Management GM Pierre Dorion/Front Office Thread - Part IX [Mod Warning in post 1)

[Knave]

The push back you are receiving is because you refuse to consider context, and your points are hyperbolic.

Not many folks in here defend PD any further than to try and keep the discussions in the realm of reason.

Not sure Mike was let go after building a team like the current Sens group we have, but by all means keep trying to force the comparison.

In the end it’s already painfully obvious that the “wider hockey community” is impressed by this young Sens team, which should be an indicator of how the architect is viewed.

Hopefully one day you’ll move off your hill and enjoy the squad too.

I'm so glad we have so many moral victories to celebrate. Maybe at some point down the road after a top 20 all time playoff drought we'll have actual victories and not just moral victories peppered with high fives and smiles all around.

 

[JungleBeat]

I just want to keep bringing up the Mike Milbury comparison. And when I dived into it Dorion has very similar numbers.

Milbury is mocked as one of the worst GMs ever in all of sport.

- meddling owner
- no salary cap floor so the owner could be even cheaper
- forced to trade star players

I would hope the people defending Dorion haven't joked about Milbury's performance as GM. Similar circumstances. Similar results. What will Dorion be remembered for by the wider hockey community?

Sometimes people aren't right for the job. And that would include Dorion as Ottawa Senators GM. That's okay. He seems to be a good scout. I'm sure someone will hire him for that.

Dorion will be remembered by his laundry list of idiotic quotes.

 

[JD1]

So what are you guys going to do if Dorion isn't let go?

A better question might be what are they going to do if he is let go? What's the next target of the vitriol? It's going to get targeted at something else, just an issue of what.

 

[lancepitlick]

Whether you think Dorion did a great job or was terrible over the past 7 years, I think you have to ask: is he the best man for the job given where the team is currently at?

He seems good at amateur scouting, but all the defining moves from this point forward (for the next 1-7 years) will be based mainly on pro scouting, trades, signings, coaching, balancing out the roster and cap management.

Is he the best person for this or are there other GMs who would do a better job? Infer what you will from the previous 6-7 years, but that's the question. Even if Dorion did the best job humanly possible of trading for picks/drafting, it's 100% possible there's someone better at making pro for pro trades, signing and finding a coach etc.

You shouldn't be giving out jobs 100% based on history, it should be forward thinking.

 

[Beech]

So what are you guys going to do if Dorion isn't let go?

He still has 2 years on his contract and around the league most say he has built a nice young team that's just about to break out.

Dorion is considered to have done a great job of juggling a too hands on owner along with a limited budget.

Just because a few posters feel shame and embarrassment when Dorion talks doesn't mean the rest of the league feels that way.

You should try reading other boards and how they feel about their G.M.

Anyhow, point is What if they don't turf Dorion like you imagine happening?? Will you give the new owner a chance or will you condemn him for not firing Dorion immediately??

What if the new owner actually likes the direction we are going? Do you stop watching cause Dorion is still there??

Curious cause some seem to really have their hopes built up with regard to a new G.M.

the "you guys" is very inaccurate.

the you is:
90% casual fan
10% diehards in general, of which a tiny percentage is us on here. Although, we are a representative sample.

the 10% us, constitute about 5% of the teams true financial contribution.. Butts in seats and eyeballs on electronic media. Among the 10% us.. is a general sensation that the Dorion/melnyk era was not good.. One left, the other remains.. it constitutes a thorn in our side.. well! in many people's sides.. you will find the 10% us is not 100% unified.

the basic question is; what will the 90% do?.. their anger is more damning.. from 2018-2021.. they stayed away... in 2022/2023 they came back. Suggesting their anger is at Melnyk and Dorion does not move the needle.

so, if Dorion remains, attendance and eyeballs will still skyrocket.. the euphoria over the sale is carrying the day..

we on here will go ape shit if the team fails and he is still in his position. We will be sheepish, Aw-Shucks, if he succeeds. And we will be angrier if he half succeeds.. Kind of like at a stop light.. Red is stop, Green is go. Yellow is go faster.

the 90% will move like molasses in winter.. not give a rats ass.. the real pariah is gone.. They will attend or not attend based upon how well they are doing, how expensive things get, how cold or snowy it is on any one day and the 101 other distractions that will come into play. Most have zero idea of who Tyler Boucher is, when he was drafted, the circumstances of his draft and so on. So, if he makes it, or does not, hardly moves the needle. So Dorion drafting him, is not a topic matter.

