Weekly Question: Does Dorion Get enough Credit?

As some of you may have heard, Pierre Dorion’s boss was in the news again this week. And so ended what had otherwise been a quiet season of losing games, developing prospects, and mock-drafting. I guess nothing lasts forever. In just under four years as general manager, Pierre has now worked with three different CEOs (plus Eugene Melnyk during his stint as owner-CEO). Should we laud Dorion for his ability to go about his business as the faces around him constantly change or does Dorion share culpability with Melnyk for the team’s current state of affirs?

First and foremost, I struggle to fairly assess Dorion as a general manager because for the better part of a decade the Senators had accomplished GM and all around good person Bryan Murray at the helm and no one can ever replace Bryan. Secondly, nothing exists in a vacuum. Everything Dorion does with his management group relates back to ownership in one form or another. We can never conclusively say to what extent Melnyk has tied Dorion’s hands.

As fans we have to speculate about the infamous internal budget (Ottawa’s actual NHL salary expenditure this season sits about $4.5M above the cap floor), we know that the Senators have limited scouting resources relative to other teams in the league, and we have all heard the stories about front office staff taking out their own garbage. Even with Peter MacTavish in the assistant GM role, having Dorion manage both the Belleville and Ottawa Senators seems like a less than ideal strategy.

I will openly admit that I have questioned Dorion’s trades, his signings, and his draft choices (and boy I heard about those last week!), but to what extent can we assess his work after less than four seasons when he has spent the last three razing this thing to the ground? I wonder how much Dorion’s vision has always differed from Murray’s as Dorion started tinkering three months in by trading Mika Zibanejad for Derick Brassard. In a couple of months, Bobby Ryan could be the lone roster player carried over from the Murray era (fittingly, Ryan was Murray’s biggest swing-for-the-fences acquisition). Did Dorion ever intend to build upon Murray’s work or was a tear-down inevitable from day one on the job?

So how would you rate Dorion’s tear-down? Did he acquire enough assets in dismantling the old core? Has Dorion done what it takes to develop his young players into successful NHL players? How do you feel about Dorion’s record at the draft? And most importantly, how do you feel about Pierre Dorion’s achievements as GM of the Ottawa Senators considering the volatility of ownership, the lack of financial resources, and the players he inherited? Considering everything we know, and everything we have to speculate, does Dorion get enough credit for what he has done so far as GM of the Ottawa Senators?

Does Dorion get enough credit?