Five Things We’ve Learned about the Ottawa Senators in 2022-23
Pierre Dorion is a Solid GM
Entering his first season as General Manager in the 2016-17 season, Pierre Dorion had high expectations of the team. His first move was trading for veteran center Derick Brassard. Later on, he would also acquire goaltender Mike Condon, and the team would go off to a very deep playoff run, making it to the Eastern Conference Finals, but ultimately losing out to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Since then, the Ottawa Senators have been going through a long rebuild that finally is starting to take the next step as the team is in the battle for a wildcard playoff spot.
In recent years, Dorion has executed many moves that were head-scratchers for many fans, such as trading away prospect Jonathan Dahlen in exchange for grizzled vet Alex Burrows (when there were many better players available for his role played in the lineup). Burrows would go ahead to score 2 goals in his Ottawa Senators debut, but the celebrations would quickly fizzle as his stats diminished quite quickly, and he would end up being suspended 9 games for kneeing Taylor Hall twice in the head in an awkward scuffle.
Alex Burrows knees Taylor Hall repeatedly in the back of the head during a scrum mid-game.
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) February 7, 2018
Suspension incoming? pic.twitter.com/O7ZCERX4Az
Another questionable acquisition made by Dorion was choosing Johnny Oduya as the replacement for Marc Methot as he was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft. I won’t go too much into detail on that one other than say it ended horribly. The point is, Dorion has made a few key mistakes in his time as General Manager, but he has also made a lot of great moves.
The acquisitions I will mention are the acquisitions of Claude Giroux via Free Agency, trading for Alex DeBrincat, and trading for Jake Chychrun. Let’s start chronologically with the DeBrincat trade. On draft day, the Ottawa Senators held the 7th overall selection, and Dorion made the call to trade that pick alongside a few others to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for star forward Alex DeBrincat. DeBrincat is on pace to score 30 goals and 70 points with the Sens this season.
Want your voice heard? Join the SenShot team!
On the first day of free agency, Claude Giroux signed a three-year contract with the Senators earning him an AAV of 6.5 million dollars. He is currently third on the team in scoring with 72 points and has played all 76 games. He is 5 points away from the 1000-point mark, and his leadership qualities have proven to be priceless in terms of value.
Jake Chychrun is yet another name acquired by Pierre Dorion this season. The Team’s biggest weakness has been defensive depth for a long time, and considering the Sens were in the hunt for a playoff spot, Dorion decided to invest in his core by acquiring yet another superstar to inject into this lineup. Chychrun has roots in the Ottawa Valley and I’m sure it will be easy to get him under contract for a long, long time. All in all, Dorion has done a solid job, and may very well be nominated for GM Of the Year for the second time in his career.