After his better half, Randy Lee, appeared on TSN 1200‘s ‘The Drive’ yesterday, the Senators’ other assistant general manager Pierre Dorion appeared on ‘TGOR’ this morning to discuss and promote the Senators’ rookie camp and tournament that kicks off this weekend. (Hockey!!! HOCKEY!!!!! HOCKEY!111!!1!1! Real frickin’ hockey!)
While much of the Randy Lee interview focused on Ottawa’s new minor league affiliation agreements, Dorion’s interview was all over the place (in a good way) and hit on a number of really intriguing key discussion points. The meaty interview definitely warrants a listen, so you can check it out in its entirety by clicking here or you can listen to it via the embedded audio at the bottom of this post.
As always, my thoughts are in bold.
On what he’s looking for from players participating in rookie camp for invitations to the Senators’ main camp…
“Well, I think we’re just looking for players to play their own type of game to the highest level that they can or to the best of their level. The rookie tournament is always pretty intense. There are quite a few fights. It’s high competition. (It’s) high battle level, so we’re always looking to see who can perform the best through these types of scenarios because the four teams that are there, they’ve pretty much told all their rookies that most likely, only the best or the select few will come to (main) camp.”
On how many Senators prospects participating in the rookie tournament will have a ticket to main camp…
“Probably both goalies are going to have to come because of numbers. After that, probably only two or three. I think it’s safe to say that Curtis Lazar would be at main camp. A guy like Matt Puempel and Shane Prince are two other guys that I would say, barring any surprises, would be at main camp as well.”
Not surprisingly, Puempel and Prince are the same two prospects that Randy Lee spoke highly of in his interview yesterday as well. They’re also two players, who unlike many of the other prospects who are fighting for NHL jobs, have yet to have their first cup of coffee with the Senators. For a prospect pool that certainly hasn’t generated much in the way of adulation from third party analysts or publications, perhaps its a bit of self-promotion on Dorion’s part to pump the tires of a couple of largely forgotten prospects (outside of Ottawa) whose respective games had some warts.
To the Senators’ credit, the organization does have some depth within the prospect pool and maybe these two players don’t have as projectable or as high of a ceiling as a Curtis Lazar, but there’s still hope that they can be decent pros who can make an impact at the NHL level. If they’re as on the cusp as we’re being led to believe, then that’s great. The problem, and it’s not a bad one to have necessarily, is that a number of other on the cusp prospects like Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Derek Grant haven’t solidified their spots either – creating a problem in which NHL-ready prospects are on the outside looking in because the organization has stockpiled too many easily replaceable level bottom six forwards who are signed to relatively expensive deals. In turn, it creates questions about whether this budget conscious team is operating as efficiently as it could – especially since many of its worst contracts were given out in the presence of red flags and other qualitative evidence that suggested it wasn’t a good idea at the time.
On whether there’s anything left for Curtis Lazar to accomplish at the junior level and is there any scenario in which he does not crack the Senators’ roster to start the season only because he’s seemingly done everything at the junior level…
“No, but there’s doing things at the junior level, but also doing things at the NHL level. In Curtis’ case, as you well said, winning the Memorial Cup, being one of the best players on Canada’s world junior team, being a key player in almost every game that he plays, he’s shown us as an 18-year old coming into as a 19-year old that he’s got a lot of maturity. He’s got a lot of game, but he’s not the perfect player. We hope he comes in and plays the way he can because if he does that, he’s got a good chance to make our team. But, we have fairly high internal competition here and nothing’s going to be given to him. He’s going to have to earn everything.”
It’s been written about here before, but with the addition of David Legwand to insulate against injury or any potential stalled development from Mika Zibanejad, there simply isn’t any room for Lazar to step in as a center on this roster. Not when you also consider the previously mentioned Pageau and/or Grant as other possibilities. Dorion himself has even indicated previously that they envision Lazar starting his career in the NHL as a right winger to ease his development and simply the game for him, so with that in mind, Ottawa’s right side is equally as congested. Barring a trade, there’s barely enough room for the likes of Bobby Ryan, Alex Chiasson, Mark Stone, Erik Condra and Chris Neil as is, so even if Lazar goes off and becomes the second coming of Brandon Bochenski during the preseason, I just can’t envision him sticking on the roster – especially since a number of the other forwards who are vying for spots and may get caught up in the numbers game have to clear waivers in order to be sent down to Binghamton.
