It’s one of those days that every hockey fan has circled on their calendar and yet there is a strange sense of relief that comes with not feeling even remotely invested in this year’s NHL Entry Draft.
Tomorrow, 32 teams will gather at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Most General Managers will be there to make first round selections.
Pierre Dorion will just be there for the vibes.
The Ottawa Senators aren’t slated to pick until the fourth round which means Dorion will have plenty of time to work the phones. While there has been some speculation the Senators may try to trade their way into the first round, Dorion seems more than content to just watch things unfold on Day One of the Draft (Sure, Pierre. Sure).
But that doesn’t automatically mean it will be a quiet night for the Ottawa Senators. Far from it. Pierre Dorion met with the media yesterday afternoon and made it clear that he and the 31 other GMs have plenty of irons in the fire.
A quick rundown of what the GM had to say earlier today…
-One thing that jumped out early in Dorion’s remarks is what sounds like an active role for incoming Owner, Michael Andlauer. The GM mentioned that he met with Andlauer a couple times during the sale process and that he spoke to Andlauer directly about the decision to bring back DJ Smith and the rest of the Coaching Staff. It’s not surprising that Andlauer would want to be involved in the decision-making right away but it is encouraging that in the early days anyway, Dorion and Andlauer seems to be on the same page. It’s safe to assume that with Andlauer’s arrival, there will be a top-to-bottom review of all parts of the organization, including the General Manager, but they need to work together closely in the meantime. Because for now anyway, these are Pierre Dorion’s decisions to make. And this is an extremely important summer for the franchise.
-One of the biggest updates of the day came in the form of a non-update of sorts. DJ Smith and his staff will be back for another season behind the bench. Or they’ll get to start the season, anyway. Dorion has been pretty non-committal about the future of his Head Coach in previous press conferences but it’s not a huge surprise that DJ is going to get one last opportunity to help this team take another step. The players, including Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle, have made it clear that they love the Head Coach. If that’s the case, they and the rest of the team had better get off to a better start. Because DJ will absolutely be on a short leash this season. It’s also fair to speculate whether Pierre Dorion would even get the opportunity to fire and hire another Head Coach.
-If there was any lingering sense that maybe the Senators might still be able to work something out with Alex DeBrincat, it’s safe to say that ship has sailed. Dorion was very matter of fact in his remarks about DeBrincat’s status, making it clear that his Camp seems pretty intent on testing free agency, which really doesn’t leave the Senators with a lot of options. Of course that doesn’t mean they need to trade him this week. If the offers aren’t good enough and if the Senators aren’t overly worried about trading into the first round, then they have time to wait this out a little bit. There’s obviously some risk that comes with allowing a player to play out the final year of his deal but there’s just as much risk that comes with taking an underwhelming return without a plan to replace a player as talented as DeBrincat. Oh and while we’re on the topic of risk, there’s a good amount of it that comes with trading a two-time 40-goal scorer to a Division rival that happens to be in the middle of their own rebuild on a similar timeline. Careful with this one, Pierre.
-You had to read between the lines a little bit but it sounds like Dorion is up to his eyeballs in trade talks right now. At one point he made a reference to trade talks on multiple players and then at another moment he mentioned that they won’t really know what the plan is for free agency until they see how things shake out on the trade front in the next week or so. The Senators have a need in goal and openings up front so it makes sense that Dorion would be scouring the trade market to see what’s out there. When you add in the potential for additional roster flexibility that may come from a DeBrincat trade, it should come as no surprise that Pierre has a few different things on the go this week.
