Pierre Dorion has been the General Manager of the Ottawa Senators since April 10th, 2016, and has had a few misses, but also a few hits when it comes to Free Agency. Today’s piece continues on the series analyzing Dorion’s tenure as GM of the Ottawa Senators, breaking down his best Free Agent pickups. As always, these will appear in no particular order, just as I think of them.
Evgenii Dadonov
Wanting to prove that the Ottawa Senators could attract premier free agents, Pierre Dorion signed Evgenii Dadonov to a three-year contract earning him an AAV of 5 million dollars. Dadonov was a proven 20-goalscorer in the NHL, even cracking the 30 mark once in his career.
Unfortunately for the Senators, Dadonov would not perform as advertised for the Sens, scoring 13 goals and 7 assists for 20 points in 55 games. He would score at a 20-goal pace and 10 assists for 30 points in 82 games. Obviously, this is not as advertised and should be looked at as a poor signing, but I’ll argue that the Dadonov signing helped the Sens.
In a way, signing Evgenii Dadonov was able to put the Sens on the map as a premier free agent and picked the Sens as his primary target. After one season, Dadonov was traded away and that chapter is done and over with.
Artem Zub
As the 2020 season ended, the Senators were looking at outside options to bolster the back end. Pierre Dorion would set his sights on Russian Artem Zub and signed him to a one-year entry-level contract. In all honesty, it was a gamble. An easy gamble to take looking back, but it was a gamble regardless.
It would take a while for Zub to earn DJ Smith’s trust, but the second he earned it, he took it and ran. Zub is now a top-pairing defenseman in the NHL and has played amazingly with anyone he’s been paired with, often making the other better. Zub’s main partner currently is Thomas Chabot but jumps to different pairings if anyone else is struggling. His sound defensive awareness and ability to make a great first pass has benefitted everyone in the Ottawa Senators lineup.
Zub has since earned a contract extension this season earning him 4.5 million dollars annually.
Claude Giroux
The final free agent signing I will mention is Claude Giroux. Giroux is probably the best player this team has ever attracted via free agency in its entire 30-year history.
Claude Giroux scored his 1000th NHL point this season and played in his 1100th NHL game. Altogether, he scored 35 goals and 44 assists for 79 points, bringing him to 1002 career NHL points. His 35 goals were also a career-high for him.
His presence isn’t only felt on the score sheet. Giroux is an amazing leader and has helped develop numerous players in many ways. He has given many faceoff lessons during practices, he’s always communicating with his teammates, serving as a mentor to many young players. Giroux has also earned himself a letter as he has been identified as a key member of the leadership of this team.
Want your voice heard? Join the SenShot team!
Closing Thoughts
Dorion has not signed many key free agents during his time with the Senators, but the three I’ve mentioned in this list have been extremely valuable to the team in more ways than one.
I will always be biased toward the Giroux signing, as he has been amongst my favorite players of all time, but he’s also been amazing with the Sens, helping lead the team into battle every night and also contributing to the score sheet every night.