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Pierre Dorion Speaks: Zibanejad/Brassard, Hoffman/Ceci RFA negotiations
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After pulling the trigger on what’s unequivocally the biggest trade that he’s made during his short tenure as the Ottawa Senators’ general manager, Pierre Dorion joined Ian Mendes and Lee Versage on TSN 1200’s ‘The Drive’ yesterday to give his explanation for why the organization dealt Mika Zibanejad and a 2018 second round pick to the New York Rangers for Derick Brassard and a 2018 seventh rounder.
The interview isn’t entirely trade-centric, it also delved into providing updates on the RFA contract negotiations of Mike Hoffman and Cody Ceci, so it’s well worth listening to it in its entirety. To stream the audio for it, you can use the embedded media player at the bottom of this post.
As always, my thoughts are in bold.
On when the seeds were first planted for a Mika Zibanejad trade to the Rangers…
“Well, Jeff (Gorton) and I started this when, I think, the first phone call when he phoned me to congratulate me (on being named as the new general manager of the Ottawa Senators). Jeff and I have known each other for many years from his days as a scout with the Bruins, assistant GM and then when he moved on to the Rangers in a similar position that I had and then he went on to be an assistant GM and GM, so we’ve had a long history together. So he just phoned me to congratulate me. We talked about both of us replacing legends and then we started talking. I said, ‘Glen (Sather) and Bryan (Murray) never made a deal,’ and I said, ‘How about you and I make a deal?’ I threw some things out and he came back and we started at that point in time on my first week on the job.”
From this response, it sounds like Dorion was the one who targeted Brassard and initiated the talks to acquire him – which is interesting, because with the new hockey operations department structure and the addition of two full-time employees who deal with analytics, Dorion specifically targeted Brassard for a reason, which he explains below.
On what he likes about Derick Brassard and what he can bring to the lineup that it previously lacked…
“Well, our team for the last (few) years hasn’t had a left-handed playmaking centreman. I think with Derick, we’re getting a top-end forward who can generate offence on a consistent basis. We’re bringing in someone who’s in the prime of his career at 28 years old. We’re bringing in someone that, I think, has had playoff success in the last… especially in the 2015 playoffs where the Rangers went to the Conference Final. I know I talk a lot about getting into the playoffs, but I want us to have a team once we get into the playoffs that can compete at that point in time. It just felt, I know we gave up a good player in Mika, but as a group, we just felt that this was really a positive step in the right direction to make us better right away.”
Not having a left-handed playmaking centreman posed a problem for the Senators, but I’d be a little apprehensive in labeling Brassard as a top-end forward who can generate offence on a consistent basis. As I laid out in a blog piece earlier this morning, it’s not like his even strength production rates are as impressive as Zibanejad’s, a player who’s almost six-years younger than Brassard.
In fact, if you look at Dorion’s reasoning, albeit, he may have simply neglected to mention the analytical justification behind the deal, he mentions handedness, playoff experience and production and Brassard being in the prime of his career at 28 years old.
Of course, none of these things really tell the story of how Brassard projects moving forward, but Dorion and his staff believe that “this was really a positive step in the right direction.”
The thing is, Brassard turns 29 in September before the season even begins and even with a cursory knowledge of prime-age analysis, it’s pretty well common knowledge at this point that most hockey players enjoy their most productive years between 22 to 27 years of age. What we saw over the past two seasons is probably as good as it’s going to get for Brassard and now that he’s in Ottawa away from Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello, the challenge for him will to fulfil the expectations of maintaining that 50 to 60 point production while demonstrating that he can play a better two-way game than Zibanejad – at least until prospects like Logan Brown or Colin White are ready to assume his role.
On the exchange of draft picks and why the organization felt it had to give up a second rounder…
“Well, for us, the price was significantly higher when Jeff and I started talking. At the draft, if anyone would have stood around, Jeff and I just sat at their table while everyone had gone back home and we talked for about 40 minutes and at that point in time, the asking price was significantly higher and we talked for that 30 or 40 minutes just at their table with everyone in their suite. We just felt that what they were asking (for) didn’t make sense, but we understand at this point in time, we both agreed that Derick was better than Mika and giving up a second rounder is not something we’d like to do and it’s in 2018 and a lot of things can change from now to 2018. It was just a price to pay and at the same time, we get a pick back. People say it’s a seventh rounder, but I have faith in our scouting staff that maybe at the end of the day, that seventh rounder will be better than the second rounder we would have taken.”
Giving up a young centre who still has upside and the significantly better draft pick for the cost certainty of Brassard as a second line centre as the team is trying to compete is a pretty significant gamble that could rear its ugly head as early as next season. Not even Dorion’s half-hearted attempts at glossing over this exchange of picks by explaining how far away 2018 is or by playing up his scouting staff’s ability to find late round gems are enough to quell some very reasonable concerns.
