FIVE QUICK THOUGHTS
– The Ottawa Senators dropped a second straight game to the Toronto Maple Leafs and for the second time in a week, all hope is lost. Despite the clever new hashtag it would appear the Senators have no intention of rising. Meanwhile what’s left of Toronto City Council has filed an application for a parade to take place in the month of June. Hang on, I’m hearing these may have only been exhibition games? Oh nevermind then. Preseason continues tomorrow night with a game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
-While they ended up on the wrong end of the final score, there were a handful of noteworthy individual performances. Filip Chlapik may have been Ottawa’s best forward on the night and in the process, vaulted to the top of the OFFICIAL Bubble Forward Power Rankings. Brady Tkachuk also came as advertised and assumed the second spot in the BFPRs. That’s trademarked by the way. On defence, things are a little less clear. Ben Harpur is in camp on a one way deal but he got off to a uhh rocky start. Meanwhile Christian Jaros again stood out. He was one of the most surprising defenceman at last year’s Camp and now looks close to ready for a serious NHL shot. Hope the Senators can find room.
-Last night, I was fortunate enough to meet with a couple of key people in the Senators organization including Chief Marketing Officer Aimee Deziel and General Manager Pierre Dorion. Before getting into some of what they had to say, let me just point out how amazing it is to have an opportunity like the one I had last night. I grew up wanting to cover the Ottawa Senators. When other people were dreaming of careers playing in the NHL, I always wanted to talk and write about it. I went to school for Communications with the goal of making a career out of it but life took me down a different path. Last night, as I stood there in a box with a handful of other bloggers, face to face with the GM of an NHL hockey team, it dawned on me that I had reached my goal. Maybe not the route I planned out early on but the end result is the same. And it sounds like those opportunities could expand in the future. Pretty cool.
-So I’ll start with the Q&A with Dorion. To help set the stage, picture a handful of people in what was essentially an impromptu press conference with the GM. Us bloggers often talk about the media’s inability to ask the hard-hitting questions but I can tell you that when you’re standing there face to face with the guy and when you’re trying to make a good impression and build relationships, it ain’t easy. Questions bounced around a little bit but a few things that stood out. First of all, when the Senators say they want to sign Mark Stone and Matt Duchene, they mean it. In fact, Dorion says he spoke with Duchene’s agent yesterday. Dorion said it’s likely these are going to take some time but it’s not something they feel they have to rush as these are likely to be “two of the biggest contracts in Ottawa Senators’ history”.
-There were a series of questions focused on the off ice stuff in particular, the make up of the front office and scouting staff. On that front, Dorion confirmed that it is their intention to hire another Assistant General Manager at some point and that with this hiring, they’ll be looking for someone with a little more of a hockey background. He seemed legitimately thrilled by the addition of Peter MacTavish though, talking about what a huge help he’ll be on the contract side of things. There was a question about the possibility of Clarke MacArthur joining the organization in some capacity down the line and he hinted that Clarke had shown some interest. Maybe something to keep an eye on in the future. We briefly discussed the role analytics currently play in the organization’s decision making and it was clear that this is an area where they are still learning. They develop a lot of their own metrics in-house and have a system for evaluating their own players but they seem to recognize the need to improve how they apply that externally. Either way, it seems like they are interested in expanding their capacity in this area and finding ways to better integrate into their decision-making.
-Bonus Thought! Lastly, and this may have been my biggest takeaway from last night, is the reminder that Pierre Dorion, is a human being. A lot of the drama that has surrounded the organization this summer has fallen on his shoulders and it would be a lot for any General Manager. Add in the fact that Dorion is still relatively new in the role and that he’s navigated a lot of this with very little support. You can criticize some of the decisions he’s made in the last little while but last night was a good reminder that there’s a human side to this. He talked about how busy the summer had been, working seven days a week with little time to do much else. He singled out a handful of people that have provided valuable support away from the hockey side of things. It was just really interesting to see him sort of deviate from some of the canned lines we’ve been hearing recently and just talk about how challenging it’s been over the last few months. I’ll have more on the fan engagement and marketing side of things in a little bit.
