When the Senators parted ways with head coach DJ Smith and GM Pierre Dorion during the 2023–24 season, it was fair to wonder if they’d get another opportunity. The two men were at the helm through some pretty dark days for the franchise, including a seemingly never-ending rebuild.
But after a couple of seasons as an assistant coach in L.A., Smith resurfaced this season as the Kings’ interim head coach when Jim Hiller was fired, and helped guide them to the post-season.
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It was a reminder that everyone is usually better in their second job because of the lessons learned in their first.
The Vancouver Canucks, with the worst record in the NHL this season, think there’s a chance that may also be true for Dorion.
According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Canucks, after firing Patrik Allvin on April 17, have interviewed Dorion for their GM vacancy.
Dorion was fired in 2023 because of the Senators’ botched communications during their 2021 trade of Evgenii Dadonov to the Vegas Golden Knights. The Sens failed to disclose Dadonov’s no-trade list, which derailed the Knights’ later attempt to trade him to Anaheim.
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The NHL penalized the Senators by docking them a first-round draft pick, a debt they were scheduled to pay off this year until Gary Bettman recently let them off the hook. The Sens will draft 32nd overall this summer, no matter what.
Dorion certainly had a long list of missteps as GM in Ottawa, but it’s not hard to imagine that, under the late Eugene Melnyk, there was considerable meddling in hockey matters.
Interestingly, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Dorion’s former assistant GM may be competing with him for the Canucks job. After Dorion was fired in Ottawa, Ryan Bowness spent another year and a half with the Sens as associate GM under new Sens GM Steve Staios.
Dorion did have some highlights, though, including arguably the most lucrative first round in Sens history. He took Tim Stützle and Jake Sanderson in the 2020 Draft and eventually signed both to team-friendly long-term deals. He also grabbed Ridly Greig in the first round that year.
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The 53-year-old Ottawa native made the most of the 2018 Erik Karlsson trade to San Jose, acquiring Josh Norris, Dylan DeMelo, and Chris Tierney, along with a 2020 first-round pick that became Stützle, and a 2019 second that was packaged so they could draft Mads Søgaard.
He also has an ace in the hole.
While the Canucks have interviewed other candidates, no one will be able to match Dorion’s GM experience in navigating the pitfalls of an NHL rebuild while dealing with challenging ownership.
That job experience would almost certainly come in handy in Vancouver.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News
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