Then again, when you’re running a franchise whose year-to-year mandate is to reach the postseason and host some playoff games so that you can fatten the owner’s bottom line, you probably don’t give two shits about the thin margin of error that you’re operating under or wasting too much time thinking about the bigger picture.
On the timing of the deal and whether the Senators wanted to wait until after his July 15th $2-million signing bonus was paid…
“No, I was just stalling him. We talked about it over the course of the last week and then we said, ‘Why don’t we think about it over the weekend?’ To me, the money didn’t have a thing to do with it. It was more about, you know, I’m happy that we saved $2-million. It allows us to do more moving forward, but to me, it was more about a hockey deal than anything.”
According to the New York Times’ Larry Brooks, this story is just a bunch of spin:
“Which is why it is odd that Ottawa general manager Pierre Dorion has felt the need to spin it to make himself and the Senators look better by saying he stalled on the trade long enough so the Rangers would be on the hook for the $2 million bonus owed and paid to Brassard on July 15.
The Post has learned that is not the way the deal — first hatched in a conversation between Blueshirts GM Jeff Gorton and Dorion on the draft floor in Buffalo on June 25 — went down.
Sources report the Rangers agreed to pay the $2 million only if Ottawa would add a 2018 second-round draft choice into the mix. When the cost-conscious Senators agreed, the deal — though not finalized until Monday morning — was done. The Blueshirts sent a 2018 seventh-rounder the other way to complete the trade.”
In other words, the New York Rangers essentially bought that second round pick for the cool price of $2-million.
I don’t really blame Dorion for spinning this tale when a large sect of the fan base gets their gist of Senators news from the local newspapers or local radio, but for the fans who getting as much information and analysis from a variety of other outlets or alternatives, Dorion’s comments are so transparently disingenuous.
From the get-go, this situation reeked like one in which the Senators moved a higher draft pick in exchange for the Rangers picking up the tab on Brassard’s signing bonus, but here we are.
Why the organization and Dorion continue to believe that they operate in this protected media bubble in the year 2016 is beyond me, but it’d be better for Dorion to say nothing than repeatedly state the opposite of what’s going on, but he can’t. It’s like he has this compulsive desire to cover his owner’s ass whenever he speaks publicly.
On what else those cost savings can be applied to and whether it gives the organization more flexibility to reach an agreement with a Mike Hoffman and/or Cody Ceci…
“Well, it gives us flexibility to do a lot of things. But at the same time, we didn’t control the fact that Allan Walsh got a frontloaded deal for Derick Brassard two years ago. We can’t control the fact that the Rangers paid $13-million in the first two years of a five-year, $25-million deal. The reason we did this deal is to make us a better hockey team and if it allows us to do other things, even better. That was our thinking behind it when we were talking. You know, I said, ‘I’ll just stall bit a few more days,’ and then stall a few more days. The asking price went down and when we felt that we could make a deal, we went ahead and did it.”
Except that the New York Rangers were the team that leveraged this July 15th deadline and suckered the Senators into moving their second round pick.
On drafting Mika Zibanejad and at what point he lost a bit of faith in him and decided that he’s an asset the organization could part with…
“No, I don’t think you’re… I don’t agree with your comments here, just for the simple fact that I never lost faith in Mika. We’ve never lost faith in Mika. Our coaching staff was excited to have the chance to coach him. This was more about what we got in return. We’re not going to be able to get Derick Brassard for a seventh round pick in (each) of the next three years. We have to give up something (to get Brassard). So there was never a loss of faith in Mika. You know, it was a tough phone call today to Mika. You’re part of… you’re maybe the person that is the most responsible for drafting him at that point in time – the person who’s seen him the most. You’ve gone through, if you think (about) how many years now that you’ve been with a player, I think it’s six years that we’ve been with the player. Pardon if I’m off on years from the time that we’ve drafted him to today and from there, you just… you’re kind of like moving on in another direction. It was not about losing faith in Mika, it was about making our team better.”
Saving a few million down the road isn’t going to cut it alone, there’s going to be considerable pressure now on the team and Brassard to be better. The whole premise of the deal from Ottawa’s standpoint is that they’re getting the “better player” right now and he will just conveniently happens to cost less money down the road. If Brassard’s performance don’t measure up however, the organization’s going to face more criticism than what its getting right now.
