Thoughts in Bold: Dorion's End of the Year Media Availability

Yesterday morning general manager Pierre Dorion participated in his end-of-the-season media address to share his thoughts on the 2022-23 season and players.

The full availability can be listened to here, but I have transcribed each of Dorion’s answers below. Following each of those reflections, I have posted thoughts of my own which are highlighted in bold.

Let’s get to it.

On his thoughts of the 2022-23 campaign…

“Very happy. Very happy about the progress this team has made. Very happy about the progress and the development our players have made. We’ve played meaningful games which was the goal this year. It’s a process and through this process, we never wanted to have bandaid solutions. We wanted to have a team that was going to be a team that could… every year when we dropped the puck feel that at some point in time, we’re going to contend and be a really good team in this league. And, I think this year, we did that.”

If you Google the words “Ottawa+Senators+meaningful+games”, your search will yield 673,000 results. If the phrase ‘Rest is a weapon’ bothered people, I never want to see the words used in conjunction again.

On how much culture will play a role in the success of this franchise…

“Culture plays a really big role. When you’re in that room and everyone has each other’s back, everyone cares about each other. There’s been a lot of things said about our dressing room. A lot of the moves that people don’t understand we made some of them early in the process of the rebuild. (They) have helped us have, I think, one of the best cultures in the NHL.”

One of the most obvious things about this group is how tightly knit they are. They seem to genuinely like one another and spend a lot of time away from the rink together. Even watching how these players interact and engage with veterans like Claude Giroux when he registered his 1,000th point or paid respect to Craig Anderson when he played his last NHL game, it looks promising. It will be great to watch how these players continue to grow and develop over the next few seasons.

On whether the expectation for next season is to make the playoffs…

“I’m not going to start by making really bold statements, but I think once the season comes around, at that point in time, I’ll maybe make bigger and bolder statements. This year, we made, I think, huge strides. Not just the 13 points we got from last year. It was how we played, how we competed from when the puck was dropped. To the last game, I probably wasn’t happy seven or eight games out of 82, so that bodes really well for the future. But, I think this team moving forward will be a really good team for a long time.”

The Senators were carried by the play of their top-six forwards’ offence. Adding Jake Sanderson to the top four helped bolster the minutes and eventually once Jake Chychrun is healthy and able to contribute, he should help improve the quality of the top four. There is a nice base to work with here, but between the goaltending position and the quality of the depth around the young core, there is a lot of work to be done.

The challenge for the organization will be to determine how to identify and acquire that quality of depth when the organization just moved out a ton of draft picks this past season and already has one of the lowest-ranked farm systems in the league. The depth of prospects may be there, but there is not a ton of safely projectable high-upside players in the fold either.

It puts a lot of pressure on management to creatively find ways of adding low-risk, high-upside plays and historically, that has been one of the shortcomings of the Dorion era. He has demonstrated no real aptitude for acquiring quality depth on the cheap. I don’t know whether that is a function of poor scouting, poor analytical work that relies too heavily on third-party information, but it may be a little much expecting management to pull some rabbits out of its hat now.

On how confident he is that he will remain as the general manager through the ownership sale…

“Well, obviously, we’re going to have new owners. We don’t know exactly when they’ll take over. I think Gary Bettman said they want to get it right. You know what, it’s been a lot of fun for me going through this process getting a chance to talk to multiple groups. Not many GMs get a chance to do this. It’s been presented, our plan from the start — where we’re going, where we think we’ll be. I have a contract in place. I think this team is headed in the right direction. We don’t have one bad contract. Maybe we don’t have as many picks as we do in previous years, but that was part of the plan. So, I’ll let those people decide my fate, but I know this team is headed in the right direction for multiple years to come.”

