In a sudden move, the Ottawa Senators relieved McGuire of his duties as the team’s Senior Vice President of Player Development
The Senators mysteriously hired Pierre McGuire into their front office on July 12th of 2021, and the polarizing figure only lasted 10 months within the organization before being promptly fired today seemingly out of nowhere, fitting considering how his tenure with the franchise went.
Hearing Pierre McGuire has been fired by the Ottawa Senators. @TSNSteveLloyd has confirmed. #Sens
— AJ Jakubec (@TheSuperAJ) May 9, 2022
McGuire’s role within the organization was left open for interpretation, as the former radio and broadcasting personality was seldom spotted by Senators fans, rarely making appearances at games, and not appearing in front of the media once during his short-lived stint in Ottawa. This was supposed to be a part of McGuire’s role with the team, but that never materialized as was intended, which is not surprising considering the obvious internal problems within the organization.
There’s been rumblings that the hiring was the idea of late-Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, in an effort to support Senators general manager Pierre Dorion in player evaluation, something that didn’t exactly produce results. Bruce Garrioch reported that Melnyk was indeed involved in the hire:
"“The decision to bring in McGuire caught the hockey world off guard. He was hired by Melnyk to help support Dorion in the evaluation of players. The signing of defenceman Michael Del Zotto as a unrestricted free agent last summer didn’t work out the way anybody expected.”"
One of the signings that McGuire did have significant influence in was the addition of veteran defenceman Michael Del Zotto, who was waived on December 10th as he struggled to get consistent ice-time under D.J. Smith. Inked to a two-year, $4 million deal in the offseason, Del Zotto’s play wasn’t great at the start of the season, but the treatment he received in the nation’s capital was confusing to say the least.
If Melnyk did make the hire on his own accord, it’s not unrealistic to think that Dorion viewed McGuire’s role within the organization as more of an inconvenience, and redundant in nature as the hiring didn’t seem to make a lot of sense in the first place. Unfortunately, McGuire was originally signed to a three-year deal during the summer, and for a budget team their allocation of funds continues to puzzle many fans and people around the NHL.
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This isn’t new for the Senators, they have had numerous people leave the front office after short stints within the organization, a troubling trend that hopefully can be rectified with new ownership and a clearer vision. In order for this franchise to move forward they need to try and supply their hockey ops department with more resources that will put the team in the right direction, not continue to hinder their ability to build their team.