Management UPDATE: Steve Staios GM and POHO, Dave Poulin Senior VP of Hockey Operations

[DrEasy]

Hopefully whoever takes over can get Belleville over the hump. It’s a tough division but at some point Belleville needs to have their turn for the depth to develop.

Well, they spent a lot of money bringing in AHL veterans, but at some point you need some decent prospects...

 

[bert]

Timing - he either likes what he hears from the scouting staff & Head scout or he doesn't & eventually will make a change. He has been here for one draft & the scouts took Yakemchuk RD, it was pretty much a given they wanted a defenceman & they needed a RD at the time & I doubt they wanted a small D player especially for future playoffs.

Good post. I expect they could sign a UFA vet goalie on a 2-way that they can call up if Ullmark has another on & off season with injuries. I think Yakemchuk is much closer than most on here & I would not be surprised if Jensen is traded at some point given his age & injury history.

They will not be trading Jensen they need to add a D man its likely the number 1 priority this offseason. Rushing Yakemchuk is not the answer. This teams core players area all very young. Once Jensen moves on next season then Yakemchuk comes up. Hopefully they get a top 4 d man in the meantime to mitigage Jensens injuries and to allow yak to develop properly.

 

[Senator Stanley]

Someone on Twitter (a random fan) came up with the theory that maybe this relates to getting our pick back, since Bowness is the last remaining from that previous regime - but I doubt that's the case.

It doesn't make sense to hold him hostage if he has risen as high as he can here, and there are other teams who are willing to either consider him for a GM role, or hire him with the intention of promoting him to that role. I could be wrong, but I suspect that is all this is.

Pretty sure Bowness didn't work for the Sens at the time of the original Dadonov trade. Nice try, random fan Pierre Dorion.

 

[bert]

The expectation is that Rob DiMaio, brought in by Staios before the start of the 2024-25 campaign, will be elevated from his role as director of player personnel to assistant GM.

Ottawa Senators part ways with associate GM Ryan Bowness

Off-season changes begin for Ottawa Senators

ottawacitizen.com

Really disappointing but tbh this was unfortunately something that I was told was going to happen for a while. I think Staios wants a full stable of 'his guys'. Which is unfortunate because Bowness is really really good at his job.

 

[Sentron5000]

Somehow gone from the team before our head scout.

Head scout drafted him. Maybe there was some allegiance?

 

[Sting]

I have a feeling this has nothing to do with Staios letting him go and more Bowness not seeing a path forward to becoming GM in this org. It's very clear Staios will be here for a long time and is doing great in the role.

I don't know how I feel about this from a career standpoint for Bowness, though. It's unlikely he grabs a GM role so he's probably going to be an assistant for many more years.

My suspicion is he saw the writing on the wall with Dorion and wanted to be promoted once Pierre got canned.

 

[Masked]

Which is unfortunate because Bowness is really really good at his job.

How does one evaluate an AGM?

 

[Masked]

I have a feeling this has nothing to do with Staios letting him go and more Bowness not seeing a path forward to becoming GM in this org. It's very clear Staios will be here for a long time and is doing great in the role.

One thing is that Staios only took on the GM role after the NHL punished the Sens for the Dadanov debacle and Dorion had to be fired. He could eventually just become strictly a President and hire someone else as GM.

 

[coladin]

Could Bowness be on his way to Long Island?

 

[Sun God Nika]

Damn that’s a bummer on Bowness I liked having him around seemed like the one competent person in management prior to Andluer purchasing the club.

Wish him the best.

 

[bert]

I have a feeling this has nothing to do with Staios letting him go and more Bowness not seeing a path forward to becoming GM in this org. It's very clear Staios will be here for a long time and is doing great in the role.

I don't know how I feel about this from a career standpoint for Bowness, though. It's unlikely he grabs a GM role so he's probably going to be an assistant for many more years.

My suspicion is he saw the writing on the wall with Dorion and wanted to be promoted once Pierre got canned.

Staios reportedly demoted him and offered him less money so they 'mutually' parted ways is the rumor i am hearing.

Aka Staios wanted to bring in his own people. I think Dimaio was likely always promised assistant GM.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Someone on Twitter (a random fan) came up with the theory that maybe this relates to getting our pick back, since Bowness is the last remaining from that previous regime - but I doubt that's the case.

It doesn't make sense to hold him hostage if he has risen as high as he can here, and there are other teams who are willing to either consider him for a GM role, or hire him with the intention of promoting him to that role. I could be wrong, but I suspect that is all this is.

