i talk with guys who are active Sens supporters. almost every one of those fans have gone from negative to positive in their evaluations of Dorion.

look at the presence of Norris at practice this morning. The SJ pick is likely going to be a #5 overall. Demelo is an added 3rd rounder and we still have Balcers and Tierney. some of you guys are just way too impatient
- spatso

point....most of those fans have gone from negative to positive when evaluating some of Dorion's trades, but only in hindsight, and only because a massive amount of unpredictable luck has made those trades look great in hindsight.

I think there are very few people who think that Dorion is a quality GM.

I don't think he's one of the worst GMs in the league (as someone else suggested).....but I guarantee you that if they were ranked from 1-31 (or are there 32 teams, can never remember), he's almost guaranteed to be in the bottom 10

exactly....I wouldn't say the karlsson and dzingel trades were bad at the time they were made.....I think both seemed ok.....but in hindsight, they're both big wins for Ottawa.

there's zero chance though that Dorion could have known that Duclair was going to turn into a 20 goal guy, or that SJ pick would be lottery, or that karlsson would start sucking ............so you can't give him credit for making great trades, he just got lucky
- sensarmy_11

so if he does not win a trade you want to crucify him. if he does a great deal you want to say it was merely lucky.

i think Dorion is doing a great job on this rebuild

so if he does not win a trade you want to crucify him. if he does a great deal you want to say it was merely lucky.

i think Dorion is doing a great job on this rebuild
- spatso

what deal did he make that, at the time the deal was made, was great.

he's made 2 deals that are great in hindsight....but NOBODY expected Duclair to be good, and even less than NOBODY expected the SJ pick to be top 10, and Norris to be a top prospect, and karlsson to all of a sudden start sucking.

at the time those deals were made, most people considered them, AT BEST, a draw....and many thought Ottawa lost the Karlsson deal.

I can't think of another trade he's made, than even in hindsight, is a clear win for Ottawa.....not counting minor, meaningless deals.

exactly....I wouldn't say the karlsson and dzingel trades were bad at the time they were made.....I think both seemed ok.....but in hindsight, they're both big wins for Ottawa.

there's zero chance though that Dorion could have known that Duclair was going to turn into a 20 goal guy, or that SJ pick would be lottery, or that karlsson would start sucking ............so you can't give him credit for making great trades, he just got lucky
- sensarmy_11

The Karlsson trade was bad and mismanaged..remember when they tried to tag Ryan to his deal? Just a joke.
The Sharks pick alters the deal depending on where it lands and who they select...but it was still an underwhelming return..sort of like the rest of his deals.

We will have more to criticize with a larger sample, come this Monday. There are injuries starting to pop on a lot of teams (Bjorkstand now out) and PD can use that to his advantage.

Goloubef move makes him look like a fool though..he’s probably going to disrupt Belleville by calling up a dman from there now.

what deal did he make that, at the time the deal was made, was great.

he's made 2 deals that are great in hindsight....but NOBODY expected Duclair to be good, and even less than NOBODY expected the SJ pick to be top 10, and Norris to be a top prospect, and karlsson to all of a sudden start sucking.

at the time those deals were made, most people considered them, AT BEST, a draw....and many thought Ottawa lost the Karlsson deal.

I can't think of another trade he's made, than even in hindsight, is a clear win for Ottawa.....not counting minor, meaningless deals.
- sensarmy_11

Pyatt vs Nilsson. Smith vs Anisimov. I have no problem with Dorion, for sure he make mistakes but he was thrown in with no help. Since last deadline I think he have learn a lot

The Karlsson trade was bad and mismanaged..remember when they tried to tag Ryan to his deal? Just a joke.
The Sharks pick alters the deal depending on where it lands and who they select...but it was still an underwhelming return..sort of like the rest of his deals.

We will have more to criticize with a larger sample, come this Monday. There are injuries starting to pop on a lot of teams (Bjorkstand now out) and PD can use that to his advantage.

Goloubef move makes him look like a fool though..he’s probably going to disrupt Belleville by calling up a dman from there now.
- Trilla

You are being way too specific in trying to micro manage what is essentially a long term work in progress. This is a rebuild and what is going in now is the foundation. Dorion is doing it the right way. He is putting in place a broadly based talent pool that has carried the Baby Sens to first place. They are the youngest roster in the AHL.