On where Matt Puempel is at in his development…
“Well, we’re very happy with Matt’s development. In Mika (Zibanejad)’s case, he was the sixth pick overall if I’m not mistaken and Matt was the 24th pick overall. So a few of those guys, sometimes as first rounders, will take a bit more time. Matt’s development has really progressed. If you look at rookies that have scored 30 goals in the American (Hockey) League, fought, competed, played gritty, played hard – that’s an aspect of his game that he’s really developed. I think we’re really happy with his progression. Is he going to make the team? Well, that will be up to him to decide if he makes the team. Is there an open spot? For sure there are open spots to be made, but if he doesn’t make our team this year, it’s not like it’s a big mark in his development. I think for us, it’s never a 100 metre race. It’s a marathon to make sure you can play in the NHL when you’re ready to succeed and help us win. If that’s not the case this year, Matt will go back to Binghamton and I’m sure he’ll help them win. But in his case, we think we have a blue chip prospect in Matt Puempel. We think we have someone that is, down the road, a top two-line player – someone who’s going to score goals, so, we’re very happy with his development so far.”
I like Dorion’s comments here about Puempel’s development time and how being a first round pick doesn’t necessarily mean that a prospect develops more rapidly than others – if anything, it just ensures that they’re given a longer opportunity or more opportunities to live up to their projection. He’s also realistic in describing Puempel’s chances of cracking the Senators to start the season – he’s only really fighting for an opportunity to be the first recall in the event of an injury.
On how hard the Senators had to push to get Nick Paul included in the Jason Spezza deal…
“I think we had to push quite hard to get him in the deal and I give a lot of credit to Bryan (Murray). Bryan pretty much said, ‘There’s no deal if a guy like Nick Paul isn’t in the deal.’ But, we also liked Alex Guptill. Our scouts and myself had the chance to see Nick play for North Bay in their championship run last year and how he progressed in the second half, he just looked like he was going to be an NHL player. But also in saying that, when we got the chance to see Alex Guptill play at (the University of) Michigan, who had a really good season last year, we just saw two prospects that to me, I wouldn’t call them top-end/blue chip prospects, but they’re two prospects that we feel that are going to contribute and play for a long time in the NHL.”
In Corey Pronman’s 2014 Ottawa Senators prospect rankings for ESPN Insider, only Nick Paul cracked his top ten list that can be seen here. Guptill, who was on Dallas’ top ten list the year prior, was conspicuously absent from Ottawa’s list. For a system that Pronman ranked as the league’s 23rd best, it’s somewhat disheartening to get the early impression that the package the Senators received from the Dallas Stars was a quantity over quality kind of deal. But hey, there’s still plenty of time and opportunity that one or more of these assets (maybe this year’s acquired second round pick?) could exceed projections. Hell, these assets could even be used in turn to help Ottawa move up in the draft or acquire a second first round pick.
On Michael Wikstrand’s status…
“He’s signed under contract. He’s going to play Frolunda. He’s probably going to be one of the better defencemen in the Swedish Elite League. We just feel that we’re going to bring him over next year when he’s closer to being an NHL player. Already right now, he’s very close to being an NHL player from what he showed in development camp and how he played last year playing on the Swedish national team. So he’s a guy that another year in Sweden is going to be good for him. He’s, as I said previously, going to be one of the best defencemen in the Swedish Elite League. He’s going to play on the national team and from there, when he comes to camp next year, he’s going to be as close to (being NHL ready as any prospect that we have).”
Looking at Ottawa’s blue line next season, they already have seven defencemen with NHL experience under contract for next season. If the Senators re-sign Marc Methot, that number jumps to eight. Fredrik Claesson may be another defenceman who vies for a spot or serves as an injury replacement next season, but like Ottawa’s forward corps, the Senators have a ton of depth but need more high quality players.
