Pierre Dorion’s first words as general manager of the Ottawa Senators were an apology.
That was April 10, 2016, and Dorion acknowledged that hosting a hastily scheduled press conference over the weekend was not an ideal scenario.
“I’m sorry for what happened on Sunday,” Dorion began, taking the microphone from his predecessor, Brian Murray. “The reason we’re doing this today is because we want our fans to know we’re in control.”
During his introduction as Senators GM, Dorion made a wide range of bold and passionate statements that would later become the hallmark of his tenure.
He told the story of how, when the City of Ottawa acquired an NHL franchise in 1990, he promised his late father, Pierre Dorion Sr., that he would eventually take over the general manager job. Become GM of the Senators someday. ”
Dorion insisted he would have “tough conversations” with players and staff who missed the postseason in 2015-16.
“For us, not making the playoffs was completely unacceptable,” he said.
But the most prescient comment came when Dorion tried to explain his character.
“Those who know me know that I am driven, sensitive, passionate and demanding,” Dorion said. “But the most important thing to me is that it’s usually black or white.”
Over the next seven years, all of these character traits would be on display in Ottawa. And as Dorion predicted, there was little gray area when it came to his tenure as general manager, and it was clear black and white.
The Dorion era in Ottawa was littered with bold moves. In the era of the salary cap, when most of him was conservative, Mr. Dorion was armchairly aggressive and had little hesitation in making flashy trades.
According to CapFriendly, Dorion had a total of 80 failed trades during his eight-season tenure. Boston’s Don Sweeney (40 trades since 2015), Dallas’ Jim Nill (50 trades since 2013), and Winnipeg’s Kevin Cheveldayoff (53 trades since 2011). The long-tenured GM was trading at roughly half Dorion’s rate.
But it wasn’t just quantity that Dorion shipped out of town.
It was the quality.
And just about every high-profile move Dorion has made has been polarizing, with a fan base divided on how to view the deal.
Sending Mika Zibanejad to the New York Rangers for Derick Brassard.
Roll the dice on Colorado native Matt Duchene, only to change course and begin a complete rebuild in about 10 weeks.
He ended up playing in San Jose, which acquired Mike Hoffman from the Senators, but then turned around and promptly traded to Ottawa’s divisional rival Florida for what was arguably a better return.
Trading franchise icon Erik Karlsson to the Sharks seemed like a disappointing return, but in retrospect it just worked out beautifully.
They miscalculated the Mark Stone situation and only acquired a second-round pick and Erik Brannstrom in exchange for a foundational piece of the roster.
They overpaid Colin White on a six-year contract to convince him to stay, then bought out his contract when it was out of budget.
The Alex DeBrincat saga is that the star forward spent just one season with the Senators, forcing Dorion to make a hasty trade this summer when it was clear DeBrincat had no interest in returning. I no longer get it.
There were also goaltending missteps, most notably signing Matt Murray to a four-year, $25 million contract, only to be banished to the AHL in his second season in Ottawa. Even before last season, Cam Talbot was shoved in Dorion’s face in the trade for Filip Gustafsson.
His failure or unwillingness to extend Shane Pinto’s contract long before his gambling problems came to light this summer was a terrible example of salary cap management.
And in the end, it was the misstep with Evgeni Dadonov, who scored just 13 goals in a Senators uniform, that led to Dorion resigning as the team’s GM.
But in reality, the culmination of all these polarizing failures led to his dismissal. Over the past few seasons, Dorion has acted like the general manager of a team that is a Stanley Cup favorite. He traded a first-round pick. He signed big-time free agents like Claude Giroux and Vladimir Tarasenko.
Still, the man who said in 2016 that making the playoffs was “totally unacceptable” has refused to place any playoff hopes on his current club.
Over the past 12 months, Dorion has dodged every question posed to him about his playoff hopes. This was probably a self-preservation strategy, as he didn’t want to push himself into a corner if his team didn’t reach its goal.
However, shortly after the rebuild began in 2019, Dorion laid out a clear and definitive timeline for the Senators to transform into a playoff contender.
“We need to start competing for the playoffs next year,” Dorion said on April 9, 2019. I have to,” he said.
To further emphasize this statement, Dorion concluded with a flourish.