On it looks like he is trying to surround his younger core with more leadership and if that’s the case, on why is it necessary…
“I think that’s very fair. I think that’s a good point. From day one that I’ve been GM of the Ottawa Senators, I’ve said, ‘I’m happy with our top-six forwards.’ I’ve said that publicly and I’ve said that privately. I’ve said, ‘For us to get better, we have to improve our role players and we have improve our leadership.’ Even though I’m happy with our leadership, we can never have enough leaders. And through what we’ve done since I’ve taken over (on) April 10th with our management group, hiring the coaches we have, targeting certain people that we wanted to bring back – one of them is Chris Kelly, targeting left-handed centremen – Derick was definitely someone that we targeted, not just for his playing ability, but all the other intangibles that he brings. When you find out a lot about Derick Brassard, you talk to Mark Stone and you ask him what type of guy he is, you find out a lot of positive things on how he could fit into your room. It’s a direction that we’ve wanted to go (in) from day one since I’ve taken over this role. Things, pieces, aren’t put in place all together. They’re put in one-by-one and that’s what we’re trying to do here: one-by-one putting in pieces where we feel comfortable where we can compete to make the playoffs and once we get into the playoffs hopefully… not hopefully, but once we get into the playoffs then we can challenge against some of the better teams.”
Even though the addition of Chris Kelly helps create a buffer between the parent roster and a number of younger prospects who may not be ready to contribute now, I’m still a bit apprehensive when it comes to the state of the bottom-six forwards. I’ve written about it before in great detail, so I won’t rehash too many of the details now, but if Zack Smith and Jean-Gabriel Pageau are removed from Mark Stone, it’s going to be interesting to see how much their performance drops. Some natural regression in Smith’s game was bound to happen anyway, but as we saw at the beginning of last season when Pageau was anchored by wingers who struggled to transition the puck up ice and sustain pressure in the offensive zone, his game suffered considerably.
I know in the interview that Dorion referenced Mark Stone as a reference for Brassard, but I’m assuming he meant to say Marc Methot, who spent a number of seasons playing with Brassard in Columbus.
On projecting out and how he envisions the the centre ice position shaking out in Ottawa…
“Well, I think (it’s a) good problem to have. Of all the picks… I’ll go on the record and say and I’ll probably regret this, of all the picks that we’ve made over my course of all the years in Ottawa, probably the most exciting we made, our fans will say it will be Erik Karlsson, but in our last two years, taking Logan Brown this year and taking Thomas Chabot and Colin White, I know we’ve added blue chip prospects to our organization. I know we’ve added top-six forwards one day when they’re physically and mentally mature, a top-four defenceman or even better than that to our organization, so having a lot of centremen is a really good problem to have. Guys that play centre can move and adjust to the wing very easily compared to wingers moving back to centre. So if we have too many good players, that’s only a good problem to have.”
Recency bias probably plays a large role here, but it’s reasonable to claim that Anders Forsberg’s pleas for the Senators to trade up and draft Erik Karlsson probably saved Bryan Murray’s job. For as much as I like the White, Chabot and Brown picks, Karlsson’s selection altered the course of this franchise and I’d hate to think of how dark the days would have been without this generational talent in the lineup.
On which player he expects to gain the most from the addition of Brassard to the roster…
“Oh, I’ll throw five names at you. I will say Bobby Ryan or Mark Stone because they’re both right wingers and whoever plays with Derick will (be fed) the puck more on his forehand from Derick’s forehand. Or if it’s a power play situation, Erik Karlsson. Or, I’ll even throw Mike Hoffman, Clarke MacArthur or Zack Smith’s (names out there). So I think a lot of players can benefit playing with Derick Brassard. I know our fans don’t know him as well as we do, but I can tell you, I was very excited to make this deal today and I think our management group was elated. I think the happiest person of them all is our coach. He actually said a few nice things about me today.”
Now Brassard played predominantly as part of an all left-handed line with Zuccarello and Nash, so it will be slightly different distributing the puck to his current right-handed alternatives, but what’s interesting is that by going through Brassard’s scoring logs last season, he only assisted on three of Rick Nash’s 15 goals last season and of those three goals, only one came was via Brassard’s primary assist. Compare that to Zuccarello, who manned the right wing, and Brassard assisted on 10 of Zuccarello’s goals. Maybe that’s something or maybe it’s nothing, but when Brassard is being relied upon to improve the performance of his right wingers – which, given the struggles Zibanejad had gelling with Ryan — I’m hoping that asking for improvement here isn’t too big of a stretch.
On another note, it might be worthwhile keeping an eye on how the Senators employ Brassard on the power play during training camp and the preseason. As a left-hand shot, the Senators may elect to use him on the right-hand half-wall where he can use his vision and distribute the puck.
