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Ottawa Senators: Pierre Dorion’s worst trades as General Manager

By Joshua Delorme

DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Eugene Melynk and Pierre Dorion of the Ottawa Senators attend the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Eugene Melynk and Pierre Dorion of the Ottawa Senators attend the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Number 4: Mika Zibanejad & 2018 second-round pick for Derick Brassard & 2018 seventh-round pick

OTTAWA, ON – APRIL 07: Mika Zibanejad #93 of the Ottawa Senators plays in the game against the Florida Panthers at Canadian Tire Centre on April 7, 2016 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/NHLI via Getty Images)
OTTAWA, ON – APRIL 07: Mika Zibanejad #93 of the Ottawa Senators plays in the game against the Florida Panthers at Canadian Tire Centre on April 7, 2016 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Next on the Worst Trades by Ottawa Senators General Manager Pierre Dorion countdown is the General Manager’s third trade every completed. Just over three months after taking over as General Manager of the team, Dorion shipped out a young, top-6 centreman and a second-round pick for an older centreman in Derick Brassard.

There are two aspects of this trade that worry me the most. The first is that the management team clearly felt that Mika Zibanejad was not a top-line centreman in the NHL. The young centre was coming off back to back 20 goal+ seasons and was just coming off a 51-point career year, but Pierre Dorion shipped him out for an ageing centreman. The fact that the management team was not worried about giving up on a 23-year-old worries me. I’m worried because this management staff has made repeated errors in judgements when acquiring players from other teams. It is no secret that the Ottawa Senators have one of the smallest staffs in the NHL, but they get by because of their unbelievable track record with amateur scouting and amateur drafting. On the other hand, the professional scouts have led to errors in player acquisition in the past.

The second aspect of this trade that worries me is the trend that started with the trade. The Ottawa Senators have been part of a few trades in the Pierre Dorion era where they give up a draft pick or an extra asset for the other team to pay the player’s signing bonuses. This trade was completed not long after Derick Brassard was paid his 2-million dollar signing bonus by the New York Rangers. The second-round pick that Dorion added was clearly compensation for holding up the trade until the signing bonus had been paid. Oh, and let’s not forget that the Ottawa Senators were the team that gave up the younger asset in this trade!

End result: FAIL! I don’t know which other way to put it. This General Manager moved out a young centreman that has proven to be a very good top-6 centre AND a second-round pick for a year and a half of an older centre in Derick Brassard. (Please don’t come at me with the return the Ottawa Senators got when they shipped Brassard to the Penguins, I’d still rather have Zibanejad on this team instead of any of the assets that came from Pittsburgh!)

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