It is a little awkward to hear Pierre express excitement at the prospect of explaining to prospective new owners why he should retain his job, but what else can the general manager do? Pierre certainly deserves credit for drafting and extending this team’s young core. Hitting home runs with the team’s top-five picks has certainly provided an excellent base to build around, but it is incredibly hard to ignore the fact that this front office has wasted cap space and highly valued assets to acquire redundant veteran pieces who were moved out shortly thereafter. If the organization did a better job of evaluating players and using data analysis to mitigate risks and avoid overpaying for sub-replacement level value, this rebuild would be much further ahead. And at the very least, they would not be using valued assets to escape contracts belonging to players (ie. Nikita Zaitsev, Matt Murray) that the organization never should have targeted in the first place.

On what providing more detail into what he has told prospective ownership groups…

“No, I can’t do that. Unfortunately, I apologize. I think there’s a process here and we have to respect it. But, at the same time, we know this group is going to be special moving forward. We’ve done it the right way. We’ve done it patiently. I did study a lot of what teams did when they said they were rebuilding. Part of this plan is that I never wanted to have a bandaid solution. I never wanted to take shortcuts that would affect the long-term effect of this team. I think we saw it this year - where this team can go with a very, very young core still. And, the fact that all our stars pretty much except for one that we’re going to work on signing this summer or sign long-term, I think it really bodes well.”

The Senators never took shortcuts? I don’t know if I buy that. The team has used some really valuable draft picks to acquire short-term solutions. Acquiring Derek Stepan and Matt Murray was not necessary, especially in consideration of their age and underlying data that was not particularly flattering. Trading Nick Paul at last year’s deadline for Mathieu Joseph instead of targeting another valuable draft pick that the team could have used or flipped in a trade for a more talented player was a lost opportunity. Not flipping expendable veteran assets at this year’s trade deadline like Washington or Detroit when the team had long odds of reaching the postseason was a mistake — a mistake that wound up looking worse when many of these assets fell to injury.

And all this is before worrying about Alex DeBrincat’s long-term future with the club. The Senators paid a significant price to land the winger and the worst-case scenario for his future could play out this summer. If he’s a one-and-done player with the organization, the likelihood of the Senators recouping anywhere near the price that they paid to land him is small — especially when the possibility of DeBrincat accepting his qualifying offer is very real. It only makes sense for the player to maximize his earning value this season and hit the unrestricted free agent market next summer.

On whether D.J. Smith will be back…

“D.J. has a contract. When it comes to the coaching staff, obviously every year it is part of my job to re-evaluate everything. D.J., what we asked of D.J. the first three years was to develop our young players. He has done that unbelievably. This year, the mission changed where it started being about winning more. And, we won more. First time we’re over .500 in a long time. First time we’re in a playoff race until the end. The players played hard. I didn’t hear much what the players had to say, but I was told by our PR staff that Brady (Tkachuk) and Tim (Stützle), who are two big contributors, thought the world of him. I’m going to sit down obviously over the next little while and debate everything internally, but I think what we’ve asked of him, he’s delivered on. And, at that point in time, I’ll make my recommendation to new ownership.”

That is not exactly the ringing endorsement I expected from the general manager considering how Dorion waxed poetic about D.J.’s strengths in previous years.

Dorion never did hit on the team’s slow start during this availability, and although he would not say it publicly, I would be intrigued to hear much he holds the coaching staff accountable for it.

In their exit interviews, both Tim Stützle and Brady Tkachuk went to bat for their coach, but that is not surprising. As a renowned players’ coach who the players only have experience playing for at the professional level, it makes sense that they would defend him. On the other hand, there have to be concerns regarding an inattention to detail, forwards cheating and blowing the zone whenever a puck is turned over, the lack of urgency and bouts of inconsistency that have plagued this team for the last few years.

Perhaps a more disciplined coach who holds the players accountable and teaches a more disciplined game can get more out of this current group, but this is not all on D.J. Smith. Management certainly deserves its share of the blame for the roster construction outside of this team’s young players.