On whether there are any updates on the Mike Hoffman situation…
“We’re working hard. I think they’re working hard to get a deal done and we’re working hard to get a deal done. We obviously would like to avoid a one-year arbitration (award). We want what’s best for our hockey team and our fans. The only good point and it could be a bad point: we know we have Mike Hoffman playing for us for at least one more year. But, we’re going to work at (getting him locked up to a contract extension). We all want to sign Mike Hoffman. I can’t say more than that. It’s been, again today, I talked with his agent. We’ve talked. He’s been a pleasure to deal with. We’ve had numerous conversations over the last few weeks from the draft on, so we’re working at it. We still have until August 4th and after that, we’ll probably have 48 hours if we still go to arbitration to get something done.”
One player who went through an arbitration case before coming to terms on a contract extension before the arbitrator made a decision was P.K. Subban, so if you’re worried about the Senators coming to terms on a new deal with Hoffman, there’s still tons of time to get this done.
On how contract talks with Cody Ceci are progressing…
“Real good talks with J.P. Barry on Friday and over the course of the weekend. We exchanged emails today, so we’re working on something. Whether it’s in the short or mid or long-term, we’ve got a few options on the table. (Cody Ceci and Mike Hoffman) will both be playing for the Ottawa Senators on October 12th.”
Gravy.
On making a deal for the now and believing that this team is close to contention…
“One-hundred percent. I wouldn’t have taken this job if I didn’t feel that we could be a contender now. I hear people that say, ‘Oh yeah, you guys are young. You’re going to be good in two or three years,’ and that’s not my thinking at all. Why can’t we be good now? We’ve been young and hungry. We’ve been the pesky Sens. Why can’t we challenge, first of all, make the playoffs and challenge some of the better teams? I really think that we’re going to surprise a lot of people once the season comes around and I think it has to do our personnel, I think it has to do with our attitude, I think it has to do with our accountability and I’ll even put a bit of pressure on our coaches. I think it has to do with our coaches too.”
It’s hard for me to look at the current iteration of the roster, with my concerns regarding their bottom-six and bottom-four defensive issues, and not think that this team will be anything more than a bubble team that may get into the first round of the playoffs, but ultimately needs to get lucky and get a favourable opponent to escape the first round. Projecting forward, to me, it feels like the organization really needs blue chippers like Logan Brown, Colin White and Thomas Chabot to pan out for this current core to really take a massive step forward and help this organization reach a higher level, but how many years will it take for these prospects to establish themselves and become productive players? Will the rest of Ottawa’s young core even be cost-efficient or still be around at that point? I don’t know, but these are kinds of nagging questions that I have in the back of my mind.
On whether he is still looking at adding a depth defenceman…
“Yes. Yes, but in saying that, if (Michael) Kostka, (Fredrik) Claesson, Patrick Sieloff are five, six or seven, I feel comfortable starting the season. There’s no doubt about that. I said in a few interviews over the past few weeks that Chris Wideman’s play at the World Championships really excited me. I think Chris, last year, played a bit tentative and didn’t want to showcase everything that we had seen from him in the previous year in the American (Hockey) League where he was a dominant, transitional, jump in the play, move the puck kind of guy. And I know it’s the American (Hockey) League, but a lot of players that have done it in the American (Hockey) League at a younger age can do it at the NHL level, so of course we’re going to look to add. Whether it’s through a trade again or through free agency, that might be one position we look at. I think we’re done up front once Mike Hoffman is – either his arbitration hearing is done or we’ve signed a contract there – I think we’re done there, but if we can add one defenceman, it would not be something that I would object to.”
If Dorion’s comfortable entering a season with Kostka, Claesson and Sieloff as his fifth, sixth and seventh defencemen, he’s probably alone on an island.
Like Dorion however, I’m a little excited for Chris Wideman’s sophomore season. Last year I found that he was in survival mode. After starting most of the early stretches of the season on the bench, once he got into the lineup, it was like he was afraid to make mistakes or play to his strengths. As a puck-moving defenceman, turnovers and mistakes are going to happen and last year, it just seemed at times like he played conservatively to the point where it worked to his detriment. I don’t know whether Dave Cameron’s presence played a part in how Wideman dumbed down his game, but I’m really hoping to see more from Wideman this season and hopefully, Guy Boucher is the coach who can bring out the best in him.
On how he feels now that the Zibanejad trade is the biggest one under his belt…
“You mean Patrick Sieloff for Alex Chiasson was not my biggest deal? For me, our management group, our coaching staff, I think even some of our players, think we took a significant step forward today. The pick is the pick. We had to give up something to get that player, but at the end of the day, I feel really confidently that this type of trade that we made today and what we’ve done since the end of the season is definitely putting us in the right direction to get back to our goal of making the playoffs.”