“And that’s the word from the general manager. It has to be that way,” Dorion said. “Maybe I’m too positive. Maybe I’m too blunt. But I feel really strongly about these statements.”
Four years have passed since that bold statement, and the Senators have yet to qualify for the playoffs.
And Dorion is currently unemployed.
Ask five different Ottawa fans to name their most memorable Dorion moment, and you’ll probably get five different answers.
Calling Vegas to trade Stone “It’s one of his proudest days in the NHL.”
throws a glass of water in anger After an inconsequential regular-season loss to Toronto in the midst of a pandemic.
his awkwardness “We are a team” Comments for a nationally broadcast television audience.
Declare prematurely.”Rebuild completed” was held in the fall of 2021, but the Senators simply stumbled off to a winning start, winning four of their first 20 games.
When he said this, he called forth the heavens.“They always say God rested on the seventh day, but I think on the eighth day God created Eric Carlson.”
When speaking in front of the microphone, Dorion had a tendency to exaggerate and misspoke. Part of that can be attributed to his bilingualism, and some of it can be attributed to Dorion’s own outbursts. He was active as general manager and equally active in media conferences.
Dorion was frank about his shortcomings, often prefaced with startling comments like, “Maybe I shouldn’t talk about this,” followed by anecdotes that were probably supposed to be private.
His often colorful language and tone fit perfectly into the backdrop of the circus-like atmosphere that has enveloped the Senators over the past few seasons. On Dorion’s watch, controversy continued off the ice.
The Uber incident where a Senators player was caught talking about the coaching staff.
Online feud between players’ spouses It drifted into real life.
The second-in-commands of Dorion’s hockey operations department disappear one after another for various reasons.
Dorion parted ways with Randy Lee after some trouble. Incident with Buffalo shuttle bus driver.
Pierre McGuire, Peter McTavish and Trent Mann then all disappeared under mysterious circumstances. McGuire has been touted as the club’s new spokesperson, but has not held a single press conference since his initial hire. Mann and his older brother Troy, head coach of the Senators AHL affiliate, were told to retire within months of each other.
Some of the chaos and dysfunction that swirled around Dorion was alleviated by the fact that Eugene Melnyk owned the club. And while he served as franchise manager, toxic behavior was common in the workplace. Mr. Melnyk also placed significant financial handcuffs on Mr. Dorion in the general manager’s chair, likely preventing him from operating at the highest level.
The hockey operations department was stretched thin. The budget was near the lower end of the salary cap.
These are things that Dorion worked on, he didn’t create them himself.
Somehow, against such a background, he managed to collect a roster of talented young players. He shrewdly held on to his 2018 draft pick to select Brady Tkachuk at No. 4, opting to punt his 2019 first-round pick to Colorado in the Duchene trade. The Senators’ 2020 draft produced players with generational advantages like Tim Stuetzle and Jake Sanderson.
And Dorion was able to persuade all of the young players to sign long-term contracts that were considered the most advantageous for the team. The core of his team is locked in place thanks in large part to Dorion’s foresight. The days of star players leaving town for big contracts at the peak of their careers seem to be an outdated concept in Ottawa. So whatever your opinion of Dorion, even his harshest critics should admit that he’s done a commendable job on this front.
Dorion’s fingerprints are on this team, so if this group can earn a playoff berth at some point in the near future, he will deserve a lot of credit.
But he also had a lot of leeway to get there himself.
When he took over this season, Dorion became the first general manager in the salary cap era to retain his position after missing the playoffs for six consecutive seasons. No matter what you think about his tenure, and I’m sure there are mixed reviews, you can’t argue that he wasn’t given enough time to be a playoff contender.
Dorion and Melnyk are already more than halfway toward what they predicted would be an “unparalleled success” from 2021 to 2025. And far from basking in the accolades of playoff success, the franchise has yet to even qualify for the postseason since its magical run in 2017.
At his inauguration press conference in 2016, Dorion clearly stated his purpose for becoming general manager.
“I was hired here to be successful in the playoffs, not to lead the team to the playoffs,” Dorion said.
By that standard and standard, Dorion failed to live up to the expectations he set for himself more than seven years ago.
(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
