After his mutual parting of ways with the Senators on Wednesday, we look back at some of Pierre Dorion's better days.
Friends, Sens' fans, hockey men, lend me your ears. I come to praise Pierre Dorion, not to bury him. Okay, so those aren't Shakespeare's exact words, but you get the point.
After a week that saw the Ottawa Senators lose a promising young player for 41 games, a first-round draft pick, and a general manager, not to mention a hockey game, it would be far too easy to come up with a list of mistakes, errors, bad trades, bad signings, bad draft picks, and silly statements from the Dorion era. You can find many stories written in the last 48 to 72 hours burying Dorion.
And why not? There is so much material to choose from that the column would write itself. There isn't much out there beyond this piece by our own Pat Maguire where anyone discusses any of the good things Dorion did as GM in Ottawa. So, today, we give you a list of the five best trades Pierre Dorion made as GM of the Ottawa Senators.
5. July 1, 2019
Sens acquire: 2019 second-round pick (#37)
Carolina acquires: 2019 second-round pick (#44) and 2019 third-round pick (#83)
In a somewhat low-key transaction on the draft floor, Dorion sent two previously acquired picks to the 'Canes so he could move up in the second round to grab (future #1?) goaltender Mads Sogaard. The second rounder the Sens gave up (originally Florida's) came over in The Trade That Keeps on Giving™ from San Jose.
The third came from the three-way Pittsburgh/Vegas/Ottawa Brassard-Gustavsson deal. Neither player taken with those picks – Jamieson Rees and Antonni Honka - has played an NHL game. This deal remains a classic example of making trades to acquire draft capital and then eventually using that capital to your long-term benefit.
4. July 28, 2021
Sens acquire: Nick Holden and 2022 third-round pick (#80)
Vegas acquires Evgenii Dadonov.
Yes, I went there. Say what you will about the poor decision to sign Dadonov, his DUDonov performance on the ice, and the no-trade clause debacle that followed; this was an excellent deal.
For once, Dorion got out from under a bad contract, receiving more than a sixth or seventh-round pick, and gained a lot of cap space, which would eventually be spent on far better players. Holden was a stabilizing veteran presence for the club for two seasons. A placeholder who contributed, a "good in the room" guy who wasn't "bad on the ice" like so many of the other short-term fix acquisitions that marred the Dorion era.
The kicker, though, was the third-round pick. It was traded to Vancouver for Travis Hamonic. Again, say what you will about the choice to resign him at probably too much term and money, but you cannot argue the influence Hamonic has had on this team.
If Holden is regarded as a good placeholder, Hamonic has been a downright awesome placeholder. Good in the room, dependable on the ice, a mentor to Jake Sanderson, a great community guy, and a high character leader; all for a third-round pick you all but stole to get rid of a flop free agent signing.
3. February 23, 2019
Sens acquire: Anthony Duclair, a 2020 second-round pick (#52), and a 2021 second-round pick (#37)
Columbus acquires: Ryan Dzingel and a 2019 seventh-round pick (#212)
The old adage when initially accessing trades is to ask who got the best player and declare them the winner. That would be pretty easy here. After two 20+ goal seasons in Ottawa, Ryan Dzingel struggled to get in the lineup with four other organizations and is now retired. He even got a second chance in Ottawa and was never the same player.
Anthony Duclair, on the other hand, went 8-6-14 in 21 games to close out the 19-20 season and then scored 23 goals the following season before leaving as a free agent in the 2020 off-season. The Senators would have won this deal if the return had been Duclair alone, but Dorion got two second-round picks as well!
Feel free to debate what he did with those picks, but it was another example of stockpiling draft picks for future use. In case you are wondering, the 2020 pick went to Pittsburgh to acquire Matt Murray, and the 2021 pick to Arizona to acquire Derek Stepan. I agree. Murray was a big mistake, and Stepan was a flop. However, you cannot deny that the original haul for Dzingel was very impressive.
2. February 24, 2020
Sens acquire: a 2020 first-round pick (#28) and a 2020 second-round pick (#59)
Islanders acquire: Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
Islander GM Lou Lamoriello immediately signed Pageau to a six-year, 30-million-dollar contract extension! Just getting out from under the pressure of either giving Pageau that ridiculous amount of money or losing him for nothing was a massive win for Dorion and the organization. Pageau was and remains, at best, a third-line centre who kills penalties and occasionally supplies some offence when filling in as a number-two centre. He is not worth 5 million dollars a year.
The bonus to that cap space savings was the two draft picks used to select two future cornerstones at significantly lower salaries. The first was used on Ridley Greig, who we can all see as a future Pageau as he settles nicely in the three-hole down the middle. Greig has also shown he may eventually outproduce Pageau as a potential top-six winger, and he will not cost you 5 million a year, at least not for a long time.
The second-round pick was used in another one of those small packages to move up in the draft. It was dealt with a third to Toronto to move from pick 59 to pick 44 and grab Tyler Kleven.
Pageau was dealt for Greig and Kleven and a whole lot of cap flexibility. That is a huge win.
1. September 23, 2018
Sens acquire: Dylan DeMelo, Chris Tierney, Rudolphs Balcers, Josh Norris, a 2020 first-round pick (#3), a 2019 second-round pick (#44), and a 2021 second-round pick (#39).
Sharks acquire: Erik Karlsson and Francis Perron.
Ah yes, The Trade That Keeps on Giving™. So we all know the Sens used two of the picks to select Tim Stutzle and Zack Ostapchuk, but what some may not realize is the other talent garnered from later trades down the tree.
DeMelo was traded to Winnipeg for a third-round pick used on Levi Merilainen, and the 2019 second was packaged to Carolina to nab Mads Sogaard.
In the end, the Senators acquired their top two centres and possibly their top two goaltenders of the future for a player they had to move, who probably didn't want to be here, and was demanding way too much money. Think about it. Anyone would be thrilled today if the deal had been just Norris and the first, but Dorion got so much more.
DeMelo was to Thomas Chabot what Travis Hamonic was/is to Jake Sanderson. Chris Tierney did an excellent placeholder job over four seasons at center ice, killing penalties as he slowly slid down the lineup. You got Ostapchuk, too, who looks like a bigger version of Pageau/Greig, who should eventually be in the lineup or used as a trade chip down the line.