 

[BankStreetParade]

Whether you think Dorion did a great job or was terrible over the past 7 years, I think you have to ask: is he the best man for the job given where the team is currently at?

He seems good at amateur scouting, but all the defining moves from this point forward (for the next 1-7 years) will be based mainly on pro scouting, trades, signings, coaching, balancing out the roster and cap management.

Is he the best person for this or are there other GMs who would do a better job? Infer what you will from the previous 6-7 years, but that's the question. Even if Dorion did the best job humanly possible of trading for picks/drafting, it's 100% possible there's someone better at making pro for pro trades, signing and finding a coach etc.

You shouldn't be giving out jobs 100% based on history, it should be forward thinking.

The real problem with assessing Dorion is splitting the Melnyk era from post-Melnyk era work. In my eyes, the Melnyk era version is almost impossible to assess because there's no way to determine what was Dorion's work and vision vs. what was Melnyk's meddling vs. what was a lack of resources doing to Dorion's ability to produce results.

We do know the severe lack of resources resulted in:
1. Some of the lowest paid coaching staffs in the league, ie. having to hire inexperienced coaches
2. A front office consisting of Dorion, as GM, and a lawyer, as AGM, with no hockey management experience at any level
3. Below cap floor rosters, in real dollar amounts for some of those years
4. No ability to sign pending free agents to market rate contracts or to attract unrestricted free agents in the summer
5. Thin professional scouting department

We can argue on the margins of whether he did a good job relative to the resources he had but it's pretty clear, from a philosophical standpoint, that the organization prioritized operating profits and reduced expenses at the cost of icing a competitive team.

Now, post-Melnyk era is kind of an interesting discussion but obviously a very very small sample size. So, it would be pretty hard to draw any definitive conclusions from one year of work, although I think we could all agree that it should be seen as mostly positive, on the whole, even if we didn't make the playoffs due to injuries. In pts%, we were .524 compared to an aggregate .430 from 2018-19 to 2021-22. That's a pretty significant improvement. In pts, we were 13 better than the year before despite significant injuries at the C, D and G positions. Add on the additions of Giroux, Debrincat and Chychrun in the span of 1 year and signing Stutzle to what might end up being one of the best contracts in the league and I think you can say he performed his role pretty well.

Ultimately, this might come down to a choice between seeing what he can do when he's allocated the appropriate resources vs. deciding it's time to hand the reigns to someone with 20+ years of experience to get this thing over the line. I could be easily convinced of either option but when the discussion starts with this over-generalization of his tenure, like he ever had the opportunity to do the job for real for most of it, I take issue with the discussion for its lack of context. Anyone who wants to boil it down to "we missed the playoffs for 6 years so he should be fired" is just looking to vent, not discuss.

 

[Big Muddy]

The Debrincat trade will be one that Dorion made that didn't have the Melnyk factor connected to it. So, its a clean trade in that sense and could be used to assess Dorion.

There's still some shoes left to drop, but let's see how that works out ultimately in the end. It should be interesting one way or another.

 

[lancepitlick]

The real problem with assessing Dorion is splitting the Melnyk era from post-Melnyk era work. In my eyes, the Melnyk era version is almost impossible to assess because there's no way to determine what was Dorion's work and vision vs. what was Melnyk's meddling vs. what was a lack of resources doing to Dorion's ability to produce results.