And if it doesn’t help put the Senators in a playoff position, there are going to be a lot more questions directed Dorion’s way.
http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/186/44547/dorion.mp3
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TDS Staff via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
After pulling the trigger on what’s unequivocally the biggest trade that he’s made during his short tenure as the Ottawa Senators’ general manager, Pierre Dorion joined Ian Mendes and Lee Versage on TSN 1200’s ‘The Drive’ yesterday to give his explanation for why the organization dealt Mika Zibanejad and a 2018 second round pick to the New York Rangers for Derick Brassard and a 2018 seventh rounder.
The interview isn’t entirely trade-centric, it also delved into providing updates on the RFA contract negotiations of Mike Hoffman and Cody Ceci, so it’s well worth listening to it in its entirety. To stream the audio for it, you can use the embedded media player at the bottom of this post.
As always, my thoughts are in bold.
On when the seeds were first planted for a Mika Zibanejad trade to the Rangers…
“Well, Jeff (Gorton) and I started this when, I think, the first phone call when he phoned me to congratulate me (on being named as the new general manager of the Ottawa Senators). Jeff and I have known each other for many years from his days as a scout with the Bruins, assistant GM and then when he moved on to the Rangers in a similar position that I had and then he went on to be an assistant GM and GM, so we’ve had a long history together. So he just phoned me to congratulate me. We talked about both of us replacing legends and then we started talking. I said, ‘Glen (Sather) and Bryan (Murray) never made a deal,’ and I said, ‘How about you and I make a deal?’ I threw some things out and he came back and we started at that point in time on my first week on the job.”
From this response, it sounds like Dorion was the one who targeted Brassard and initiated the talks to acquire him – which is interesting, because with the new hockey operations department structure and the addition of two full-time employees who deal with analytics, Dorion specifically targeted Brassard for a reason, which he explains below.
On what he likes about Derick Brassard and what he can bring to the lineup that it previously lacked…
“Well, our team for the last (few) years hasn’t had a left-handed playmaking centreman. I think with Derick, we’re getting a top-end forward who can generate offence on a consistent basis. We’re bringing in someone who’s in the prime of his career at 28 years old. We’re bringing in someone that, I think, has had playoff success in the last… especially in the 2015 playoffs where the Rangers went to the Conference Final. I know I talk a lot about getting into the playoffs, but I want us to have a team once we get into the playoffs that can compete at that point in time. It just felt, I know we gave up a good player in Mika, but as a group, we just felt that this was really a positive step in the right direction to make us better right away.”
Not having a left-handed playmaking centreman posed a problem for the Senators, but I’d be a little apprehensive in labeling Brassard as a top-end forward who can generate offence on a consistent basis. As I laid out in a blog piece earlier this morning, it’s not like his even strength production rates are as impressive as Zibanejad’s, a player who’s almost six-years younger than Brassard.
In fact, if you look at Dorion’s reasoning, albeit, he may have simply neglected to mention the analytical justification behind the deal, he mentions handedness, playoff experience and production and Brassard being in the prime of his career at 28 years old.
Of course, none of these things really tell the story of how Brassard projects moving forward, but Dorion and his staff believe that “this was really a positive step in the right direction.”
The thing is, Brassard turns 29 in September before the season even begins and even with a cursory knowledge of prime-age analysis, it’s pretty well common knowledge at this point that most hockey players enjoy their most productive years between 22 to 27 years of age. What we saw over the past two seasons is probably as good as it’s going to get for Brassard and now that he’s in Ottawa away from Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello, the challenge for him will to fulfil the expectations of maintaining that 50 to 60 point production while demonstrating that he can play a better two-way game than Zibanejad – at least until prospects like Logan Brown or Colin White are ready to assume his role.
On the exchange of draft picks and why the organization felt it had to give up a second rounder…
“Well, for us, the price was significantly higher when Jeff and I started talking. At the draft, if anyone would have stood around, Jeff and I just sat at their table while everyone had gone back home and we talked for about 40 minutes and at that point in time, the asking price was significantly higher and we talked for that 30 or 40 minutes just at their table with everyone in their suite. We just felt that what they were asking (for) didn’t make sense, but we understand at this point in time, we both agreed that Derick was better than Mika and giving up a second rounder is not something we’d like to do and it’s in 2018 and a lot of things can change from now to 2018. It was just a price to pay and at the same time, we get a pick back. People say it’s a seventh rounder, but I have faith in our scouting staff that maybe at the end of the day, that seventh rounder will be better than the second rounder we would have taken.”
Giving up a young centre who still has upside and the significantly better draft pick for the cost certainty of Brassard as a second line centre as the team is trying to compete is a pretty significant gamble that could rear its ugly head as early as next season. Not even Dorion’s half-hearted attempts at glossing over this exchange of picks by explaining how far away 2018 is or by playing up his scouting staff’s ability to find late round gems are enough to quell some very reasonable concerns.
