Pierre McGuires’ tenure with the Ottawa Senators organization lasted 10 months, while his contract still had 2 years remaining. When hired, he was appointed as Senior Vice President of Player Development on July 12th, 2021.
This was weeks before the 2021 draft and the opening of free agency. His role was advertised as working alongside Pierre Dorion to provide additional insight on players around the league. McGuire had a long history of working in the NHL as a coach, scout, and media personality.
Many assumed the 60 year old would represent the Senators as a spokesperson given his years of experience in the media. However, it was rare to see him speak publicly or even at Senators games. His main role appeared to be reporting to Dorion as an assistant with player insight. So, while Pierre Dorion made the transactions, it’s highly likely McGuire had an influence on some of the players on these lists. Beginning with the trades:
The players acquired were solid, but were often forced into roles that they weren’t accustomed to. Nick Holden was a fine placeholder in the top 4, before Jake Sanderson eventually takes his spot. However, a contending team would ideally have him on the third pair. He earned a 1-year extension for next year.
Zach Sanford had some good moments, but never found a consistent role with the Senators’ forward group. He was moved at the trade deadline for a 5th round pick.
Dylan Gambrell seemed like an ideal depth player, where he doesn’t have much in the way of defensive responsibilities. But he also doesn’t provide much offensively, with 7 points in 63 games. He may get a contract from the Sens but should be an extra on a contending team.
We know that McGuire has an influence on the Travis Hamonic acquisition at the trade deadline.
It was also confirmed that McGuire and Dorion made the trip to North Dakota to get Tyler Kleven to turn pro when his NCAA season ended. The thought process was to have Kleven and Hamonic become a pairing down the line. Hamonic has performed well and formed a good pair with Michael Del Zotto to finish the season.
If McGuire did in fact recommend Joseph to Dorion, then this might be his best work with the organization. Joseph put up 12 points in 11 games after being traded to the Sens. He looks to be a solid middle six player for years to come but also has potential to produce at a top 6 rate.
Zach Senyshyn was acquired in the Josh Brown deal at the trade deadline. He grew up a Sens fan and was a former 1st round pick, so the Sens took a flier on him. It’s safe to say it hasn’t worked out so far, with Senyshyn only producing 3 assists in 16 games for Belleville.
In typical Senators fashion, the free agents acquired were cheaper. The most notable one was Michael Del Zotto, who inked a 2-year deal at 2 million per season. It’s been reported that Del Zotto was heavily pursued by McGuire himself. While Del Zotto is a fine depth defenseman, 2 million is a little steep for his production. He was even placed on waivers, after starting the pre-season on the second pairing.
Tyler Ennis and Scott Sabourin were most likely not influenced by McGuire, as they already had stints with the team in 2019-20.
That leaves Kole Sherwood, Dillon Heatherington, Pontus Aberg, and Andrew Agozzino. Sherwood and Aberg were off the team months after being signed. Agozzino and Heatherington were good players down in the AHL, and helped Belleville make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
Finally, we have the draft. McGuire was hired two weeks before the draft started, so it is very possible the Senators scouting staff already had these players on their radar.
If McGuire had any influence on these picks, most of these players from the 2021 NHL draft would have made sense. Boucher and Ostapchuk combine size, physicality and some skill which is a McGuire style player. Roger and Romeo are big defenseman who are purely defensive. The only outlier is Oliver Johansson, who is a shifty 5’11 center who played well in the Swedish junior league this year.
Obviously, 10 months is a small sample size to analyze McGuire’s impact. Players like Michael Del Zotto, Travis Hamonic and Mathieu Joseph are all solid NHL players. However, they shouldn’t be thrown into a role they aren’t comfortable with.
And that was the theme of the 2021-22 Ottawa Senators, having players take on a role they ideally aren’t supposed to. The players that were brought in seemed to struggle with elevated roles. Which is why the Senators need to be sure of the players they’re acquiring, rather than taking chances on reclamation projects or unproven commodities.
-Damian Smith
Twitter: @Damian__Smith
Photo: Resolute. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.