On why the rebuild has taken six years to bear fruit when the original assertion was to be playing playoff games five years into the process…

“I don’t think I ever said that. If I did, find those quotes and we’ll talk about it. To me, it was always step-by-step. We made trades that people were shaking their head at that I knew were for the culture of our young players. We made trades or acquired players early in the process, so I made sure that Timmy wouldn’t get run out of the rink as a rookie — whether it was toughness or character. This year went and acquired, I think, higher-end free agents and higher-end trades. If you looked at… we made certain trades when the rebuild was for acquiring picks and younger players. We made trades and acquired free agents this year to more start winning — in the (Claude) Giroux, (Alex) DeBrincat, and (Jake) Chychrun mould. We never want to take a shortcut. If you take shortcuts, then you feel like you’re taking three steps forward and then two steps back. My obligation, I think our obligation, to this organization is we knew it was going to be a bit painful and it was at times. But, we are starting to see the final product really blossom here and that’s what gets me excited about this team.”

Ian Mendes kept the receipts. If you have not already, give it a read on The Athletic right now.

If the Senators have to trade DeBrincat, that could be “two steps back” since there is not an internal piece in place who can even come close to replicating his production in a down year.

On what his confidence level is in signing Alex DeBrincat long-term…

“Well, we know he’ll be back for one year and then we’ll go from there. We had a really productive meeting. When we do exit meetings, I always do them with the coach. I always believe it’s like a father and a mother (like process). Sometimes the kids tell you something different from one to the other, so I believe that we should be on the same page. So, he talked. We talked during the season to his camp and they indicated to us that they wanted to see where new ownership was going to go and how the team was going to go. I think they’re happy with that. We’re going to have to look at our options (if he doesn’t want to sign). If he wants to sign, and I hate hypotheticals, but if wants to sign, I think we can get a contract done. If players want to stay, we’ve always got contracts done. When players don’t want to stay, we move on. But, if he doesn’t want to stay, we’ll have to look at our options on him.”

I don’t want to invest too much in Dorion’s comments or DeBrincat’s generic statement regarding an extension simply because things are time sensitive and can dramatically change, but none of these comments are inspiring.

The problem with DeBrincat’s position is that new ownership may not be in place by the time the NHL draft rolls around in late June. If that is the internal deadline for figuring out what is going on behind the scenes with the Senators, he may simply elect to move on — which puts the team in a difficult spot because of the lack of internal options and the likelihood that the team will not be able to recoup the quality of assets that it gave up to acquire him.

On whether there were any difficult exit interviews…

“I wouldn’t say tough. The tone was totally different. The tone was totally, totally different. The players themselves know that we took big strides this year. They know We’re ready to take the next jump and get to that next level. So, the tone was totally different from where it was last year. Last year, I really appreciated what Brady and Thomas (Chabot) said and I wanted to tell them and I shouldn’t be making jokes. I said I’d be checking all the boxes you guys want and I think we did. I think it’s up to them now and they know that. They know compared to where it was a year ago when we had exit meetings, the tone was totally different. They know what the goal is and where they want to go. They know their growth. They’re still very young, but they know they can achieve that. We’ve still got to make a few little tweaks here, but overall, it was totally different this year.”

For the manager to say that it is “up to (the players) now and they know that”, that puts a lot of pressure on them and the coaching staff to get the most out of them. Perhaps that is why he was so noncommital to D.J. earlier in this availability. When new ownership arrives, Pierre may need a fall guy to explain the six years without a playoff appearance.

On his assessment of the goaltending situation…

“Not that I want to talk specifics, but goalies you have two, three, four or five. So, we ran into some injuries this year. I don’t know where our save percentage was, but it wasn’t where I expected it to be. Cam Talbot will not be back next year. We had a good discussion. Not that I want to get into details. We offered him a one-year deal in January. They wanted a two-year deal. No progress was made. Not that I want to put everything out there, but our fans have the right to know how the process goes. We’re so far apart on we wanted one (year) and they wanted two. We were so far apart on AAV that we knew (he wouldn’t be coming back). But, what Cam did here is Cam brought a great work ethic, brought stability… when Leevi (Merilainen) played his game, every time he came to the bench, Cam was talking about players and what they were doing. When we made this trade, we took a calculated risk and now it’s… he’s going to move on to most likely another team. He’s still got good hockey in him. As a human being, he’s a tremendous human being. With Anton (Forsberg), the game he got hurt, he had won his last four games. Last year in the second half, he was one of the better goalies in the NHL. So, when we talked to Anton, D.J. and I, we talked about maybe changing his training and coming here earlier because he has had slower starts throughout his career in the first half. So, Anton Forsberg will be one of the goalies next year. The other guy will be (an internal candidate), (acquired) through trade or free agency.”

