The Ottawa Senators’ general manager, Pierre Dorion, has resigned from his role. The team’s owner, Michael Andlauer, announced the decision shortly after the Senators were penalized by the NHL with the loss of a future first-round draft pick following a failed trade involving forward Evgenii Dadonov.
Dorion had been serving as the general manager of the Senators for seven years, taking over from Bryan Murray in April 2016. In his first season, Ottawa made it to the 2017 Eastern Conference Final, coming just one goal away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
However, under Dorion’s leadership, the Senators failed to make it to the playoffs again and never finished higher than sixth in their division.
The final tipping point came when the NHL announced that the Senators would be forfeiting their first-round pick from either the 2024, 2025, or 2026 NHL Draft. The league conducted an investigation into the nullified trade involving Dadonov between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Anaheim Ducks, revealing that the Senators had failed to inform the Golden Knights about Dadonov’s modified no-trade clause, leading to severe consequences.
According to the NHL, the Senators’ front office displayed negligence by not disclosing the no-trade clause to the Golden Knights, thereby causing embarrassment to the league and angering both the Golden Knights and the Ducks. While team owner Andlauer mentioned that the punishment may seem severe, he emphasized that the entire mistake could have been avoided if proper communication had taken place.
In the meantime, Steve Staios, the president of hockey operations, will serve as the interim general manager while the team begins the search for Dorion’s replacement.