Think about it. You have all the young guys in Belleville. You will be adding Pinto, Bernard-Docker and Lassi Thomson. As of right now the Sens likely have a top 5 and top 10 draft pic as well as 3 seconds this June.

You can confuse yourself by being overly preoccupied by evaluating each deal as an essential win/lose proposition. Most of the critiques were hollering at last year's draft because Dorion selected Pinto. But, today, most everyone concedes it was a superb pick.

Everybody needs to relax and get a grip. Doing this right requires patience.

So Dorion got lucky with the Karlsson deal??
Please....
He had already peaked, had a repaired Achilles and a borderline distracted relationship with team management. Sure he was, WAS, a phenomenal player but if he were a Sen today on a long term financially handicapping deal on a budget franchise people wouldn't be upset with Dorion, they'd be outside the CTC with a pitchfork and a torch!
This is a deal that will continue to pay huge dividends for years to come. The real problem here is that so many of the armchair GMs are still trying to pay off that credit card bill with the Karlsson and Hoffman jerseys and those impulse bobbleheads.

So Dorion got lucky with the Karlsson deal??
Please....
He had already peaked, had a repaired Achilles and a borderline distracted relationship with team management. Sure he was, WAS, a phenomenal player but if he were a Sen today on a long term financially handicapping deal on a budget franchise people wouldn't be upset with Dorion, they'd be outside the CTC with a pitchfork and a torch!
This is a deal that will continue to pay huge dividends for years to come. The real problem here is that so many of the armchair GMs are still trying to pay off that credit card bill with the Karlsson and Hoffman jerseys and those impulse bobbleheads.
- ktownfan

A+

You are being way too specific in trying to micro manage what is essentially a long term work in progress. This is a rebuild and what is going in now is the foundation. Dorion is doing it the right way. He is putting in place a broadly based talent pool that has carried the Baby Sens to first place. They are the youngest roster in the AHL.

Think about it. You have all the young guys in Belleville. You will be adding Pinto, Bernard-Docker and Lassi Thomson. As of right now the Sens likely have a top 5 and top 10 draft pic as well as 3 seconds this June.

You can confuse yourself by being overly preoccupied by evaluating each deal as an essential win/lose proposition. Most of the critiques were hollering at last year's draft because Dorion selected Pinto. But, today, most everyone concedes it was a superb pick.

Everybody needs to relax and get a grip. Doing this right requires patience.
- spatso

I think we all understand this is a rebuild and it takes time...but it doesn’t give Dorion a pass with the moves he’s made or will make. He should be criticized when he does or says stupid things and applauded when he does something well.

Who cares if we’re icing the youngest ahl team..they’re not an indication of what our Senators will look like in a few years..after all, we won the Calder a while back with greening, Smith, Lehner, Condra, COWEN.
Remember the hype?

And pinto wasn’t even supposed to go in the 2nd round...a reach! Guys who were supposed to go in the first got passed by Dorion (Lavoie, Brink).

Again, we’ll see how he does this coming deadline...so far, it hasn’t been a good start in his asset management
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So Dorion got lucky with the Karlsson deal??
Please....
He had already peaked, had a repaired Achilles and a borderline distracted relationship with team management. Sure he was, WAS, a phenomenal player but if he were a Sen today on a long term financially handicapping deal on a budget franchise people wouldn't be upset with Dorion, they'd be outside the CTC with a pitchfork and a torch!
This is a deal that will continue to pay huge dividends for years to come. The real problem here is that so many of the armchair GMs are still trying to pay off that credit card bill with the Karlsson and Hoffman jerseys and those impulse bobbleheads.
- ktownfan

“So Dorion got lucky with the Karlsson deal??
Please....”

LOL if you actually felt the deal was good at the time..if this sharks pick was 25th overall I wonder if you’d have the same tone..

“He had already peaked, had a repaired Achilles and a borderline distracted relationship with team management.”

Peaked? This isn’t a regular Dman we’re talking about...Do you follow players or other teams? Even after going down, He’s 2nd on the sharks in points, and was avg over 24m a game (gna take a wild guess and say that’s top 15)
And it was the Sens that mismanaged the hoff and Ek situation..and they used Karlssons comments of wanting to get paid what he thought he deserved as ammunition to low ball and then trade him.