And with that, the Cam Talbot era comes to a close in Ottawa. It is hard to stomach the fact that the Senators used $3.667 million in cap space to get 36 ineffective games out of Talbot, but it’s equally bitter to see Filip Gustavsson be mentioned in the Vezina conversation. As an aside, congratulations to the young Swede on his 51-save playoff debut for the Minnesota Wild last night.

It was a calculated risk to acquire the veteran, but he was always a one-year stopgap guy. The presence of Mads Sogaard and Leevi Merilainen in the system unquestionably made it easier to part with Gustavsson, but seeing the organization move a young goaltender with pedigree and a small sample size of success at the NHL level was difficult — especially when the underlying data demonstrated that Talbot had a negative goals saved above expectation (-17.26 GSAx) last season per Evolving Hockey while playing for one of the best defensive teams in the NHL. It was a giant red flag, but it was ignored. This kind of trade just emphasizes how important it is for this organization to do a better job of vetting its prospective trades. Quality analysis should able to relay these risks to the general manager. And, with an in-house analytics department that can properly model whether it’s smarter to bet on a 35-year-old goaltender in decline who posted that negative GSAx or the young Swede who had a small sample size of success, perhaps the organization looks better for it today. But, for the life of me, I still cannot understand why the organization did not leverage Minnesota’s limited cap space and extract at least some kind of future asset from the Wild for taking Talbot’s cap hit off the books. What a home run for Bill Guerin.

On Mads Sogaard having a chance to be that second goaltender…

“He is one of the options. There are three ways we are going to get a goalie. Through internally, that would be Mads. I don’t think Leevi is ready, even though he played great in that one game. I don’t think he’s ready. And, (the goaltender) will be acquired through a trade or through free agency.”

The free agent options are pretty limited. The most desirable candidates are Semyon Varlamov, Joonas Korpisalo, Frederik Andersen, and Antti Raanta. It is a small collection of talent on the market which may lead to inflated prices and a few of these options have been plagued by injury problems. I don’t know if there is a safe option on the board, but at least they will only cost money. Having acquired Matt Murray and Cam Talbot in recent years, Ottawa’s record in evaluating goaltending talent is suspect, but the prospect of moving more assets out to acquire a goaltender is concerning. Can management identify and successfully acquire a credible option? I don’t know.

On the unrestricted free agents and their futures…

“Let’s start with (Derick Brassard). We had a really good talk with Derick. With Derick, we’re going to see what happens through the summer through his injury (rehab) because it was a pretty significant injury. We’ve left the door open for him to come back next year in the same situation as this year — on a PTO, go through camp and see if you can play because that injury was fairly significant. Nick Holden will not be back. Nick was a tremendous character in our room and gave us two good years of hockey. But, with the depth we had coming up on our defence corps, we feel it is time for whoever that may be (to play). Austin Watson, we shouldn’t close the door (on). We would probably look at maybe a one-year deal. I think he’s looking for a bit more term. On Austin, I want to thank him too in case he doesn’t come back. The guy played with a broken foot and a bad knee. He couldn’t even move. He couldn’t even walk. He is a tremendous shot blocker. He makes people accountable in the room. What he’s gone through in his life, I have the utmost respect (for). He is one of the highest character players I’ve ever been associated (with). Travis Hamonic we’ve left the door open to come back on a one-year deal. Obviously, as I’ve stated before, we’re going to be a cap team next year no matter what. So, we have to be a bit creative in how we do certain contracts and what would be available. We’ve talked to Patrick Brown about the possibility of coming back depending on who else doesn’t come back.”

