Revamped Senators Front Office Continues to Take Shape: Staios GM & Dave Poulin brought in

The Ottawa Senators unexpectedly announced changes to its hockey operations department this afternoon.

President of Hockey Operations Steve Staios will be removing the interim tag from his general manager’s duties. He officially becomes the ninth general manager in franchise history. Assistant general manager Ryan Bowness receives a promotion of his own. The 40-year-old, who grew up in Kanata, was appointed to the role of Associate General Manager.

Joining them will be TSN’s Dave Poulin. The long-time broadcaster will assume the role of Senior Vice-President of Hockey Operations. Poulin does have a wealth of hockey ops experience. After spending two seasons as a scout for the Anaheim Ducks, Poulin worked for the Toronto Maple Leafs for five seasons (2009-14) as their Vice-President of Hockey Operations — including two years as the General Manager of the Toronto Marlies.

The news that Staios was removing the interim tag came as a surprise. One of the widely held beliefs in the city was that he would remain in that role until the conclusion of the season.

The rationale for that is pretty straightforward.

I assumed, like many others, that Staios’ interim tag was a function of making a general manager change during the season. With many appealing prospective candidates already working for other organizations, the likelihood of the Senators receiving permission to talk to these individuals was small. To cast a wide net and create a process wherein the best and most credible candidates could be interviewed.

Another aspect of today’s news is that Staios has a longstanding history with owner Michael Andlauer. By committing to the general manager’s role, all the decisions moving forward will now fall on his shoulders. From the personnel decisions to hiring hockey ops staff, the buck stops with Staios and puts him in a position where he could be held accountable if the organization sputters. Had he passed on the General Manager’s title to another at the end of the season and simply retained his President of Hockey Operations role, it likely would have created more long-term job stability.

It is possible that Staios could still ultimately give up the general manager’s role to focus exclusively on being the President of Hockey Operations. Owner Michael Andlauer has widely expressed belief in a two-headed monster system wherein the General Manager and President of Hockey Operations were two different people. By bringing in someone with different ideas and skills, the idea is that the two could work together and collaborate before arriving at critical decisions. Concurrently, the General Manager would essentially bear the responsibility for the personnel decisions relieving some of that burden from the President of Hockey Operations.

Perhaps the Senators view the appointment of Poulin as fulfilling that need for a two-headed monster, but without any autonomous decision-making power, that feels like a bit of a reach.

Having inherited one of the smallest hockey operations departments in the league, I will not begrudge the Senators, Andlauer and Staios for adding to it. The broader and more diverse group of voices this organization has, the better. If it means more informed decisions are being made at critical points, I’m all for it.

Poulin’s track record at the NHL level will inevitably get panned. As the Vice-President of Hockey Operations, he helped preside over one of the darkest and most unsuccessful runs in Toronto Maple Leafs history. The Edmonton Journal profiled Poulin as a prospective candidate for their vacant General Manager role, the article criticized Poulin for being part of a Toronto front office that was critical of the infiltration of analytics into hockey. That group made it “abundantly clear through both word and action that it has no time or use for numbers in making decisions.”

While it was well-documented that Brian Burke had no use for analytics, in fairness to Poulin, we have no idea what his philosophies were or how he influenced decisions of that era. Perhaps he was not a huge proponent of how they can be used in conjunction with scouting reports to give a more detailed and informed assessment of a player, tactic, or team. People can change, however, and people can continue to learn and evolve.

A strength of Poulin is that he is well-regarded by his peers. A quick glimpse of ‘X’ reveals a litany of broadcasters and Bell Media colleagues waxing poetic about Poulin’s character, communication skills and professionalism. After years of enduring the accompanying pains that came with watching any Eugene Melnyk or Pierre Dorion media availability, putting high-character people in high positions is a welcomed change.

Admittedly, I was a bit disappointed to see that Staios was taking on the general manager role on a more permanent basis. Part of me was hoping that the organization was waiting until the offseason to venture out and poach a brilliant mind from a successful competitor. If the Senators could find someone who has enjoyed success and had experience building well-regarded analytics departments from scratch, it would be beneficial. The opportunity to add outside ideas, values and culture to the organization would be enticing. Names like Eric Tulsky, Alexandra Mandrycky, Mathieu Darche, etc., are just a few that I’ve spitballed around this corner of the internet.

That could still happen, but after today’s press release, it just feels less likely.

On the surface, it feels like today’s addition is more of what the Senators already had. And, that’s not a bad thing! The Senators are holding a formal press conference to discuss today’s news at 4 pm, so we will have to wait for a bit more clarity before passing more judgment.

What I want to hear and see from the organization is adding more progressive hires who can help modernize the front office.