Then again, when you’re running a franchise whose year-to-year mandate is to reach the postseason and host some playoff games so that you can fatten the owner’s bottom line, you probably don’t give two shits about the thin margin of error that you’re operating under or wasting too much time thinking about the bigger picture.
On the timing of the deal and whether the Senators wanted to wait until after his July 15th $2-million signing bonus was paid…
“No, I was just stalling him. We talked about it over the course of the last week and then we said, ‘Why don’t we think about it over the weekend?’ To me, the money didn’t have a thing to do with it. It was more about, you know, I’m happy that we saved $2-million. It allows us to do more moving forward, but to me, it was more about a hockey deal than anything.”
According to the New York Times’ Larry Brooks, this story is just a bunch of spin:
“Which is why it is odd that Ottawa general manager Pierre Dorion has felt the need to spin it to make himself and the Senators look better by saying he stalled on the trade long enough so the Rangers would be on the hook for the $2 million bonus owed and paid to Brassard on July 15.
The Post has learned that is not the way the deal — first hatched in a conversation between Blueshirts GM Jeff Gorton and Dorion on the draft floor in Buffalo on June 25 — went down.
Sources report the Rangers agreed to pay the $2 million only if Ottawa would add a 2018 second-round draft choice into the mix. When the cost-conscious Senators agreed, the deal — though not finalized until Monday morning — was done. The Blueshirts sent a 2018 seventh-rounder the other way to complete the trade.”
In other words, the New York Rangers essentially bought that second round pick for the cool price of $2-million.
I don’t really blame Dorion for spinning this tale when a large sect of the fan base gets their gist of Senators news from the local newspapers or local radio, but for the fans who getting as much information and analysis from a variety of other outlets or alternatives, Dorion’s comments are so transparently disingenuous.
From the get-go, this situation reeked like one in which the Senators moved a higher draft pick in exchange for the Rangers picking up the tab on Brassard’s signing bonus, but here we are.
Why the organization and Dorion continue to believe that they operate in this protected media bubble in the year 2016 is beyond me, but it’d be better for Dorion to say nothing than repeatedly state the opposite of what’s going on, but he can’t. It’s like he has this compulsive desire to cover his owner’s ass whenever he speaks publicly.
On what else those cost savings can be applied to and whether it gives the organization more flexibility to reach an agreement with a Mike Hoffman and/or Cody Ceci…
“Well, it gives us flexibility to do a lot of things. But at the same time, we didn’t control the fact that Allan Walsh got a frontloaded deal for Derick Brassard two years ago. We can’t control the fact that the Rangers paid $13-million in the first two years of a five-year, $25-million deal. The reason we did this deal is to make us a better hockey team and if it allows us to do other things, even better. That was our thinking behind it when we were talking. You know, I said, ‘I’ll just stall bit a few more days,’ and then stall a few more days. The asking price went down and when we felt that we could make a deal, we went ahead and did it.”
Except that the New York Rangers were the team that leveraged this July 15th deadline and suckered the Senators into moving their second round pick.
On drafting Mika Zibanejad and at what point he lost a bit of faith in him and decided that he’s an asset the organization could part with…
“No, I don’t think you’re… I don’t agree with your comments here, just for the simple fact that I never lost faith in Mika. We’ve never lost faith in Mika. Our coaching staff was excited to have the chance to coach him. This was more about what we got in return. We’re not going to be able to get Derick Brassard for a seventh round pick in (each) of the next three years. We have to give up something (to get Brassard). So there was never a loss of faith in Mika. You know, it was a tough phone call today to Mika. You’re part of… you’re maybe the person that is the most responsible for drafting him at that point in time – the person who’s seen him the most. You’ve gone through, if you think (about) how many years now that you’ve been with a player, I think it’s six years that we’ve been with the player. Pardon if I’m off on years from the time that we’ve drafted him to today and from there, you just… you’re kind of like moving on in another direction. It was not about losing faith in Mika, it was about making our team better.”
Saving a few million down the road isn’t going to cut it alone, there’s going to be considerable pressure now on the team and Brassard to be better. The whole premise of the deal from Ottawa’s standpoint is that they’re getting the “better player” right now and he will just conveniently happens to cost less money down the road. If Brassard’s performance don’t measure up however, the organization’s going to face more criticism than what its getting right now.