Most of the names are stopgap options, but what I found interesting is that Dorion has acknowledged here, and earlier with his Talbot answer, that he is only offering up one-year deals. Maybe I’m reading too much into that, but perhaps that could be a reflection of flexibility when negotiating contracts before new ownership arrives.

On another note, for a guy who has a policy of never negotiating through the media, how hilarious is it that he’s doing precisely that with his comments here?

In regards to the players he’s interested in bringing back, I’d just move on from all of them. At the very least, the organization should be exhausting the free agent and trade markets before even considering bringing back any of the aforementioned players. There will be obvious upgrades available, the pressure is on management to target and acquire those individuals.

On what the approach will be with Alex Formenton…

“There’s an NHL investigation still going on, so I cannot comment.”

There is much to be made about Alex Formenton, but it would be devastating to the organization if Drake Batherson winds up being implicated.

On Jacob Bernard-Docker and Lassi Thomson requiring waivers next season and how that detail may impact their future with the organization…

“I think Jacob Bernard-Docker showed every time he came up here he got better. Every callup, he was better. He wouldn’t have gone back to Belleville if we were still in the race and they weren’t still in their race. So, I think with Jacob, he’s still got to work on some things. He’s got to work… whether it’s puck touches or just boxing out better, but he showed that he’s able to play here. I think it’s his spot to lose. With Lassi, Lassi is our most talented defenceman probably in our young prospects who aren’t on the team, but he’s just got to find more consistency. We understand that’s part of the process and if either one of them doesn’t make our team and we have to put them on waivers, we could lose them and that’s part of the process.”

Bernard-Docker never should have been sent down to end the season. He should have been rewarded for his strong play with Tyler Kleven to end the season and allowed to play and collect an NHL paycheck.

Despite his play across a small sample size, the Senators may be best served by looking at prospective upgrades on the free agent or trade markets who could bolster this team’s third pairing. I’m speaking in hypotheticals here, but if such a player can be acquired, it would make sense for the organization to dangle Thomson and JBD as trade chips to address some of the weaknesses belonging to the team’s forward depth.

On recognizing that he could become the first GM in the salary cap era to retain their job after missing the postseason for a sixth consecutive season…

“I don’t think in those six years, our goal was to make the playoffs. So, I think it’s a different scenario. I think if you look at other situations compared to ours — where our payroll was, what we can do, our flexibility. Yes, I understand that. I don’t think you ever heard me say that we should in the playoffs in any of those years. I think it was part of the process. I think the ultimate goal was to build a team that could contend for a long time and I think that’s what we’ve done with me at the head of it. I feel comfortable with this team moving forward. This team still has a lot of prospects. This team has, I’m not going to give names, but two superstars. Five to six stars. Lots of prospects, except for this year where we understood we have lots of picks. I think we’re really in a good spot here. Part of it is that we did this rebuild, never wanted to take a shortcut. We did make a trade or certain trades for certain positions because the young players weren’t ready to take on that role. And, in their development, if you expose them to top pairings, they’ll lose confidence and won’t develop the proper way. So, some of the patchwork was done on purpose. There were some trades that we made where we knew the players were maybe at the end of the line. But, what they did for those young players and how they made them better… an example is Braydon Coburn. Like, if you were around the team all the time and saw that every young player gravitated to him at almost every lunch, you would understand why we did it. Because he was an ultimate character guy. I wanted Brady and Timmy and a lot of these young guys to understand what it was. I didn’t say it when we made the trade, but now I can talk about it more openly. So, a lot of these trades… when we traded for Erik Gudbranson, I didn’t want people taking advantage of some of our younger players, and with him in the lineup, they didn’t. It was the same thing with Josh Brown. People don’t realize what Josh Brown… what he did when the Winnipeg player went after Brady. It’s still a game of intimidation at times and for our young players to develop, there were a lot of things that we did that they weren’t the greatest hockey players, but they were tremendous human beings. And, they were going to help our young players understand what it took to be the best that they could ever be.”