We do know the severe lack of resources resulted in:
1. Some of the lowest paid coaching staffs in the league, ie. having to hire inexperienced coaches
2. A front office consisting of Dorion, as GM, and a lawyer, as AGM, with no hockey management experience at any level
3. Below cap floor rosters, in real dollar amounts for some of those years
4. No ability to sign pending free agents to market rate contracts or to attract unrestricted free agents in the summer
5. Thin professional scouting department

We can argue on the margins of whether he did a good job relative to the resources he had but it's pretty clear, from a philosophical standpoint, that the organization prioritized operating profits and reduced expenses at the cost of icing a competitive team.

Now, post-Melnyk era is kind of an interesting discussion but obviously a very very small sample size. So, it would be pretty hard to draw any definitive conclusions from one year of work, although I think we could all agree that it should be seen as mostly positive, on the whole, even if we didn't make the playoffs due to injuries. In pts%, we were .524 compared to an aggregate .430 from 2018-19 to 2021-22. That's a pretty significant improvement. In pts, we were 13 better than the year before despite significant injuries at the C, D and G positions. Add on the additions of Giroux, Debrincat and Chychrun in the span of 1 year and signing Stutzle to what might end up being one of the best contracts in the league and I think you can say he performed his role pretty well.

Ultimately, this might come down to a choice between seeing what he can do when he's allocated the appropriate resources vs. deciding it's time to hand the reigns to someone with 20+ years of experience to get this thing over the line. I could be easily convinced of either option but when the discussion starts with this over-generalization of his tenure, like he ever had the opportunity to do the job for real for most of it, I take issue with the discussion for its lack of context. Anyone who wants to boil it down to "we missed the playoffs for 6 years so he should be fired" is just looking to vent, not discuss.

He's been here 7 years and you don't think there's enough tape to make any kind of judgement on him? Yes, he had restrictions from Melnyk. But Melnyk didn't make him do any of the specific trades he chose to do (Stone, Zbad, Matt Murray,Gustaffson, Stepan, Duclair, Karl, Hoff, Pageau, Debrincat, Hamonic and on and on and on). Even when they were a budget team a lot of the moves still made no sense in that context.

Melnyk never made him say trading Mark Stone was his proudest day as a GM. Or trade Hoffman out of the Conference only to be immediately be flipped back into the Conference. He didn't make him trade specifically for Matt Murray or Brossard.

Even if you think he was forced into a moneyball rebuild, the moves he then made still were horrible in that context.

 

[Beech]

He's been here 7 years and you don't think there's enough tape to make any kind of judgement on him? Yes, he had restrictions from Melnyk. But Melnyk didn't make him do any of the specific trades he chose to do (Stone, Zbad, Matt Murray,Gustaffson, Stepan, Duclair, Karl, Hoff, Pageau, Debrincat, Hamonic and on and on and on). Even when they were a budget team a lot of the moves still made no sense in that context.

Melnyk never made him say trading Mark Stone was his proudest day as a GM. Or trade Hoffman out of the Conference only to be immediately be flipped back into the Conference. He didn't make him trade specifically for Matt Murray or Brossard.

Even if you think he was forced into a moneyball rebuild, the moves he then made still were horrible in that context.

a season must be played in October.. after that another the following October.

The team could succeed, in which case, Dorion and his supporters will have won the day.
The team could be middling, which will provide this forum with an excess of conversation topics
The team can fail, in which you and all you wish him out.. Can say; SEE!!!

The beauty of sports.. a season must always be played to validate or condem actions previosaly taken. Judgement is always remdered with no ambiguity.. No car salesman telling you: our best year ever.. no restauranteur telling you: Ottawa's best Prime Rib.

A score board, a standings table, a playoff table.. Go.NO go.. Red or green light only.. No yellow.

let them make their moves..keep him, move on from him.. in 2 years (or less) either a red or a green light.

