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Canadiens: Division Rivals Fire General Manager Pierre Dorion

By Ryan Praught

Sep 27, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Ottawa Senators goalie Joonas Korpisalo (70) makes a save against Montreal Canadiens center Sean Monahan (91) during the second period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 27, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Ottawa Senators goalie Joonas Korpisalo (70) makes a save against Montreal Canadiens center Sean Monahan (91) during the second period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Atlantic Division will be adding a new General Manager to the fold soon as the Canadiens divisional rivals, the Ottawa Senators, axed Pierre Dorion earlier this afternoon. This move comes on the heels of the NHL stripping the Sens of a first-round pick for their handling of Evgenii Dadonov’s trade to Vegas back in 2021.

The Sens will have the choice of forfeiting their first-round selection in either 2024, 2025 or 2026. As you may remember, the Golden Knights tried to trade Evgenii Dadonov to Anaheim at the 2022 trade deadline before the trade was considered invalid. Dadonov had a no-trade clause that the Senators failed to disclose to Vegas prior to trading him there in 2021.

This allowed Vegas to trade Dadonov to the Canadiens during the 2022 off-season in exchange for Shea Weber (who has not played a game since the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals and has since been traded to Arizona). Dadonov is now with the Stars, having been traded there at last season’s trade deadline in exchange for Denis Gurianov.

In eight seasons at the helm of the Senators, Dorion didn’t do a whole lot, to be perfectly honest. He took over in April of 2016, saw his team go to the Conference Finals in 2017 and has failed to make the playoffs since, despite beginning and “ending” a rebuild.

We’ll have to wait and see who the Senators hire to replace Dorion, but for the Canadiens, the hope is that the new person in charge has the same level of success as Dorion. Which is to say not a whole lot. The last thing the Canadiens need is another serious threat in the Atlantic Division, and Ottawa, on paper, already looked to pose that threat. For whatever reason, though, they’ve struggled to put it all together.

Perhaps a new GM will be the change they need. We’ll also have to see if the new GM will make a coaching change. DJ Smith is in his fifth year coaching the Senators with little success.  The Sens currently sit at 4-4, seventh in the Atlantic Division.

However, if this rumour is true, the Canadiens may not have a lot to worry about. Again, we’ll have to wait and see.

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