I was certainly not expecting a Braydon Coburn reference in this year’s availability, but here we are. I’m not surprised to see Dorion defend acquiring so many character players, but the team has consistently emphasized character as part of this rebuild.

On what his takeaways were from how Mads Sogaard played down the stretch…

“Well, I think you’ve got to start from the time when we lost both our goalies. I don’t think many teams… is it a different scenario this year if both Talbot and Forsberg both don’t get hurt? Who knows? We don’t know these things. Ideally, we didn’t want to put Mads in this situation. We wanted to play as many games as he could. He played, I forget exactly. I was looking at it yesterday during the Marlies game how many games he started and how many games he played. It’s great. I think you can all tell every player what the NHL is about, but until they’ve played it or seen it, they don’t understand what it is. We feel that Mads is our goaltender of the future. He’s someone that is going to be able to take the helm at some point in time, but in everything you do, you’ve got to show patience. With Mads, you still have got to show patience. I’m happy that he’s going to be training hard this summer. Part of him, he’s 6’7” and he’s not the strongest guy. So, part of being in the NHL is maintaining your durability. I think it was a great experience for him. I think he understands it now. He was NHL ‘Rookie of the Month’ and then he had a really tough month after. So, it’s just finding your consistency.”

In 19 appearances this season, Sogaard recorded an 8-6-3 record, a goals against average of 3.32 and a save percentage of .889.

Sogaard was named the NHL’s ‘Rookie of the Month’ for February after he posted a 4-0-1 record and a save percentage of .922 in six appearances. After February, Sogaard fell flat. In his last 13 games, Sogaard went 4-6-2 with an .879 save percentage. Evolving Hockey credited Sogaard with having a -4.38 goals saved above expected, meaning that he gave up almost four and half more goals than he should have based on the quality of chances. It was the worst mark on the team.

On the defence evolving and its depth becoming a strength and whether the team needs to improve its depth forwards…

“Bottom six forwards? Yes. Obviously, everyone knew last year when the season started we had certain goals to achieve. Sometimes I say too much and other GMs saw me coming from a mile away, so it was tough. But, we feel that our top-four or top-five/six is going to be good on our back end. Now, our bottom-six (forward depth) is something. But, when you build a team, I always say… I know I’m going to get criticized for this, but you can’t have 12 Wayne Gretzkys as your 12 forwards. It would be great, but in the cap world, you can’t do it. I think our top-six, when we’re healthy, is very good. It’s excellent. But, you also need guys who… the top-six produces offensively and ideally, you have a top-nine that can produce offensively if not a top-12. But, at the same time, you need your bottom three or bottom-six to be able to check very well, stay above the puck, prevent other teams, matchups. You can’t always go power on power. Sometimes it works with certain teams, you can go power on power, but sometimes, you need a shutdown line. How do you build that? It’s how sometimes my vision is a bit different than D.J.’s vision, but we’ve got to make it work. Obviously, if we could get more scoring in our bottom-six (it would be great), but you just can’t put all offensive players for your 12 forwards. You might get to the playoffs, but you’ll lose in four games straight. So, it’s making sure we find the right players and roles. Everyone has their proper roles. The way Shane (Pinto) has grown this year, he could be a third line (centre) who can score but can also match up — especially as the season went on and he controlled more. He was stronger in the middle of the ice and that can be something that we look upon next year. But, of course, we need to improve.”

Having a healthy Josh Norris is going to be huge boost to the team’s forward depth. As good of a defensive centre as Dylan Gambrell is, having him log significant minutes on the third line when he’s an offensive black hole who struggles to create anything, it’s a significant disadvantage to the team. Going into next season, the organization unquestionably needs to get more offence out of its depth forwards, but in particular, Mathieu Joseph needs to be much better. He had one of the more disappointing seasons out of all the players on the team.

On needing more grit or scoring on the wing…

“We’ve got a lot of scoring in our top-six, but at the same time, if you can have good role players who can score, it’s a perfect scenario. I think it’s just finding the right mix and match here, but to answer your question, yes, we need to improve the bottom-six.”