On it looks like he is trying to surround his younger core with more leadership and if that’s the case, on why is it necessary…
“I think that’s very fair. I think that’s a good point. From day one that I’ve been GM of the Ottawa Senators, I’ve said, ‘I’m happy with our top-six forwards.’ I’ve said that publicly and I’ve said that privately. I’ve said, ‘For us to get better, we have to improve our role players and we have improve our leadership.’ Even though I’m happy with our leadership, we can never have enough leaders. And through what we’ve done since I’ve taken over (on) April 10th with our management group, hiring the coaches we have, targeting certain people that we wanted to bring back – one of them is Chris Kelly, targeting left-handed centremen – Derick was definitely someone that we targeted, not just for his playing ability, but all the other intangibles that he brings. When you find out a lot about Derick Brassard, you talk to Mark Stone and you ask him what type of guy he is, you find out a lot of positive things on how he could fit into your room. It’s a direction that we’ve wanted to go (in) from day one since I’ve taken over this role. Things, pieces, aren’t put in place all together. They’re put in one-by-one and that’s what we’re trying to do here: one-by-one putting in pieces where we feel comfortable where we can compete to make the playoffs and once we get into the playoffs hopefully… not hopefully, but once we get into the playoffs then we can challenge against some of the better teams.”
Even though the addition of Chris Kelly helps create a buffer between the parent roster and a number of younger prospects who may not be ready to contribute now, I’m still a bit apprehensive when it comes to the state of the bottom-six forwards. I’ve written about it before in great detail, so I won’t rehash too many of the details now, but if Zack Smith and Jean-Gabriel Pageau are removed from Mark Stone, it’s going to be interesting to see how much their performance drops. Some natural regression in Smith’s game was bound to happen anyway, but as we saw at the beginning of last season when Pageau was anchored by wingers who struggled to transition the puck up ice and sustain pressure in the offensive zone, his game suffered considerably.
I know in the interview that Dorion referenced Mark Stone as a reference for Brassard, but I’m assuming he meant to say Marc Methot, who spent a number of seasons playing with Brassard in Columbus.
On projecting out and how he envisions the the centre ice position shaking out in Ottawa…
“Well, I think (it’s a) good problem to have. Of all the picks… I’ll go on the record and say and I’ll probably regret this, of all the picks that we’ve made over my course of all the years in Ottawa, probably the most exciting we made, our fans will say it will be Erik Karlsson, but in our last two years, taking Logan Brown this year and taking Thomas Chabot and Colin White, I know we’ve added blue chip prospects to our organization. I know we’ve added top-six forwards one day when they’re physically and mentally mature, a top-four defenceman or even better than that to our organization, so having a lot of centremen is a really good problem to have. Guys that play centre can move and adjust to the wing very easily compared to wingers moving back to centre. So if we have too many good players, that’s only a good problem to have.”
Recency bias probably plays a large role here, but it’s reasonable to claim that Anders Forsberg’s pleas for the Senators to trade up and draft Erik Karlsson probably saved Bryan Murray’s job. For as much as I like the White, Chabot and Brown picks, Karlsson’s selection altered the course of this franchise and I’d hate to think of how dark the days would have been without this generational talent in the lineup.
On which player he expects to gain the most from the addition of Brassard to the roster…
“Oh, I’ll throw five names at you. I will say Bobby Ryan or Mark Stone because they’re both right wingers and whoever plays with Derick will (be fed) the puck more on his forehand from Derick’s forehand. Or if it’s a power play situation, Erik Karlsson. Or, I’ll even throw Mike Hoffman, Clarke MacArthur or Zack Smith’s (names out there). So I think a lot of players can benefit playing with Derick Brassard. I know our fans don’t know him as well as we do, but I can tell you, I was very excited to make this deal today and I think our management group was elated. I think the happiest person of them all is our coach. He actually said a few nice things about me today.”
Now Brassard played predominantly as part of an all left-handed line with Zuccarello and Nash, so it will be slightly different distributing the puck to his current right-handed alternatives, but what’s interesting is that by going through Brassard’s scoring logs last season, he only assisted on three of Rick Nash’s 15 goals last season and of those three goals, only one came was via Brassard’s primary assist. Compare that to Zuccarello, who manned the right wing, and Brassard assisted on 10 of Zuccarello’s goals. Maybe that’s something or maybe it’s nothing, but when Brassard is being relied upon to improve the performance of his right wingers – which, given the struggles Zibanejad had gelling with Ryan — I’m hoping that asking for improvement here isn’t too big of a stretch.
On another note, it might be worthwhile keeping an eye on how the Senators employ Brassard on the power play during training camp and the preseason. As a left-hand shot, the Senators may elect to use him on the right-hand half-wall where he can use his vision and distribute the puck.
