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How Pierre Dorion screwed up the Sens defense over the last 3 years?! |
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Over the last few games, the endless problems that have plagued the Ottawa blueline last year have become the main topic of discussion with Sens fans. With all the issues the Ottawa Senators defense has faced yet again this season, I thought I would look back over the past three seasons to see how Sens GM Pierre Dorion managed to create such a mess on the blueline. When I started looking back, I had a good idea that if Dorion had just kept some of the assets he had on defense, rather than trading them for 3rd round picks that DJ Smith wouldn't be losing his mind with what he has been given to work with.
When Smith arrived in his first year he had the following on defense to work with for the 2019-20 season -
Chabot/Zaitsev/Hainsey/Boro/DeMelo
Wolanin(3)Brannstrom(31)Jarros(13)Goloubef(24)Lajoie(6)
**Acquired Mike Reilly(on Jan. 2/2020) he played 30 games.
Hainsey retired, 3.5M, Boro 1.2M left as a UFA and signed with Nashville 2 yrs/4M.. DeMelo traded for 3rd pick and signed an extension in Winnipeg 4yrs/12M, he is currently in the 2nd year of that deal.
ANALYSIS - When you look at what Dorion did for the following season, he signed Artem Zub which was terrific. But he went out and traded for Cobourn and Gudbranson, which earned 4.6M in actual salary, while signing Brown to an extension(1.2M AAV, 2yrs.), so he put out 5.8M on defense. Why on earth Dorion didn't keep DeMelo is beyond me, as any player DeMelo was paired with looked great next to him? The Sens had Brannstrom and Wolanin as prospects at the time that were capable of playing. So the blue line shouldn't have looked a lot different going into the 2020-21 season, when looking back. But Dorion managed to create endless problems with aging veterans on the blue line that clearly couldn't compete with the speed of the game.
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2020-21 season - The defense should've looked like this(Chabot/Zub/Zaitsev/DeMelo/Reilly/Brannstrom/Wolanin), instead you'll see below what a mess it was!
Chabot
Zub
Zaitsev
Cobourn 1.7M
Gudbranson 4M(2.9)
Brown 1.2M AAV(2 yr. ext.)
Reilly 1.5M
Brannstrom(30)Wolanin(15)Mete(14)(JBD(5)Alsing(4)
Reilly got traded for a 3rd. pick and signed an extension in Boston 3yrs/9M. Wolanin was traded to LA for Mike Amadio. Cobourn was traded to NYI for a 7th rd. pick. Gudbranson was traded to Nashville for a 7th rd pick(Ottawa gave up a 5th rd. pick to acquire from Anaheim) Alsing didn't return. JBD is in the AHL developing.
ANALYSIS - Dorion let Boro walk the year before because they had Reilly, even Boro himself said he knew the writing was on the wall when they acquired Reilly. But then less than a year later Dorion doesn't re-sign him, while losing Boro for nothing 8 months earlier! Asset management! Reilly played so well with Zub, Dorion wanted to give Reilly a 2-year deal I am told, Reilly's camp wanted 3 years, but when you got a great fit and the team played so much better in the 2nd half once the deadwood wasn't playing on the blueline anymore. Dorion messed up here again because he was scrambling to put together the defense when he had very capable players but wouldn't sign them to the term they wanted. The prospects that Ottawa had were very young and clearly needed a lot of time in the AHL before they were NHL ready. Further complicating the defense was picking up Mete on waivers and qualifying him on a one-year deal when his skill set wasn't needed considering they already had a similar player in Brannstrom ready to play full-time with the big club.
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2021-22 season - The defense should've looked like this(Chabot/Zub/Zaitsev/DeMelo/Reilly/Mete/Brannstrom), instead this is what Sens fans had to endure to start the season once again! No wonder the anger with the fan base is increasing each game now. Ottawa would be in a much better place defensively if Dorion had of held onto his assets, rather than trying to find stop gaps, trading away solid experienced NHL defensemen that fit the system, instead Dorion signed and acquired more bottom pairing defensemen that clearly can't handle the minutes/situations the coaching staff has had to put them in.
Chabot/Zub/Zaitsev back from the previous season, plus Brown and Mete again each at 1.2M. Holden 1.7M and MDZ at 2M. Dorion has these 4 players at 6.1M. Or they could've had DeMelo & Reilly at 6M combined? It's a no-brainer that any fan would rather have this line-up below! I can't imagine the same results that we are seeing right now had the Sens stayed status quo and iced the line-up below by keeping assets while allowing the prospects to develop in the AHL.
Chabot/DeMelo
Zub/Reilly
Zaitsev/Brannstrom or Mete
What's so frustrating when looking at the current Sens blueline is that instead of signing MDZ, there were other free agents out there to be had on one-year deals. Plus when the team already had Chabot, Mete, and Brannstrom for offensive defensemen, signing a defensive-minded guy on the blueline should've been the priority in the off-season. Jordie Benn signed a 1 yr. deal for 900K on Aug. 27th and plays both LD/RD. Michael Stone signed on Sept.10th 1yr. deal in Calgary for 750k another guy that can play the right side. Luke Schenn signed 2 yrs. in Vancouver for 1.7M(850k per yr), right-handed dman.
When looking at possible short-term solutions for Ottawa on defense, as I mentioned in my column back in July that Troy Stetcher would be a great fit here. He plays the right side, UFA at the end of the season. He's making 1.7M this year and with three 3rd picks in the draft this year, a team can only have so many prospects. He's a healthy scratch in Detroit most nights, why not make a small trade to upgrade the roster?
Carson Soucy in Seattle is on a 2-year deal at 2.75M AAV. He's a healthy scratch on most nights in Seattle and when he was in Minnesota, I always liked his game. He's only 27, big frame at 6'5", who has played both sides on defense.
You can't keep sitting on all these draft picks, at some point you need to use your draft capital and with Sens GM Pierre Dorion missing the boat badly this summer on helping this team's issues on defense, after talking with a few scouts, Stetcher could be had for a 3rd round pick. He's a healthy scratch in Detroit!
Targets in the off-season that are all UFA's or possibly trade for one of them at the deadline to see if they might be a fit with the team.
Justin Schultz - Washington - RD, 31 - 4M
Ian Cole - Carolina - RD/LD - 32 - 2.9M
Anton Stralman - Arizona - RD - 35 - 5.5M
Calvin DeHaan - Chicago - LD/RD - 4.55M
Nathan Beaulieu - Winnipeg - LD/RD - 1.25M
Brayden McNabb - Vegas - LD - 30 - 2.5M
Brett Kulak - Montreal - LD/RD - 27 - 1.85M
Thanks for reading.
Kevin
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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