of a rebuild is to completely tear everything down and start over. Dorion has already executed the ‘tear down’ phase, accumulating several valuable assets for the Senators in the process.
The only thing left to do now is to wait for the draft and continue building this team from the ground up. Brady Tkachuk and Thomas Chabot are clearly the future of this Ottawa Senators organization, but they need a stronger supporting cast.
Twenty-two picks over the next two drafts is certainly a good way to go about getting one.
— SensChirp (@SensChirp) February 24, 2020
“It’s always been part of the plan…when we knew that we were going to go through this rebuild, we knew that this was the most crucial draft in the last five years and probably for the next few years after this. We knew, with the work of our good scouts, that it’s a tremendous first round this year, and for the first three rounds we feel we are going to get NHL caliber players.
So that’s why we tried to load up as much as possible…we knew there would be some bumpy times…up until the end of this year, but at the same time, having 22 picks over the course of the next two years, having 13 this year, is something that we always planned upon.
As early as a few years ago we talked about this 2020 draft, and as late as our mid-year meetings, I addressed all the scouts and I said, ‘Guy’s, bring your A game into the second half because we’re not just going to have the picks we have now we’re going to have many more.’…Our scouts know the importance of their work… We’re really going to make sure we have as much information as possible for the upcoming draft.”
It certainly sounds as if Dorion and his team have done their homework.
And the draft isn’t the only thing to look forward to if you’re an Ottawa Senators fan. If you’re looking for excitement, one only has to look to how their minor league affiliate team in Belleville is performing. As of this article they are first in their conference, possessing three of the AHL’s top 8 scorers (Josh Norris in 4th, Alex Formenton in 6th, and Drake Batherson in 8th).
These are your future Ottawa Senators. These players will graduate to the big club next year and define this team heading into the future. Right now however, they are on quite the run, and a Calder Cup victory is within their grasp.
“We brought up Josh Norris for a game, we wanted to show him what the NHL is all about, but at the same time you have to find a balance. Right now, Belleville, with the second-youngest team in the American Hockey League, is in first place…[and] first as far as scoring goals, with a very good young group of forwards…so we see that there’s talent there.
We know that we have talent there, but at the same time we want that talent to develop properly, and everyone has a different path. Some guys it takes them a year to get to the NHL, some guys two months, other guys it takes them three or four years to get to the NHL. We want to make sure that we do the right thing, not just for the player’s success, but also for the teams’ success.” Getting these young players/prospects a chance to play in the playoffs, have a playoff run, learn the grind of playing in the playoffs, will be crucial for our future success.”
It should be quite exciting to see how these young prospects perform in the weeks to come. For the time being, leaving them in Belleville appears to be the correct move in terms of player development. They aren’t needed this year in the NHL at the present time.
When asked his opinion on coach D.J Smith’s performance thus far, Dorion was quick to praise the new head coach for all his efforts this year.
“We don’t have enough time for me to tell you how impressed I’ve been with the work of D.J Smith and his coaching staff. We’re not the most talented team…[but] except for a handful of games we compete every night. We were two players short to start the game in Columbus, and they didn’t touch the puck for the first ten minutes. That’s all on D.J Smith and his coaching staff.
Every day, D.J impresses me more and more. What people don’t know…D.J’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. He is street smart, he knows how to talk to people, he knows when to put the foot on the gas, [and] he knows when to take the foot off the gas. I think the Ottawa Senators, one of the best things that we’ve ever done is hire D.J as our coach. “Words can’t express how thankful I think our fans should be that we have such a competitive human being behind our bench, someone who is so passionate about the game and someone that’s so driven to win.”
That’s quite the vote of confidence in his head coach. He trusts D.J Smith implicitly. And for now anyways, it appears that is the right move. The Senators may not currently have the strongest roster but they are always involved in every game, making their presence known (Tkachuk certainly helps with this). Teams have to fight hard to wrestle away two points every game.
Near the end of this interview, Dorion took a moment to reflect on his fellow friend and mentor the late Bryan Murray, former coach/general manager of the Ottawa Senators.
“Bryan is probably, I will say, after my father, the second greatest father figure I’ve ever had. One of the best humans I’ve ever met. Bryan had a way to get the most out of people. You can see why he was such a great coach. He rarely yelled at you…he just reasoned with you with common sense.”
Words fail to describe the enormous impact Bryan Murray had on the Ottawa organization, both on and off the ice. His legacy continues on in the hearts and minds of Senator’s fans, and through his student Pierre Dorion, he still has a hand in shaping their future success.
The interview concluded with a fairly direct question. “Are you getting a sense that the team is turning a corner?”
Dorion did not hesitate in his answer. “Without a doubt.”
The future of the Ottawa Senators looks extremely promising. The rebuild appears right on schedule, and it’s difficult to imagine any other GM managing to accumulate as many picks as Pierre Dorion did for the Senators, during his four-year tenure.
If Ottawa manages to pull off a Stanley Cup win in the next ten years, we will have this man to thank. And with all the picks and prospects coming up the pipeline, this idea does not seem as far-fetched as it used to.
The Ottawa Senators will win a cup in the next decade; likely before the
Toronto Maple Leafs manage to win one, and this will all be a result of the work completed by Pierre Dorion.