Bowness wasn’t here when the Dadonov trade was made.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

Bowness wasn’t here when the Dadonov trade was made.

I figured that was likely the case.

 

[BondraTime]

Bowness is good at his job, but he never had a chance here. He'll find a spot in a pro scouting team somewhere around the league

He was an NHL/Dorion hire. DiMaio coming in pretty much set the stage. He wasn't leaving his job in Anaheim without a pretty direct route to Asst. GM, and likely GM, in Ottawa within a short time span

 

[bert]

Bowness is good at his job, but he never had a chance here. He'll find a spot in a pro scouting team somewhere around the league

He was an NHL/Dorion hire. DiMaio coming in pretty much set the stage. He wasn't leaving his job in Anaheim without a pretty direct route to Asst. GM, and likely GM, in Ottawa within a short time span

100 percent accurate. However I dont know why they couldnt have multiple assistant GM's. I think a bigger hockey ops department the better spread out the jobs so more focus can be on specific aspects of the organization. This is really the first move Staios made that i really do not like. Losing smart hockey people for no good reason is not the way to do things in my opinion.

 

[Ouroboros]

This was a surprise. Suppose this increases the chances that Matt Turek is joining the organization.

Would imagine they'll promote DiMaio and backfill his position with Turek.

 

[DrEasy]

100 percent accurate. However I dont know why they couldnt have multiple assistant GM's. I think a bigger hockey ops department the better spread out the jobs so more focus can be on specific aspects of the organization. This is really the first move Staios made that i really do not like. Losing smart hockey people for no good reason is not the way to do things in my opinion.

Exactly.

Statios -> POHO
Bowness -> GM
DiMaio -> AGM

 

[BondraTime]

Exactly.

Statios -> POHO
Bowness -> GM
DiMaio -> AGM

There was never a chance Bowness would be stepping into a GM role.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

According to Garrioch, the contract of Bowness was set to expire July 1st and was not going to be renewed.

He gave Bowness a lot of shine in the article and didn't to the usual soft character assassination that guys get on their way out when it's contentious.

It seems like a scenario where Staios wants his own guy, but honoured the contract and gave Bowness a chance. They did the same thing with Dorion, before Dadonotradeclause-gate forced their hand. Garrioch made it sound like Bowness would have liked to stay in Ottawa.

So if Garrioch's interpretation of the situation that he got from unnamed executives is accurate, he just wasn't their guy and his contract was up.

 

[Tuna99]

How does one evaluate an AGM?

Maybe Alfie becomes an AGM or a Sens legend, seems to be the way forward.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they brought in Spezza to marinate and made him the GM one day.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

This was a surprise. Suppose this increases the chances that Matt Turek is joining the organization.

Would imagine they'll promote DiMaio and backfill his position with Turek.

is this guy highly regarded or just someone that they just know?

 

[Ouroboros]

is this guy highly regarded or just someone that they just know?

Well he did a really good job with the Hamilton/Brantford franchise, so he's definitely respected in OHL circles as a good talent evaluator and team builder.

He's never had a management position with a professional team. He was an amateur scout with the Habs when they took Sergachev, Mete, Pezzetta, Mailloux, and Beck from the OHL though I don't know what level of input he would have had on those picks. Obviously he'd have known the Xhekaj brothers extremely well.

 

[Boud]

Bowness is good at his job, but he never had a chance here. He'll find a spot in a pro scouting team somewhere around the league

He was an NHL/Dorion hire. DiMaio coming in pretty much set the stage. He wasn't leaving his job in Anaheim without a pretty direct route to Asst. GM, and likely GM, in Ottawa within a short time span

So you think they promote Dimaio to GM or ease him in as Assistant GM for now?

Right now we have
P of Hockey Ops - Staios
VP of Hockey Ops - Potvin
GM - N/A (Staios)
Assistant GM - Dimaio
Director of PP - N/A
Director of Prof. Scouting - N/A

Basically missing 3 guys here to look like a real front office.

 

[PlayOn]

This was a surprise. Suppose this increases the chances that Matt Turek is joining the organization.

Would imagine they'll promote DiMaio and backfill his position with Turek.

Friedman brought Turek up as the likely replacement on 32 thoughts.

Also said he’d heard some changes were coming during the season and that Bowness might be one of them so it’ll be interesting to see what the others are.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]