What Are Pierre Dorion’s Best Trades as General Manager of the Ottawa Senators
Yesterday, I began a series analyzing Pierre Dorion and his time as General Manager of the Ottawa Senators. Yesterday’s installment of this series was analyzing his worst trades as GM. Today, I will address his best trades during his time as General Manager of the Sens. Feel free to check that first installment if you haven’t already! In that piece, I looked at a few trades that mainly stuck out to me as clear as day losses. I want to clarify that these trades are not listed in any order, just random. Let’s get started!
Mike Condon Acquisition
With his second trade as General Manager, Pierre Dorion decided to upgrade on the backup goaltending position, by acquiring Mike Condon from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a fifth-round pick in 201-7. That pick would be used to select Jan Drozg, who has not suited up in the NHL yet and is currently playing in the KHL.
Mike Condon would immediately impress, saving 27 shots in a shutout against the Vancouver Canucks in his Ottawa Senators debut, and it would start quite the run for him. Longtime starting goaltender Craig Anderson had to step aside from the team to be with his wife Nicole who was battling cancer, and Condon would end up suiting up in 40 games that season. At one point he even played 26 games in a row, and as far as I can tell, no other goaltender in the NHL has played that many games in a row since. In fact, I couldn’t even remember who was his backup goalie in that stretch because he just didn’t play. After looking it up, I can confirm it was Andrew Hammond, who would suit up in 6 games that entire season.
Unfortunately for Condon, he would not stay with the Senators long after that season, but I’m more than willing to say that the price Dorion paid to acquire him was more than worth it. Condon got the Sens to the playoffs while Anderson needed to be with his family, and upon his return, he took the reigns back and got the Sens to the Eastern Conference Finals. Anderson’s play was phenomenal in the playoffs but it can be argued that it doesn’t even come close to happening if it weren’t for Condon stepping up when needed.
Erik Karlsson Trade
When a team is forced to trade away their franchise piece, and the second-greatest player to ever suit up for the team, it’s near impossible to win that trade. At first, when the Ottawa Senators were forced to move Erik Karlsson, it looked underwhelming. At the time, this was the trade:
I already broke down this trade on another piece, but I’ll talk about it a bit here. Dylan DeMelo turned out great with the Sens during his short time with the team, serving as the partner to Thomas Chabot, and forming chemistry that simply has not been reproduced since his departure via trade to Winnipeg. That pick the Sens got in exchange for him turned out to be goaltender Leevi Merilainen, who recently made his AHL debut and had a 41-save shutout. Merilainen was also recently called up to the NHL squad and could appear in his first NHL start this season.
Chris Tierney served as a middle sic centerman during his time in Ottawa and played well at times. In his first season, he scored 48 points in his first season with the Sens, which remains a career-high to this day. He left when his contract came up and is now playing with the Montreal Canadiens.
Rudolfs Balcers has bounced around a bit, not quite making the NHL full-time yet.
Josh Norris alone is enough for this trade to be worth it for the Senators. Norris is a legitimate first-line caliber center, who will be playing on Ottawa’s second line with the emergence of another player I’ll mention a bit later. Norris is a thirty-goal scorer who is elite at both sides of the puck. He’s been unlucky on the injury front thus far, but when he’s able to play, he was the first Senator to score 30 goals since the 2011-12 season.
One of the picks received was a 2021 2nd-round pick. With this pick, the Ottawa Senators opted to select Zack Ostapchuk. While Ostapchuk has not yet made his NHL debut, he is one of the many riches from this trade that should be a good NHL player once he is developed.
Another pick included was Florida’s 2019 2nd-round pick, which was used in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes to acquire the 37th pick in the draft. The Ottawa Senators would draft Mads Sogaard with this pick. Sogaard is regarded as Ottawa’s top goaltending prospect and is expected to be the goalie of the future.
That first-round pick was conditional, and it resulted in being the third overall pick in the 2020 draft. With this pick, the Ottawa Senators opted to select Tim Stützle. Stützle is ironically the first Ottawa Senators to score more than 82 points in a single season since Erik Karlsson did it in 2015-16. He’s established himself as Ottawa’s best player, and could honestly be regarded as one of the greatest players to ever play for the Senators organization once it’s all said and done.