“Sure he was, WAS, a phenomenal player but if he were a Sen today on a long term financially handicapping deal on a budget franchise people wouldn't be upset with Dorion, they'd be outside the CTC with a pitchfork and a torch!”

I don’t think anyone would’ve been upset..everyone wanted him to stay, and if they were going to trade, we hoped it would be for something better then what we received (again, we’ll see what happens the the sharks pick)

“This is a deal that will continue to pay huge dividends for years to come. The real problem here is that so many of the armchair GMs are still trying to pay off that credit card bill with the Karlsson and Hoffman jerseys and those impulse bobbleheads.”

I guess time will tell..and seeing as we’ll have plenty of it, we could criticize in the meantime.

You are being way too specific in trying to micro manage what is essentially a long term work in progress. This is a rebuild and what is going in now is the foundation. Dorion is doing it the right way. He is putting in place a broadly based talent pool that has carried the Baby Sens to first place. They are the youngest roster in the AHL.

Think about it. You have all the young guys in Belleville. You will be adding Pinto, Bernard-Docker and Lassi Thomson. As of right now the Sens likely have a top 5 and top 10 draft pic as well as 3 seconds this June.

You can confuse yourself by being overly preoccupied by evaluating each deal as an essential win/lose proposition. Most of the critiques were hollering at last year's draft because Dorion selected Pinto. But, today, most everyone concedes it was a superb pick.

Everybody needs to relax and get a grip. Doing this right requires patience.
- spatso

100% agree with this 💪

So Dorion got lucky with the Karlsson deal??
Please....
He had already peaked, had a repaired Achilles and a borderline distracted relationship with team management. Sure he was, WAS, a phenomenal player but if he were a Sen today on a long term financially handicapping deal on a budget franchise people wouldn't be upset with Dorion, they'd be outside the CTC with a pitchfork and a torch!
This is a deal that will continue to pay huge dividends for years to come. The real problem here is that so many of the armchair GMs are still trying to pay off that credit card bill with the Karlsson and Hoffman jerseys and those impulse bobbleheads.
- ktownfan

Nobody is suggesting that he should have kept karlsson.....what’s being said is that he traded a generational dman (who won a Norris on that repaired Achilles) for lots of quantity, but what was at the time, little real quality. Had Norris not jumped onto the pro scene like wildfire (which nobody predicted) or SJ hadn’t been having the most disappointing season in years from a team that was supposed to contend.....this deal would look WAAAAAYYYYYYYY different.

A lot of things had to go really really right for this deal to be a win for Ottawa, and Dorion ABSOLUTELY got lucky that things went even better than he could have imagined in his wildest dreams.

Bobby Ryan is a class guy. Never afraid to be honest in any interview. Hope he can recover both personally and to a quality player. Rough stuff, but explains a lot.

The fact that Dorion got "lucky" on the Karlsson deal doesn't make him a Hack any more than it make him a prophet. A little luck goes a long way. What will determine whether PD ever gets another job once the sun sets on his time in Ottawa will be the success of this rebuild. This takes time and patience and minor dealings like Demelo and Galoubef will have precious little Impact on that process outside of freeing up roster space to reward prospects from Belleville with a taste of what they are working for.
This is another side of the minor trades that have impact from an asset management standpoint .
All I'm saying is before we get the rope and start looking for the nearest tree, wait for the lottery balls to drop so that luck can determine Dorion's
Fate not the years of player development, scouting, coaching and trading.

Bobby Ryan is a class guy. Never afraid to be honest in any interview. Hope he can recover both personally and to a quality player. Rough stuff, but explains a lot.
- AdamFrench

It was really inspiring to listen to him talk. I don’t even care if he becomes a good player again, just having that kind of character and courage around is always a good thing.

It was really inspiring to listen to him talk. I don’t even care if he becomes a good player again, just having that kind of character and courage around is always a good thing.
- sensarmy_11

Yeah, the honesty was really refreshing. Hoping for the absolute best for him both personally and professionally.

Indeed nice write up. The Sens are very important to the Ottawa area.
I heard on the radio today that Spartacat makes over 500 live appearances through out the year at different locales.

Wanted to add, with all due respect...and please correct me if i am wrong. The Do It For Daron and lets talk Bell day funding support has become huge and is very important to so many people. Began in Ottawa and has spread across north america.

"Money Ball". Getting rid of vets to force Smith to use the kids next year. He'll keep some vets & trade the ones with value & let the others walk.