 

[BankStreetParade]

He's been here 7 years and you don't think there's enough tape to make any kind of judgement on him? Yes, he had restrictions from Melnyk. But Melnyk didn't make him do any of the specific trades he chose to do (Stone, Zbad, Matt Murray,Gustaffson, Stepan, Duclair, Karl, Hoff, Pageau, Debrincat, Hamonic and on and on and on). Even when they were a budget team a lot of the moves still made no sense in that context.

Melnyk never made him say trading Mark Stone was his proudest day as a GM. Or trade Hoffman out of the Conference only to be immediately be flipped back into the Conference. He didn't make him trade specifically for Matt Murray or Brossard.

Even if you think he was forced into a moneyball rebuild, the moves he then made still were horrible in that context.

But how do you know that?

Zibanejad was traded to save money on his pending contract.
Stepan was owed $2M but carried a $6.5M cap hit when we traded for him.
Karlsson and Stone weren't offered market rate contracts because of the owner.
And on and on it goes. Who cares what he said about the Mark Stone trade? I literally never hear about that shit from any Sens fans except for the ones on this site. So he tried to sell a little optimism to a fanbase that was reeling from watching their favourite players get sold off piece by piece? He gets crucified for all of eternity for it? The Matt Murray contract turned out to be a disaster, sure. But guess what? Another team still took a chance on him after us. So it's not as black and white as you make it seem.

All of this comes back to a simple fact: you don't know what the constraints put in place by Melnyk made him do. You don't have any evidence to say one thing was for sure Melnyk and the other was not. You can't even definitively say what Dorion's vision would have been during those years starting in 2017-18 because his boss told him to drastically reduce spending across the entire organization. You can't honestly convince me Dorion wouldn't have wanted to find a way to keep Stone and Karlsson, under different ownership circumstances. Do you actually believe Dorion thought "hmmm, I'd love to sell off my 2 best players for lottery tickets and hope for the best!"? Come on, be real for a minute.

 

[Ice-Tray]

He's been here 7 years and you don't think there's enough tape to make any kind of judgement on him? Yes, he had restrictions from Melnyk. But Melnyk didn't make him do any of the specific trades he chose to do (Stone, Zbad, Matt Murray,Gustaffson, Stepan, Duclair, Karl, Hoff, Pageau, Debrincat, Hamonic and on and on and on). Even when they were a budget team a lot of the moves still made no sense in that context.

Melnyk never made him say trading Mark Stone was his proudest day as a GM. Or trade Hoffman out of the Conference only to be immediately be flipped back into the Conference. He didn't make him trade specifically for Matt Murray or Brossard.

Even if you think he was forced into a moneyball rebuild, the moves he then made still were horrible in that context.

He has already explained and apologized for the Stone comment, perhaps you should let it go now? Are you really going to hold that grudge forever? It was words.

He traded Hoffman as far away as possible for pretty obvious reasons. And didn’t want him in the same division for pretty obvious reasons. Sometimes trades are made for off ice reasons and Hoffman’s reputation was seriously damaged at the time. In the end you are upset about a 2nd vs roster player.

Most people liked the Matt Murray trade, it was the extension that was the bigger gamble that didn’t pan out.

Brassard was a partially financially driven trade in the one hand (didn’t want to pay Zib, paid a 2nd for the signing bonus paid I think the rumour was) and a proven playoff performer for an immediate playoff run on the other. He played well and we ended up trading him later for a solid return.

Lots of grievances towards PD over the year, but only the Zib trade had much of an impact on the team from your fleshed out list here, and it definitely had financial considerations tied to it that were linked to the owner’s budget.

So many of the other trades in brackets were tear down trades that were absolutely specifically budget cutting and ownership related. Remember it was a meeting with the owner that set the course for full rebuild. PD even intimated that he wanted badly to keep Stone but was unable to offer a contract that he wanted due to ownership constraints.

