Senators Hire Rob DiMaio as Director of Player Personnel

Rob DiMaio raised a few eyebrows around the hockey world when he left his post as the assistant general manager of the Anaheim Ducks just seven days ago. In a press release, the organization outlined that DiMaio “left the club due to personal reasons.”

Now we know what they are.

The Ottawa Senators announced this morning that DiMaio is their new director of player personnel and professional scouting.

In their official press release, general manager Steve Staios shared these reflections on the hire:

“We are excited to add Rob’s experience and acumen to our hockey management team. He brings more than 30 years of experience as a player and executive and has a track record of success. Rob is a hard-working leader and a will be a great match to the team and culture we are building here in Ottawa.”

The addition is a welcomed and necessary one.

The Senators relieved Jim Clark and Rob Murphy from their professional scout roles just last month, so it stood to reason that the front office would make additions at some point in time. Adding a guy who worked as an assistant general manager in the NHL certainly checks that box.

Digging into their playing histories for any connection between them, I learned that Staios and DiMaio briefly played together during the 1996-97 campaign as teammates on the Boston Bruins. So, if you are worried that cronyism could negatively impact that “best in class” mantra that the organization keeps promoting, you can probably shelve those concerns.

I suppose the role could be portrayed as somewhat downgraded career mobility for DiMaio, but the Senators have waxed poetic about associate general manager Ryan Bowness’ future. They have all but assured that he’s their general manager in waiting.

Bowness has been the general manager of the Belleville Senators, so the Senators could eventually rely on DiMaio to take on those added responsibilities. DiMaio spent two seasons with the Ducks and served as GM of the San Diego Gulls, Anaheim's AHL affiliate.

He had previously spent a decade within the St. Louis Blues’ organization working as their director of player personnel for seven and as a professional scout for three. DiMaio was with the Blues’ front office when the organization won the Stanley Cup at the end of the 2018-19 season.

DiMaio inherits a pro scouting staff featuring three scouts (Steve Stirling, Mark Flood and Dale McTavish) and a European scout (Mikko Ruutu) listed on their website’s hockey operations page.

It is a thin group with a relatively underwhelming track record. One of the most glaring deficiencies of the organization looking back over the last 15 to 20 years has been this organization’s pro scouting and player acquisition.

Playing in a smaller Canadian market under one of the most mercurial and notoriously cheap owners in North American professional sports always worked against the Senators. More recently, the work of former general manager Pierre Dorion has been portrayed as autocratic. If Dorion failed to rely on the opinions and analysis of others when making important decisions, it blurs the lines of accountability and work. Is that reputation overstated? If so, how much blame do you assign to the rest of his hockey operations department and scouts?

That was a large challenge that Staios had to tackle in his first year in his role. He needed to evaluate the performance of the incumbents around him and determine shortcomings and areas of improvement. This task could potentially even explain, in part, why the organization was not particularly active in making personnel changes.

Like the hiring of Sean Tierney as the organization’s director of hockey analytics last fall, it will be interesting to see whether DiMaio’s introduction leads to more hires. The organization still has an incredibly thin staff. It would be encouraging to see it be bolstered further, but today marks a promising first step in what is shaping up to be a busy and important offseason.