Conversely, having top-six forwards who can defend really well is a huge boost as well. Getting some of the forwards to buy-in and stop cheating would help.

On what the expectations for this team should be if he returns next season…

“For us, I think it’s to hit the next level as a team. Again, I don’t want to make any bold predictions as far as next year. I feel confident that we’ve built a good program here and that I’ll be back. As I’ve said, discussing with the groups, it’s been a lot of fun for me. I’ve told them my goals and if I’m back, at training camp I’ll go over them with you.”

Once new ownership arrives, I would have a hard time betting on Dorion surviving for very long, but we may not have a choice. If this sale drags into late July or August, most of the player movement will have passed. This slow process really has the potential to hinder the 2023-24 season. I would hate to see this club waste another year of this team’s young prime as the new owners get acclimated and determine what their plan is moving forward.

On what the next level is…

“The next level is making sure that this team continues on the path that it’s been going on — especially with the growth this year.”

From playing meaningful games to speaking in generalities. This is why front office types should never openly discuss timelines on when they anticipate their team will be more competitive. It serves no purpose other than to give people a date that they can hang over the general manager’s head.

On there being players who have exceeded his expectations this year…

“Players that exceeded our expectations? Jake Sanderson, Erik Brannstrom, Travis Hamonic, and Shane Pinto. I’m trying to think quickly of our lines. (Claude) Giroux. What can you say about the guy? He exceeded expectations. he came in and played on the second power play. I don’t think he’s played on the second power play maybe since his rookie year. Produced five-on-five and did everything for this team to win. Unbelievable in the room. I think Timmy has taken a step that he’s a superstar now. I think Timmy will be a top-five to top-10 player in this league. He’s 21 years old. He’s pretty good, so there are a lot of players… I wouldn’t say exceeded, but some of them, it was what we expect out of them. But, they took it upon themselves to better themselves.”

Did Travis Hamonic really exceed expectations or did Jake Sanderson simply drag the defender through this season? In consideration of the likelihood that Sanderson plays with a more competent and effective partner next year, re-signing Hamonic, even at a one-year term, is just foolhardy. At the very least, the organization should be kicking tires and exhausting the market for more talented alternatives before settling on a defenceman who only really offers veteran leadership and familiarity. If the intent is to roster a more competitive squad, upgrading Hamonic is one easy way to help accomplish that goal.

On how getting Norris healthy would improve the team’s depth…

“It would definitely help our bottom-six because Shane (Pinto) drops probably into the spot where he should be. It makes you really strong down the middle with those three, but at the same time, it’s just finding the right mix. But, it did help. People forget. Look at Josh Norris, Josh went up against… that year that we only played the Canadian teams, Josh Norris went up against (Elias) Pettersson, (Bo) Horvat, (J.T.) (Connor) McDavid, (Leon) Draisaitl, I know they play the wing, (Mikael) Backlund, (Auston) Matthews, (John) Tavares, and then the next year, he comes back and scores 35 goals. I think for Shane to go through that same experience, I think it’s only going to make him better next year. To answer your question, I think it just solidifies our bottom-six. My last point is, I know our fans have been patient through all this. I think for us, the biggest stride we took is that we got to see how our players responded in playing really important games down the stretch. It showed us a lot. It showed me a lot and it showed the coaching staff a lot. And, I think that can only make us better. You never want to use injuries as an excuse because facing adversity makes you grow. And, we faced a lot of adversity in the last few years and it’s only going to make us grow in the long-term.”

Shane Pinto is one of eight players who have scored 20+ goals in their rookie campaign for the Senators and only one of three centres. Alexei Yashin (30) and Alexandre Daigle (20) were the other two centres to hit that benchmark. It was a promising campaign for the pivot and he should play a prominent role down the middle of the ice moving forward. If he continues to play behind Josh Norris and Tim Stützle, it should really give Pinto some soft competition to take advantage of as this team progresses.