Anyways, it’s been nice to see the GM operate without ownership meddling, especially on a financial level, hopefully the new owner and next management team won’t have that burden to deal with. In the mean time it’s interesting to see PD operate with fewer constraints. It’s a pretty obvious difference in my opinion.

 

[Hockeysawks]

He has already explained and apologized for the Stone comment, perhaps you should let it go now? Are you really going to hold that grudge forever? It was words.

He traded Hoffman as far away as possible for pretty obvious reasons. And didn’t want him in the same division for pretty obvious reasons. Sometimes trades are made for off ice reasons and Hoffman’s reputation was seriously damaged at the time. In the end you are upset about a 2nd vs roster player.

Most people liked the Matt Murray trade, it was the extension that was the bigger gamble that didn’t pan out.

Brassard was a partially financially driven trade in the one hand (didn’t want to pay Zib, paid a 2nd for the signing bonus paid I think the rumour was) and a proven playoff performer for an immediate playoff run on the other. He played well and we ended up trading him later for a solid return.

Lots of grievances towards PD over the year, but only the Zib trade had much of an impact on the team from your fleshed out list here, and it definitely had financial considerations tied to it that were linked to the owner’s budget.

So many of the other trades in brackets were tear down trades that were absolutely specifically budget cutting and ownership related. Remember it was a meeting with the owner that set the course for full rebuild. PD even intimated that he wanted badly to keep Stone but was unable to offer a contract that he wanted due to ownership constraints.

Anyways, it’s been nice to see the GM operate without ownership meddling, especially on a financial level, hopefully the new owner and next management team won’t have that burden to deal with. In the mean time it’s interesting to see PD operate with fewer constraints. It’s a pretty obvious difference in my opinion.

Kyper said after seeing the Sens money numbers there is a lot of constraints the new owners will have to deal with.
I’m not sure if anyone in Ottawa will ever be happy having to cheer for a budget team but expecting big changes might end in disappointment

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Kyper said after seeing the Sens money numbers there is a lot of constraints the new owners will have to deal with.
I’m not sure if anyone in Ottawa will ever be happy having to cheer for a budget team but expecting big changes might end in disappointment

They have no choice at this point, at least with this group. The contracts committed have funneled them towards having no choice but to have a cap team. They would need to actively shed sizable salary commitments at this point, and surely Andlauer knows that would be suicide in Ottawa considering the history. It won't start off that way, that's for sure.

You also can't win with budget squads, it's basically proven that you need to be a cap spending team to have a chance, so if they want to win, it is what needs to happen and they know it. We went through that with Melnyk and always missing a top 4 d and top 6/9 forward or other spots because the budget just wasn't there. Working with a peg leg. Think about how good some of those Karlsson teams could have been with another significant gamer or two.

 

[Knave]

Kyper said after seeing the Sens money numbers there is a lot of constraints the new owners will have to deal with.
I’m not sure if anyone in Ottawa will ever be happy having to cheer for a budget team but expecting big changes might end in disappointment

Was he talking about not spending to the cap or was he talking about how we are close to the cap? Because a reminder to everyone is if we re-sign DeBrincat that would basically put us at the ceiling. And then how do we sign Sanderson a few years later? What about our goalie situation?

I don't think people realize how close Dorion got us to the cap in the 2022 offseason. That is why missing the playoffs has been such a huge deal. This was supposed to be it.

And the logic now is we just need to have no significant injuries and a ton of internal player growth and we will start making the playoffs. And I'm not seeing where that player growth is coming from outside of Stutzle, Tkachuk and Sanderson. That is one short list and how much growth do we need to become a contender after they've grown to get us to the playoffs?

This is why it is time for some fresh eyes.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

Dorion will be remembered by his laundry list of idiotic quotes.

I'd argue he won't be remembered as much as laughed about.

Kyper said after seeing the Sens money numbers there is a lot of constraints the new owners will have to deal with.
I’m not sure if anyone in Ottawa will ever be happy having to cheer for a budget team but expecting big changes might end in disappointment

We are still here and we've sucked for a while.

