Following yesterday’s signing of Andrew Hammond, Ottawa Senators Assistant General Manager Pierre Dorion was on TSN1200 to talk about the new contract for Hammond along a few other interesting bits of news heading into the summer months.
Obviously with Hammond locked up, the goaltending situation quickly becomes one of the most important decisions this organization will have to make in the next couple months. When asked about that, Dorion was pretty clear that they haven’t talked a whole lot about how that situation is going to play out but that they will evaluated with the short, medium and long term in mind.
Right now, if I had to guess which guy moves, it’s quite clearly Robin Lehner. Lehner’s name was in the rumour mill prior to Hammond bursting on the scene so this is a move the Senators have already considered. Health is going to be an important factor though as Lehner is still slowly coming back from a concussion he suffered late last season. According to Dorion, Lehner has been working out recently and is expected to be healthy in time for training camp but you know that injury is on the radar of other teams.
In the end, the goalie market is going to have a huge impact on how the Senators handle the logjam in the crease. If a team like Buffalo, Edmonton or San Jose is set on acquiring a young goalie with star potential, then Ottawa will seriously consider moving Lehner. But if a team on the cusp of contending, like say St. Louis or Winnipeg makes a big offer for Craig Anderson, the Senators have to consider that too. And to be honest, I can see the argument for the Sabres, Oilers or Sharks targeting Anderson over Lehner too.
I still think Lehner is the guy that moves but it’s certainly not set in stone.
Restricted free agents are probably next on Management’s To Do List. How the Sens handle their own RFAs will be interesting to watch. With some key young players in need of new deals, Bryan Murray and the rest of the front office will have to decide what term and dollar amount make sense for those players. Pierre Dorion briefly discussed the status of the RFAs during the interview providing a glimpse at how the organization plans to handle those negotiations.
Dorion said he spoke to the agent for Mika Zibanejad and Mark Stone for an hour and a half and started the discussion on term and dollar amounts. Based on Dorion’s comments, you can sort of tell that those two guys are candidates for a longer term deal.
He also talked to Alex Chiasson’s agent before World Championships and expect to make an offer as early as next week. Dorion has “exchanged texts” with Jean Gabriel Pageau’s agent so those talks are still preliminary at this point. Dorion didn’t mention specific talks with Mike Hoffman’s agent but did mention that because Hoffman has arbitration rights, this is the sort of contract that likely gets done before arbitration dates in early August.
Dorion also mentioned Erik Condra briefly and indicated that they do still have interest. They would like to keep him here and plan to make an offer before free agency starts.
Lots of good stuff in the Pierre Dorion interview. You can listen here. The 6th Sens has a transcript of the interview along with his thoughts here.