On whether there are any updates on the Mike Hoffman situation…
“We’re working hard. I think they’re working hard to get a deal done and we’re working hard to get a deal done. We obviously would like to avoid a one-year arbitration (award). We want what’s best for our hockey team and our fans. The only good point and it could be a bad point: we know we have Mike Hoffman playing for us for at least one more year. But, we’re going to work at (getting him locked up to a contract extension). We all want to sign Mike Hoffman. I can’t say more than that. It’s been, again today, I talked with his agent. We’ve talked. He’s been a pleasure to deal with. We’ve had numerous conversations over the last few weeks from the draft on, so we’re working at it. We still have until August 4th and after that, we’ll probably have 48 hours if we still go to arbitration to get something done.”
One player who went through an arbitration case before coming to terms on a contract extension before the arbitrator made a decision was P.K. Subban, so if you’re worried about the Senators coming to terms on a new deal with Hoffman, there’s still tons of time to get this done.
On how contract talks with Cody Ceci are progressing…
“Real good talks with J.P. Barry on Friday and over the course of the weekend. We exchanged emails today, so we’re working on something. Whether it’s in the short or mid or long-term, we’ve got a few options on the table. (Cody Ceci and Mike Hoffman) will both be playing for the Ottawa Senators on October 12th.”
Gravy.
On making a deal for the now and believing that this team is close to contention…
“One-hundred percent. I wouldn’t have taken this job if I didn’t feel that we could be a contender now. I hear people that say, ‘Oh yeah, you guys are young. You’re going to be good in two or three years,’ and that’s not my thinking at all. Why can’t we be good now? We’ve been young and hungry. We’ve been the pesky Sens. Why can’t we challenge, first of all, make the playoffs and challenge some of the better teams? I really think that we’re going to surprise a lot of people once the season comes around and I think it has to do our personnel, I think it has to do with our attitude, I think it has to do with our accountability and I’ll even put a bit of pressure on our coaches. I think it has to do with our coaches too.”
It’s hard for me to look at the current iteration of the roster, with my concerns regarding their bottom-six and bottom-four defensive issues, and not think that this team will be anything more than a bubble team that may get into the first round of the playoffs, but ultimately needs to get lucky and get a favourable opponent to escape the first round. Projecting forward, to me, it feels like the organization really needs blue chippers like Logan Brown, Colin White and Thomas Chabot to pan out for this current core to really take a massive step forward and help this organization reach a higher level, but how many years will it take for these prospects to establish themselves and become productive players? Will the rest of Ottawa’s young core even be cost-efficient or still be around at that point? I don’t know, but these are kinds of nagging questions that I have in the back of my mind.
On whether he is still looking at adding a depth defenceman…
“Yes. Yes, but in saying that, if (Michael) Kostka, (Fredrik) Claesson, Patrick Sieloff are five, six or seven, I feel comfortable starting the season. There’s no doubt about that. I said in a few interviews over the past few weeks that Chris Wideman’s play at the World Championships really excited me. I think Chris, last year, played a bit tentative and didn’t want to showcase everything that we had seen from him in the previous year in the American (Hockey) League where he was a dominant, transitional, jump in the play, move the puck kind of guy. And I know it’s the American (Hockey) League, but a lot of players that have done it in the American (Hockey) League at a younger age can do it at the NHL level, so of course we’re going to look to add. Whether it’s through a trade again or through free agency, that might be one position we look at. I think we’re done up front once Mike Hoffman is – either his arbitration hearing is done or we’ve signed a contract there – I think we’re done there, but if we can add one defenceman, it would not be something that I would object to.”
If Dorion’s comfortable entering a season with Kostka, Claesson and Sieloff as his fifth, sixth and seventh defencemen, he’s probably alone on an island.
Like Dorion however, I’m a little excited for Chris Wideman’s sophomore season. Last year I found that he was in survival mode. After starting most of the early stretches of the season on the bench, once he got into the lineup, it was like he was afraid to make mistakes or play to his strengths. As a puck-moving defenceman, turnovers and mistakes are going to happen and last year, it just seemed at times like he played conservatively to the point where it worked to his detriment. I don’t know whether Dave Cameron’s presence played a part in how Wideman dumbed down his game, but I’m really hoping to see more from Wideman this season and hopefully, Guy Boucher is the coach who can bring out the best in him.
On how he feels now that the Zibanejad trade is the biggest one under his belt…
“You mean Patrick Sieloff for Alex Chiasson was not my biggest deal? For me, our management group, our coaching staff, I think even some of our players, think we took a significant step forward today. The pick is the pick. We had to give up something to get that player, but at the end of the day, I feel really confidently that this type of trade that we made today and what we’ve done since the end of the season is definitely putting us in the right direction to get back to our goal of making the playoffs.”
And if it doesn’t help put the Senators in a playoff position, there are going to be a lot more questions directed Dorion’s way.
http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/186/44547/dorion.mp3
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