Senators' GM Pierre Dorion talks NHL prospect combine, team future ahead of draft

Three years of computer interviews is enough for any hockey person.

It helps explain the enthusiasm of Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion, speaking over the phone from the NHL scouting combine sessions in Buffalo this week. 

Hockey people chatting face to face and meeting prospects in person after three years of keeping a safe distance during the pandemic has pumped a lot of energy into this Buffalo combine. 

“It’s so good to see guys and talk hockey,” Dorion said in a Thursday interview with Sportsnet.ca. “Whether it’s GMs, scouts, management people, even agents – you cross paths with them and their players in restaurants – it’s great. It just brings so much excitement about the game.”

Regarding the business side of these sessions, Dorion and chief scout Trent Mann and their staff have interviewed more than 60 draft-eligible prospects to date, spending an average of 20 minutes with each one. 

These prospects aren’t just slick on the ice, but off it, too. Dorion says that one of his group’s prime tasks is to get the players off their stock responses, which have been well rehearsed. 

“They are so programmed compared to when we first started this process many years ago in Toronto,” Dorion says. “I think it’s our job to, you know, make them feel a little uncomfortable sometimes through the process. We want to see how they handle certain questions – maybe we challenge their game or development. We never try to be mean, but I think you’ve got to get the most out of them through these interviews.”

Sometimes body language can be a giveaway. After all, you don’t really get a chance to see someone squirm in his seat over a Zoom call. 

Trade talk will heat up at draft

The Senators have five picks in the first two rounds of the NHL Draft Jul. 7-8 and 11 picks in all. It’s no secret that Ottawa’s seventh overall pick could be in play and Dorion has said he is looking for a top four defenceman and improved forward scoring, either through trade or free agency. 

He repeated to me his contention that the Senators prospect “cupboard is full” and that the team is willing to move picks or prospects to push the club to a more competitive level after five years of missing the playoffs. 

“We’ve got quality and quantity,” Dorion says, by way of advertising his organization’s prospects. 

While there are many GMs in Buffalo along with their staffs, and there is chatter, the trade talk won’t really heat up until the draft approaches. Four teams are still engaged in playoffs that Dorion considers the most compelling he has seen in years, while other teams are just starting to sort out their rosters. 

“Obviously, as we get closer to the draft, there might be more interest in making the selection (at No. 7),” Dorion says. “Right now, there haven’t been many calls. I think it’s got to be the right scenario. It’s got to be the right player or players that will help us have an impact this year.”

Really, everything is still on the table. Dorion can envision a scenario where the team moves up in the draft which is “more difficult to do than people think,” he says, or down in the draft. Why down? Because his staff sees a certain similarity among the level of players from 7 to 20 in the draft, so moving down while acquiring an asset or pick might make sense. 

As always, these situations are fluid. Things can develop at the last minute. Dorion notes that at the trade deadline, the Tampa Bay Lightning were the last team to express interest in Nick Paul, when it looked like he might go elsewhere. In the end, Tampa offered forward Mathieu Joseph and a fourth-round pick and the deal got done. 

Ideally, any trade for an impact defenceman or forward would involve a player with some term left and a player young enough to grow with this young core, but even there Dorion says he doesn’t want to get pigeon-holed on those prerequisites. If a special player becomes available, those parameters could go out the window.

Status quo on ownership, hockey operations side

It’s the time of year to start talking about player moves, but franchises are also shoring up hockey operations staff. Witness the Toronto Maple Leafs hiring former Senators captain Jason Spezza to work in their hockey operations department. 

In Ottawa, Pierre McGuire (hired by late owner Eugene Melnyk) was recently let go as Senior VP of Player Development, which led me to ask if Dorion might beef up his staff, whether with a scout/development type of addition or in hockey analytics. 

The short answer? He isn’t sure at this point. 

“We’re not the biggest staff,” Dorion says, “but the one advantage of not having the biggest staff is that everyone has an opinion, and their opinion matters. 

“But when it comes to adding to hockey operations, I always believe that we’ve got to have the right people. The longer I’m on this job, the more I see the value of analytics and what it can bring and how to use it. But at the end of the day, I think your evaluation from your skills, your coaches, definitely brings a higher value number to what you’re trying to do.”

Whomever could be added has to be willing to “put in the hours and the time” on the job, he says. 

“I don’t want to talk about hypotheticals on this one, because I don’t know,” Dorion says. “You don’t know who’s available, who might be available. A lot of people have contracts until June 30, or when the hockey season ends . . . I don’t want to rush into adding people because it’s got to be the right fit.”

Meanwhile, on the ownership front, Melnyk’s death in late March sparked a surge of stories on potential change at the top – and yet, two months later the status quo is very much in vogue. 

The team continues to be run by a board of directors, with Melnyk’s young daughters, Olivia and Anna, in place as franchise owners, as per the wishes of their father. NHL president Gary Bettman told reporters a month ago that the Senators are not for sale. That will only change if the sisters decide to sell or take on ownership partners sometime in the future. 

“The same as their father, they are both very passionate about the Ottawa Senators,” Dorion says. “Obviously, I answer to a board (of directors), it’s been that process for the last few years. I have very good interactions with the board and the same with Anna and Olivia. They care about the success of the team and they’re really smart business people. So nothing has changed.”