Rome is burning.
At least that’s how things would appear to non-Senators fans as news of league sanctions, and firings made the rounds late Wednesday afternoon.
In a matter of hours the NHL announced that Ottawa would be forfeiting a 1st round draft pick for their role in the Evgenii Dadonov fiasco last year, while the Senators announced they would be relieving GM Pierre Dorion of his duties as a result.
The issue at the centre of the maelstrom was the failed 2022 trade which would have sent forward Evgenii Dadonov from the Las Vegas Golden Knights to the Anaheim Ducks. After both sides came to an agreement, they were informed by Dadonov’s agent that his client had previously listed Anaheim on his no-trade-list. A fact that wasn’t divulged to the Vegas front office from Senators GM Pierre Dorion after the two clubs made a previous swap.
As a result, the deal quickly fell apart, with the Russian winger subsequently being moved to Montreal in a separate trade. Golden Knights management however were less than pleased about the situation and met with league officials to seek disciplinary action against Ottawa in the wake of the failed deal.
Fast forward to November 1st, 2023 and the NHL announced that it would be stripping Ottawa of a 1st round pick as a result of Dorion’s failure to notify Vegas of the no trade clause. That 1st rounder will come from either the 2024, 2025, or 2026 NHL entry draft, and must be announced within 24hrs of the conclusion of the draft lottery.
Not long after the sanctions were announced, Senator’s owner Michael Andlauer and President of Hockey Operations Steve Staios held a press conference to inform members of the media that Dorion had been relieved of his duties.
While Andlauer danced around the question of whether Dorion was fired, or resigned, the fact of the matter is that after 8 seasons at the helm, the Ottawa native will no longer be part of the organization.
In the interim, Staios will oversee day to day operations of the Senators. However rumours have already begun to swirl that a preferred candidate may soon be announced in short order.
In recent weeks, Andlauer and Staios have spoken positively about Ottawa head coach DJ Smith. However one has to wonder whether with a new owner, President of Hockey Ops, and GM all joining the mix, if Smith’s days behind the bench could be numbered as well.
As alluded to by Shawn Simpson, Claude Julien has been regularly attending Senators home games over the last year. Something he was doing in what was deemed as scouting related duties at the time. However if Peter Chiarelli is indeed the next “GM in waiting” it wouldn’t be a stretch to think he may have interest in reuniting with his former head coach from their 2011 Stanley Cup days in Boston.
For now, Ottawa is focused on putting together a strong November to avoid another 2nd month swoon which has become a regular occurrence over the past several seasons. Currently sitting at 4-4 through 8 games, Ottawa will play host to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night in their first game of the post Dorion era.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Ottawa Senators.