On the status of the Bobby Ryan’s contract negotiations…
“I know a lot of stuff has been written and I’ve said some stuff about both Bobby (Ryan) and Marc (Methot). Both… the discussions are going on with both agents. These things take time. Just for example, Bryan (Murray) met with Larry Kelly yesterday and I also spoke on the phone with Donny Meehan. Both (players) are under contract until June 30th. Both (players) are going to play the whole year with us and are going to play until the season is done this year, hopefully in June. They take time these things. I wish I could have come on the phone saying we had signed both. I think it’s a positive that the talks are going. Both these guys have said they want to sign in Ottawa and not that I ever want to compare us to the (Toronto Maple) Leafs, but the Leafs last year had two players in (Dion) Phaneuf and (Phil) Kessel and I think one signed in October and the other one signed in December. So if we’re having these kind of discussions with their agents two months from now on November 9th, I’ll still feel like we’ll be progressing and there won’t be any panic. As far as Bobby (Ryan), Bobby spends a lot of his time in Idaho. So when both Bryan and I talked to Don Meehan and Mark Guy, they just said that they’d like to meet with him because this is a big contract for Bobby. They just said that they’d like to meet with him when he comes to Ottawa and I think they’re in the process of meeting with Bobby and after that, whether it’s in the regular season or whether it’s around Christmas time or whether it’s June 29th, we still feel that these talks are really in a positive light. We feel that we can sign both players and at that point in time, we’ll get a chance to talk with them.”
Citing the Leafs example was actually a very reasonable argument to help quell doubts or concerns that the Senators are prepared to enter the season without Ryan or Methot inked to fancy new extensions, but I’m having a hard time shaking the suspicion that these players want to play for a winner. That’s not to say that either player doesn’t want to remain in Ottawa, to this point, both guys have consistently conveyed the message that they would like to stay – they just want to be paid fairly and ensure that the roster can be competitive and that management/ownership has the wherewithal to augment and support them to do it.
On the Senators’ commitment to keep both players through the trade deadline if they’re not signed to that point…
“Well, (exasperated sigh), I can’t speak to what’s going to happen at the trade deadline. If 15 of our guys break their legs and we’re in last place, well maybe… we’re still going to try and sign them, but maybe they feel they’ve got greener pastures somewhere else. But, we are committed to signing both of them. We’ve done that with Craig Anderson. We’ve done that with Clarke MacArthur. We bought UFA years on Eric Gryba. We’ve done the same with Mark Borowiecki – we bought a UFA year. We are committed to keeping our good players here as long as we can.”
I understand why Dorion would point to MacArthur and Anderson as being players that the organization can point to and say, “See, we proved that we can keep players in the fold,” but including players who have low ceilings and next to no leverage in Borowiecki and Gryba doesn’t really resonate that strongly and doesn’t make me forget the fact that this team’s past two captains and two long-term key veteran players wanted out.
On whether the reports about trying to bring in a top nine forward are accurate…
There’s a lot of substance to the Dorion’s answer, so I’m just going to break it up as I go through it.
“If we can improve our team, we will always try to improve our team if there’s a trade to be made that we feel can improve our team. But in saying that, for sure, Bryan (Murray) is always talking to GMs. It’s surprising, even with everything that’s happened, a few GMs have reached out to me and I always say, ‘Don’t worry. Bryan’s still guiding the ship. He’s running it as well as ever. You can reach him on his cellphone or you can reach him tomorrow.’”
Over the past weeks and interviews that Dorion’s done, he’s always been quick to point out how everything is still running through Bryan Murray – almost to the point where it feels or seems like he’s going out his way to do it. There haven’t been any updates from the organization on Murray’s health, but hopefully Murray’s continued involvement is a positive thing. I wish him and his family nothing but the best.
“People don’t realize how many times GMs talk with other GMs during the course of the year, so maybe sometimes things can be misconstrued. But looking at our team, looking at the additions that we’ve made, we’re very comfortable going into the season with this team.”
Any GM doing his due diligence is going to have dialogue throughout the course of the season discussing the availability of players on other teams or his own. Dorion’s right to reiterate that what essentially amounts to information gathering is simply a job requirement and common practice. It doesn’t mean that any deal is imminent. Mind you, Dorion’s not going to undermine the work of the general manager and publicly express any dissatisfaction with the state of his roster – especially at a time when every team’s record is 0-0-0 and optimism is abound.
“People don’t know Alex Chiasson. They haven’t seen him play a lot. They don’t know about his net presence, his cycle presence. (He’s) the type of big body that we’ve been looking for. People don’t know about David Legwand playing against the other team’s number one line centers for the last ten years out west – going head-to-head against (Anze) Kopitar, going head-to-head against (Jonathan) Toews. Are we expecting David Legwand to come in here and lead the NHL in scoring? No, but (he was brought in) to bring leadership and already in the week that he’s been here, he’s done two things that I can’t really talk about, but I’m saying, ‘This guy gets it,’ or as our coaches say, ‘This guy is going to be a glue guy this year.’”