I watch because I care about the team and enjoy watching hockey. I don't need to believe they'll win a Cup to be happy, I just need them to be competitive more often than not.

It is achievable. People who think being a fan is wasted if the team never wins a championship are insane.

 

[BankStreetParade]

Was he talking about not spending to the cap or was he talking about how we are close to the cap? Because a reminder to everyone is if we re-sign DeBrincat that would basically put us at the ceiling. And then how do we sign Sanderson a few years later? What about our goalie situation?

I don't think people realize how close Dorion got us to the cap in the 2022 offseason. That is why missing the playoffs has been such a huge deal. This was supposed to be it.

And the logic now is we just need to have no significant injuries and a ton of internal player growth and we will start making the playoffs. And I'm not seeing where that player growth is coming from outside of Stutzle, Tkachuk and Sanderson. That is one short list and how much growth do we need to become a contender after they've grown to get us to the playoffs?

This is why it is time for some fresh eyes.

It's virtually unimaginable that anyone can look at this roster and think "yep, they've pretty much plateaued". And yet here you are, doing just that.

 

[Knave]

It's virtually unimaginable that anyone can look at this roster and think "yep, they've pretty much plateaued". And yet here you are, doing just that.

Yes, that is exactly what I said. Well done.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Zibanejad was traded to save money on his pending contract.
Stepan was owed $2M but carried a $6.5M cap hit when we traded for him

Zibanejad was traded because Dorion thought Brassard was an upgrade on him, not merely to save money.

It was the 2nd that was thrown into the deal for the Rangers to pay Brassard's bonus, but Dorion thought he was getting a local left-handed two-way top line center and thought trading the younger undeveloped player was a risk worth taking. As we know it turned out to be a horrifically bad decision.

And Stepan's cap hit didn't matter since we had already hit the cap floor. If we had used his cap hit to reach the floor without spending the same amount in real dollars, you'd have a point.

 

[BankStreetParade]

Yes, that is exactly what I said. Well done.

“And the logic now is we just need to have no significant injuries and a ton of internal player growth and we will start making the playoffs. And I'm not seeing where that player growth is coming from outside of Stutzle, Tkachuk and Sanderson. That is one short list and how much growth do we need to become a contender after they've grown to get us to the playoffs?”

No growth from Norris, Batherson, Grieg, Pinto, JBD, Sogard…cool take.

 

[bicboi64]

Zibanejad was traded to save money on his pending contract.
Stepan was owed $2M but carried a $6.5M cap hit when we traded for him.
Karlsson and Stone weren't offered market rate contracts because of the owner.

The savings with the Zibby trade are offset by acquiring Duchene literally the next season. It was a gamble on Brass being better than Zibby which wasn't poor evaluation even before thet tade.

We had already hit the cap floor before Stepan, vet leadership for lotto teams don't need to be a 2nd rounder.

Dorion got a good package for EK, but the Stone trade was utter trash.

 

[inthewings]

We do not have our own pick in the first 3 rounds of the draft. We have not made the playoffs. We might be unable to re-sign one of our top 6 forwards on our NOT-A-PLAYOFF-TEAM.

But sure. Dorion was good at scouting. Why is he a GM again? To not draft players? That seems to be what you're suggesting.

Dorion is successful at drafting and so to lead this team into the future he traded all our draft picks and failed to make the playoffs. With managing like that we might as well fold the franchise.

I can't believe people are so forgiving of this. We're a legit cap team right now, if nothing is added to the roster. We didn't have a 1st round pick last year. We don't pick until the 4th this year. Our farm system is bad.

And we haven't even made the playoffs yet. The cap/pick/prospect situation looks like that of a team that's years into their competitive cycle.

And we don't even have goalies for next year. Anton Forsberg, coming back from the injury he had, should be 2nd on the depth chart. He would ideally be third.