Cody Ceci Trade
Cody Ceci was drafted 15th overall in the 2012 draft by the Ottawa Senators, but ultimately after numerous years, he would not live up to his potential with the team that drafted him and it became time to move on. Ceci would be traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and would be the initial piece in a trade tree that still benefits the Sens to this day, and that other trade will be mentioned later on.
In exchange for an underwhelming defenseman and a couple of minor assets, the Ottawa Senators would receive AHLer Michael Carcone, defenseman Nikita Zaitsev, and right-wing Connor Brown. While Zaitsev was not a great player during his time with the Ottawa Senators, he would suit up in 203 games over four seasons with the team, providing a veteran presence for a young d-core. Brown would be the piece that made this trade a win for the Senators. Throughout the course of the tough years in the rebuild, Brown would consistently be one of Ottawa’s best forwards, scoring 21 goals on one occasion. His offensive play was good enough for the team to benefit from, but his real value came with the leadership he brought and his elite two-way play. Brown is one of the best two-way players in the NHL and is a penalty-kill specialist. He’s no longer on the team but his impact is still being felt in more ways than one.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau to the New York Islanders
In a rebuild, when the team’s core players are moved, it means there are now opportunities for players in supporting roles to play higher up in the lineup. This was certainly the case for Jean-Gabriel Pageau in the 2019-20 season where he would score 24 goals in 60 games for the Sens. Pageau had been a longtime fan favorite bottom 6 player for the organization, but it was necessary for Dorion to sell this asset while his value was at the highest it ever was. He was traded to the New York Islanders.
The third-round pick would not be transferred to the Sens as the New York Islanders did not win the cup that season, but the other picks would stick.
The second-round would end up being traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs with a third-round pick in exchange for the 44th overall selection. With this pick, the Ottawa Senators would select defenseman Tyler Kleven. Kleven is a good defensive prospect for the Senators and could anchor the third pairing for a long time.
With the first-round pick acquired in this trade, the Ottawa Senators would select forward Ridly Greig. Greig is a top prospect for the Ottawa Senators and has jumped up and down from the AHL this season due to piling-up injuries. He could earn a full-time NHL roster spot as soon as next season.
Alex DeBrincat to the Ottawa Senators
Entering the 2022 NHL draft, the Ottawa Senators’ two biggest question marks were a top 6 forward and a top 4 defenseman. With this trade, the Senators would acquire a superstar top 6 forward in Alex DeBrincat, without losing a roster player or a key prospect.
The third in 2024 has not been used yet obviously, so we’ll have to revisit this trade in the future.
With the 39th overall pick, the Blackhawks selected Paul Ludwinski, and he has not played any NHL games yet. This trade is still very very young.
With the seventh overall pick, the Blackhawks selected defensive prospect Kevin Korchinksi. Korchinski appears to be a great offensive-defenseman prospect who should pan out to be a top 4 defenseman in the NHL, but he has not played any NHL games yet.
With the Senators, DeBrincat has taken a step back in terms of goalscoring, but he is still on pace to hit 68 points. That would be ten shy of hitting his total of 78 points last season. He’s currently on pace to score 28 goals and 40 assists.
The Senators received a 40 goalscorer in exchange for a potential top 4 defensemanan and a couple question marks. I call that a win in my eyes.
Jakob Chychrun is an Ottawa Senator
For a long time, rumors surrounding Jakob Chychrun wanting out of the dessert have been at the forefront of media headlines. Chychrun was amongst the top of trade bait board throughout the entire season, until Pierre Dorion finally decided to pull the trigger on acquiring a top-4 defenseman. Dorion was able to acquire the best player available on the market for a very very low price.
The conditions of this trade are as follows;
* Top 5 protected. If the condition is met, the pick becomes an unprotected 2024 1st round.
** If OTT makes it to the 2023 Eastern Conference Final, the pick becomes a 2024 1st round top 10 protected. If the pick is top 10, the pick becomes OTT 2025 1st round (unprotected)
Basically the Sens acquired someone capable of being a number one defenseman for the low price of three draft picks. The first will most likely be in the 15-20 range as the Ottawa Senators have not yet been mathematically eliminated from playoff-contention.
Conclusion
As I’ve come to learn, Pierre Dorion has made a LOT of trades during his time as GM. He’s been described as an extremely aggressive general manager who is not afraid to make moves. All these trades listed have been outsanding for him so far, and I can’t wait to see how they continue to benefit the Senators down the road.