While Pierre Dorion had his detractors, he also did some fantastic things in his time as Senators general manager.
To no one’s surprise, the press conference called by the Ottawa Senators for 3:15 pm November 1st was to announce the end of the seven-plus-year tenure of Pierre Dorion as general manager.
With the announcement earlier in the day that the result of the investigation into the February 2021 trade of Evgenii Dadonov from the Senators to the Vegas Golden Knights would result in the Sens forfeiting a first-round pick, it was hard to imagine a future with Dorion in it.
When shame is brought to the brand, the bringer of said shame usually pays with their employment. This is especially true when your employer is new and probably looking for a reason to bring about change.
Though that day won’t be today, a look back at the totality of Dorion’s tenure as GM might paint a more favourable picture than some haters might want to admit. This is particularly true if the team that Dorion has assembled realizes its full potential.
Has there been prior controversy during Dorion’s tenure? Was the cap mismanaged? Have some big trades not panned out? Is it time to move on from him?
Yes, to all.
Did he ask to work for one of the most toxic owners in NHL history since Harold Ballard? Did he ask for the Randy Lee incident? Or Ubergate? Did he know that Alex Formenton would be unavailable to the Senators for going on 90+ games, pending the outcome of the 2018 Hockey Canada investigation? Did he know Shane Pinto would get entangled in the first league gambling suspension in the modern era?
No, to all.
It’s easy to forget, amidst the wave of negative press, the following salient points:
1) Brady Tkachuk is on his way to being one of the best captains in the league.
2) Adding Claude Giroux in free agency brought skill and leadership to the room.
3) Adding Jacob Chychrun gave the Senators a top-four defense to rival any in the league.
4) All but two players on the active roster have cost certainty beyond the end of this season.
5) Extending Stutzle and Sanderson a year early saved the Senators millions of dollars.
6) All three first-round picks from the 2020 draft are impact players in the lineup.
7) The centre ice depth in the organization is an embarrassment of riches.
8) Depth at the goaltending position has been rebuilt.
9) The Senators will be competitive for the rest of this decade.
Dorion did all of that. He did most of it with a skeleton operations department and a shoestring budget.
Sadly, all of that isn’t enough to save you once you are deemed to have acted in bad faith. How could Dorion ever negotiate another trade? He had to go for this organization to move forward.
That said, if the Ottawa Senators do what they are capable of doing with the core that Dorion assembled, Senators fans won’t owe him an apology, but perhaps a thank you.