 

[aragorn]

I can't believe people are so forgiving of this. We're a legit cap team right now, if nothing is added to the roster. We didn't have a 1st round pick last year. We don't pick until the 4th this year. Our farm system is bad.

And we haven't even made the playoffs yet. The cap/pick/prospect situation looks like that of a team that's years into their competitive cycle.

And we don't even have goalies for next year. Anton Forsberg, coming back from the injury he had, should be 2nd on the depth chart. He would ideally be third.

The reason for this is because all or most of our draft picks who matter are already on the team. Not having a 1st rd pick this yr or next is not the end of the world given our team is so young, I think they can withstand not having a 1st rder this yr or next. They will have a 1st rder again soon, enough but let's not forget that they are at the point now where they need to make the playoffs & then start contending in the playoffs with the goal to win a cup in the next few yrs. We still have a few good players coming who were 1st rders & guys who can make this team better in Kleven, JBD, Greig, Boucher, Ostapchuk, Thomson, Sogaard, Petersson, Nordberg, Jarventie, Sokolov, Donovan & maybe Crookshank. Some of these guys will likely be on a future team as soon as they prove they are ready. I understand people want more highly skilled top line players but we already have two on the top line & a potential 3rd & 4th on the second line who are all quite young.

 

[inthewings]

The reason for this is because all or most of our draft picks who matter are already on the team. Not having a 1st rd pick this yr or next is not the end of the world given our team is so young, I think they can withstand not having a 1st rder this yr or next. They will have a 1st rder again soon, enough but let's not forget that they are at the point now where they need to make the playoffs & then start contending in the playoffs with the goal to win a cup in the next few yrs. We still have a few good players coming who were 1st rders & guys who can make this team better in Kleven, JBD, Greig, Boucher, Ostapchuk, Thomson, Sogaard, Petersson, Nordberg, Jarventie, Sokolov, Donovan & maybe Crookshank. Some of these guys will likely be on a future team as soon as they prove they are ready. I understand people want more highly skilled top line players but we already have two on the top line & a potential 3rd & 4th on the second line who are all quite young.

It's very unusual for rebuilding teams to start trading 1sts and be right up against the cap before actually turning the corner into a playoff team. And it puts them in a tough place, because more assets are going to have to be jettisoned to supplement the existing core without taking on salary. They likely have to trade for a goalie this offseason, and probably some help for a thin bottom-6. Both of those additions will have to have small cap hits, but also be impact players. That will cost significant pick/prospect capital.

There's a bit more flexibility if Debrincat is traded, but that also opens up a hole in the top-6.

 

[aragorn]

It's very unusual for rebuilding teams to start trading 1sts and be right up against the cap before actually turning the corner into a playoff team. And it puts them in a tough place, because more assets are going to have to be jettisoned to supplement the existing core without taking on salary. They likely have to trade for a goalie this offseason, and probably some help for a thin bottom-6. Both of those additions will have to have small cap hits, but also be impact players. That will cost significant pick/prospect capital.

There's a bit more flexibility if Debrincat is traded, but that also opens up a hole in the top-6.

The rebuild is mostly over is it not? We had a number of 1st rd picks over these last five yrs which we used for Tkachuk, Stutzle, Sanderson, Boucher, Greig & traded a 1st for DBC & another for Chychrun so we have used our 1sts. They could use DBC in a trade to acquire two more good pieces & we probably have a number of good young players coming in our org who can fill in the bottom positions. What we need the most IMO is a # 1 goalie & they either use DBC to get that or buy one off the UFA market that fits into their salary structure. I think they are in good shape & just need time to mature a little further & take the next step which they should with this lineup next season. We'll see.

 

[JD1]

Kyper said after seeing the Sens money numbers there is a lot of constraints the new owners will have to deal with.
I’m not sure if anyone in Ottawa will ever be happy having to cheer for a budget team but expecting big changes might end in disappointment

Kyler is probably dealing with some level of post concussion syndrome and a side dish of CTE from his playing days.