Can’t blame Dorion for promoting the new guys and as new players, I’m intrigued to see where they fit in on the roster, how they’ll be used and who they’ll be playing with. Now with that being said, it’s not like these players don’t have warts either. For a guy whose size, cycle game and net front presence have been lauded, Chiasson’s underlying numbers last season leave something to be desired. Now maybe part of the reason for that can be explained because it was his rookie campaign or because he was suffering the ill effects from the malady that affected him throughout the season.
In regards to Legwand, he’ll be looking to bounce back after some ineffectual play with the Detroit Red Wings after they acquired him at last season’s trade deadline. Are last season’s point totals a by-product of the center getting big minutes on a bad Nashville team? Can he be as productive away from Craig Smith while playing lesser minutes with lesser quality offensive players? Or will the veteran center bump Mika Zibanejad to a less prominent role and play with more offensively inclined players instead? This Zibanejad/Legwand battle for the second line center spot is going to be one of the most intriguing competitions in training camp and it’s going to be fascinating to watch unfold.
“So last year we faced a bit of adversity. I think we have a lot of character guys and when you face adversity and you have character, you’re going to bounce back. I’m really excited about our team. I’m excited about the growth of Mika Zibanejad. I’m excited about the growth of Zack Smith. I’m excited about keeping a guy like Clarke MacArthur who was one of our best forwards last year. I’m excited about Mark Stone stepping in and taking on a bigger role this year. I’m excited about Milan (Michalek) wanting to stay here and take less money. If we don’t make a (trade), do I feel we’re a playoff team? Maybe it’s bad for me to say (it), undeniably, I feel we’re a playoff team.”
Hearing that Dorion’s excited for Mark Stone to play a bigger role is music to my ears. Unfortunately, people are “undeniably” going to bookmark this post for this Dorion quote in case the Senators struggle and fail to make the playoffs.
On the team lacking an identity last season and Ottawa’s identity this season being one in which they have to work hard to eke out victories…
“Without a doubt. I think that’s a great question. I think that’s maybe what we got away from last year. We had a long meeting with the coaches and management – Bryan (Murray), Randy (Lee) and myself – and all the coaches on Monday where we talked about our identity. I think our coaches, we have a great coaching staff here, they know that we went away from our identity last year. I felt in maybe in the last ten to twelve games, we got back to it. And I know people, my buddy sent me back some stuff sometimes when people talk about interviews that I’ve done where I’ve said, ‘In the last ten games, we were the best team in the league.’ To me, it’s better being the best team in the last ten games even though some games didn’t mean a thing. But I was pretty happy when we beat the Leafs 1-0 last year and I felt that we got some of that identity back at the end of last year. And I think going into camp this year, it’s something we’re going to have.”
Looking at the Senators’ record in their last 12 games, the reason for their success is pretty straightforward. Using the war-on-ice.com‘s database, it’s clear that Ottawa markedly improved its rates at five-on-five when the score was close. Not only did their goaltenders’ save percentages change improve substantially, the Senators scored 61.54-percent of the goals (16 goals for to 10 goals against) for the league’s third highest percentage from March 24th through the end of the season. Coupled with the fact that the Senators also had the league’s sixth highest Corsi percentage (53.63) during this time, they were going to be more successful. That doesn’t mean that their game was perfect however. The Senators were still outshot by the opposition during this stretch while playing five-on-five when the score was close – finishing with a negative differential of -23.
Were the Senators a lot better and did they finally find their “pesky” nature? Or is this simply a case of the team just enjoying better luck than they had in the earlier stages of the season?
On when the Senators will announce their captain and who makes their decision on it…
“Well as I just mentioned, we just had a big meeting on Monday. Bryan (Murray), Randy (Lee) – the other assistant general manager – myself, Paul (MacLean) and his whole staff, the issue of captaincy came up. The two biggest decision makers here are obviously Bryan Murray and Paul MacLean and we decided internally that no decision on the captaincy will be made until after training camp.”
On definitely having a captain for the season…
“A decision on captaincy will be made after training camp.”
It may be one year too late and it may not jive with Chris Phillips’ interest in becoming the next captain, but the Senators may opt for a season in which they use three alternate captains. I can’t say I have a problem with this.
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