When people start making t-shirts to celebrate your job performance, you know you’re doing something right.
There’s no other acceptable opinion on the matter- Pierre Dorion has had himself a summer. And while most recently it’s been focused on regular rounds of golf and admiring the team’s depth chart up front, it’s time for him to get back to work.
The Sens GM made an appearance on TSN 1200 this morning and outside of some fairly extensive golf talk, did offer up some thoughts on where things stand with Training Camp just around the corner.
A quick overview of what the league’s hottest GM had to say.
-Pierre is back to work for starters. Says he has been on the phone since 8:00 AM this morning including conversations with agents and with one other GM. Summer of Pierre is back, folks! On the RFAs (Brannstrom and Formenton), Dorion said he has exchanged messages with both agents and he’s expecting both guys to be under contract ahead of Training Camp. “Things are moving along” in Pierre’s words.
-On Tim Stützle and Artem Zub (and to a lesser extent Alex DeBrincat), Dorion was careful with his words about talks to this point. He said “they always plan well ahead” while acknowledging the importance of both Stützle and Zub in the future of the team. He went so far as to suggest there have been discussions with agents for both players though. Encouraging that they are thinking ahead on those two.
-He didn’t say much on the search for a defenceman, which is probably a good sign. Always looking to improve the team, as the ol’ saying goes. “It’s no secret that we’d like to add a Top 4 defenceman but other teams are seeing me coming from a mile away”. He went on to add that he is very comfortable going into Camp with the current roster though.
-There was some reflection on the performance of the team’s top prospects. Dorion talked about how often other GMs are asking about the team’s young players in trade talks the team has had since the deadline. Not surprising. Specific to Ridly Greig, Dorion has no real concerns about his recovery from a shoulder injury (surgery was never an option) and expects him to be ready to go in Camp. He’s expected to arrive in Ottawa today and will stay with the team throughout Training Camp.
-Dorion was asked about competing for a playoff position and was clearly avoiding grand proclamations about impending success. The focus of his answer was on playing meaningful games down the stretch and mostly just seeing how things fall through Camp before talking about whether this can be a playoff team. In terms of key issues, Dorion first mentioned the importance of “getting the puck to the forward”, so the defence. Good observation.
-A little early to talk about Training Camp battles but Dorion did lay out some of his thinking on line combinations. Formenton-Pinto-Joseph was specifically referenced as a potential third line and in the eyes of the GM anyway, most of the 12 forward spots are locked up. Parker Kelly has a fourth line spot to lose, apparently. Where the battles exist is on the blueline. Chabot, Zub, Hamonic and Holden were talked about as locks (no mention of Zaitsev there, by the way) but the GM gave the impression that everyone else will be battling for a spot. Dorion mentioned that both Lassi Thomson and Jacob Bernard-Docker are in the mix. The best six defenceman will get those spots. It does sound like the team is at least considering PTO options. In the follow-up option, Steve Lloyd speculated that maybe Calvin de Haan could be an option there.
-Dorion had some predictably high praise for Tim Stützle, joking that his agent is regularly reminding him that Timmy was a point a game player down the stretch. “We feel that the ceiling is very high. On top of being a great hockey player, he’s an even better human being”. We got a good one here, folks.
-On the Hockey Canada investigation and a question about whether the team had back-up plans in place, Dorion was didn’t say much and deferred any comment on the matter to the league at this stage in the process.