"Money Ball". Getting rid of vets to force Smith to use the kids next year. He'll keep some vets & trade the ones with value & let the others walk.
- granpa

Important not to trivialize the money considerations of a rebuild strategy. CAP space is a unique asset management option that can and will be weaponized at the draft and, especially when, teams begin negotiations to sign UFA and RFA assets.

Very good veteran players will be available at reasonable cost and on short term deals for those teams that choose to be patient. Premature escalation of competitive success will result in rebuilds flaming out at a modest success level. The Leafs are a prime example of a team that got ahead of their rebuild strategy. The signing of a high priced UFA like John Tavares foreshortened their window for success. More important, you will note their fan base went from being joyful about a rebuild to being bitter about their failure to triumph. And, the CAP consequences of the signing have left them living in a competitive straight jacket with few options for improvement. The autopsy on the player development strategy of the Leafs will intensify, if they fail to make the playoffs.

The Sens and their fans can learn from the Leaf experience. Patience is a critical component of a successful rebuild. I give high marks to a lot of the Sens fans for buying into the Dorion approach.

Back to the blog, while I recognize the Foundation does lots of good in the community, I can't help but feel they could do even more if it wasn't for their near 50% overhead cost. Man, is that ever high...

Important not to trivialize the money considerations of a rebuild strategy. CAP space is a unique asset management option that can and will be weaponized at the draft and, especially when, teams begin negotiations to sign UFA and RFA assets.

Very good veteran players will be available at reasonable cost and on short term deals for those teams that choose to be patient. Premature escalation of competitive success will result in rebuilds flaming out at a modest success level. The Leafs are a prime example of a team that got ahead of their rebuild strategy. The signing of a high priced UFA like John Tavares foreshortened their window for success. More important, you will note their fan base went from being joyful about a rebuild to being bitter about their failure to triumph. And, the CAP consequences of the signing have left them living in a competitive straight jacket with few options for improvement. The autopsy on the player development strategy of the Leafs will intensify, if they fail to make the playoffs.

The Sens and their fans can learn from the Leaf experience. Patience is a critical component of a successful rebuild. I give high marks to a lot of the Sens fans for buying into the Dorion approach.
- spatso

you wrong about the tavares signing, the Leafs problem is signing marner to almost 11M, centers are far more important and valuable than wingers, they should have traded marner for that premium all star young Dman, they have/had Brown, Kapanan and Johnson and Bracco to replace marner, Crosby never had a marner nor Nylander and yet 3 cups and good chance for a 4th this year IMO.

Leafs problem is Goaltender and Defense. Andersen has look bad many times, he is no where as good as they need him to be to win the cup.

I hope all Sens fans here are able to contribute on Thursday. The last number of years, donating is as easy as sending a text to the number they provide during the telethon.

And remember, even just a small $5 donation can go a long way when a good number of people come together. Let's do it, guys!

Xoxo

i talk with guys who are active Sens supporters. almost every one of those fans have gone from negative to positive in their evaluations of Dorion.

look at the presence of Norris at practice this morning. The SJ pick is likely going to be a #5 overall. Demelo is an added 3rd rounder and we still have Balcers and Tierney. some of you guys are just way too impatient
- spatso

I 100% believe we won the Karlsson trade. Norris is looking like he's gonna be a beauty, and is now the Sens prospect I am most excited about. Plus we still have what will be a top 10, possibly even top 5 draft pick to cash in on.

I miss DeMelo so bad already. And I won't defend Dorion in that particular instance. Maybe I'll change my mind in the future if the third round pick is used to draft a hidden gem. But that's likely 3+ years away from now.

As with all GM's, not all moves pan out. I WANT to trust Dorion. But I just don't have the faith in him that I wish i had. I DO have faith in his drafting ability, and he has helped himself by way of stockpiling picks. If he knows drafting is his strong suit, then let's hope he mostly makes trades where he's moving out players for more picks.

Vlad and Ennis scratched for game vs MTL, asset protection, Pageau still playing....Dorion is a moron end of story.

e) he gets a third round pick only to see a repeat of the Hoffman Maneuver on Monday when Namestnikov is flipped for a larger return.
- Octavarium

I really don't think Vlady is worth much more than a third round pick. I believe we paid a fourth for him. I wouldn't expect much more than than if we flip him.