Yeah Ottawa won't be taking that deal. The best piece would be a solid 1st rounder, and that would have to be unprotected. Bolduc, & Wahlstrom are older prospects that don't look like much. Ottawa has no need for JGP... Even with salary retained. Ottawa for sure passes on this deal. Sucks for the Isles because they don't really have a lot to deal.... But need pure talent, but have a strong enough team to not be where you pick the elite talent in the draft. Ottawa was there for years until we went into complete rebuild.

I take this deal. Let’s say the pick is somewhere in the 15-20 range, I’d look to maybe dangle that out to Boston, Calgary and Nashville for one of Ullmark (likely won’t waive but might as well try), Markstrom or Saros. Then some extra picks and some players. JG half retained is really valuable as well! Honestly it may be too much but I won’t complain about that lol

JGP is a non-starter for OTT, they could spend that 2.5M on a younger and way better p[layer, the prospects are meaningless and do nothing for OTT. this is a deal OTT declines quite easy

Idk why Sens fans have this preconception that Pageau is garbage. He’s still a good player and at 2.5 mil retained he’s easily worth a 2nd if not more.

Ottawa accepts


1 + 2 + 3 is a very solid base.

Pageau at 2.5 AAV x 2 years is also good, brings experience and solid defensive play. Nice insurance policy to cover for Norris injury situation too.

Bolduc is 6'4 and only 23 y/o, never have enough D-men with size.

Wahlstrom is cheap and only 23 y/o, don't think he has much value left but would still be a better player than Kubalik was this season, for example. But with ZERO risks and cost.


There would be a lot to say about this but quickly, but Ottawa was relatively successful during that transition phase after being serious contenders for a decade (98-08). After the semi-rebuild on the fly in 2009, they made the playoffs 5 out of 8 seasons and won 3 rounds, almost made the SCF in 2017, which is much more than the Leafs did in 20 years, for example.

I say this because the way you word it is "thankfully we were finally able to fully rebuild"... but that doesn't account that we had terrible ownership and just as bad management. We did a lot more during "these years" than during the current rebuild. We don't even sniff the playoffs with Dorion's rebuild.


Disagree.

Why does Ottawa need him? Stutzle, Norris (if he's ready by training camp, Pinto, Greig, Girouc, and Kastelic, are all players that either do play center for us, or will. That is 6 centers. Replacing Norris for a whole year? Pageau isn't talented enough to play in Ottawa's top 6. Factor in that Ottawa could very well be picking in the top 5... Ottawa likely has this pick in the lineup come next season. Again no reason to spend assets on another aging, un-needed center to help the Isles recoup some cap space.

There was no reference that during this stint, we also had coaches like Martin and Murray during these years. If you were to grade coaches out of 100? Martin Murray are well over the 70%. No one is going to convince me that DJ smith would even hit the 50% percentile. If Ottawa brings in a Gerard Gallant, Laviolette, or Quennville? I bet this team "as-is" makes the playoffs next year. Issue is, this is a young team that needs a training camp on how to put an actual system together and actually create an identity as a team. The players brought here to be the core is more than just fine. The coaching provided to these players has been utterly pathetic. Without many veterans who have tasted success in the lineup, it hasn't helped.

Coaching staff are hired by the GM, it's part of his job. DJ's staff is just another testament how bad Dorion was at his job

The list is way too long on the problems Dorion has created and we have been paying for it and will continue to do so. It will take time to recover from Dorion's mess. We haven't even forfeited the 1st round pick yet.

Guessing you're not getting it..... You can make 10 great trades out of 10.... if your coaching stinks makes everything else look terrible. Not saying he was great, buty he wasn't a disaster either. We shall see if Ottawa even does pay that for 1st round pick. The Devils got out from having to forfeit their 1st rounder, I'm sure Andlauer with his pull will work out something where he pays a 2nd or a 3rd.

Dorion was not a disaster?

Zibanejad, Stone, Duchene, Hoffman, Dadonov, DeBrincat, DeMelo, Stepan, Murray, Zaitsev, Korpisalo, Tyler Boucher, Duclair, Colin White, DJ Smith... there's so many lol

DJ Smith was just one of his disasters. I'm totally getting it, don't worry

DeBrincat wasn't a disaster, him leaving aftyer one season. If you're going to be a GM that win? You have to take chances. No GM plays it completely safe and wins. Murray made sense, he was the best goaltender on the market at the time, and was a 2-time Stanley Cup Champ. Stone & Duchene wanted to leave, and Duchene acquisition was to support a group that had gone to the Conference Finals the year before. Again, that's a move you make if you think it's a piece thqat gets you over the hump. DeMelo acquiring him was an issue? He was pretty good when he got here.

Most of these are only issues because the main issue (DJ Smith) made them issues.

Well…this escalated quickly lmaooo

7th OA pick + 39th OA + 3rd round pick for Boston's 1st (currently 28th OA) and a 4th (Kubalik and Sebrango have ZERO value)

How was this not a disaster? Pretty much every Sens fan think it is, except a few Dorion die hard fans still in denial.

The problem with DeMelo was not acquiring him, it was to trade him stupidly for a 3rd round pick when we could use him up to this day... Dorion basically chose Nikita Zaitsev over him

And Duchene... I mean, we paid a 4th OA pick + Turris (look what he returned) + recent 1st round pick (Bowers) + 3rd to get him. All we have left now is Lassi Thomson

Stone... all we have left is Erik Brannstrom (I like him but you need to get A LOT more than that for a franchise player like Stone)

Murray when acquired was already the most injury prone player in the NHL. Not only that, the contract Dorion gave him was absolutely horrendous and ended up costing a 3rd + 7th to dump 75% of the final 2 years

Nothing wrong in taking risks (I play with Crypto) but problem is that Dorion nearly bats for ZERO when he takes risks.

Dj Smith was not the main issue, he was one of MANY Dorion issues.

No It's not the disaster it was because if you're going to win in this league you have to take chances. The real issue is that the team hasn't progressed the way it was supposed to. This team does not have a talent issue. Our issues are coaching. I don't care what moves you make? When you rank 26th or worse on both special teams? You cannot win in this league. To start the year Ottawa was surrendering 28 high danger chances a game!! That is coaching!!

As for Demelo? I liked Demelo and like you would've preferred to have kept him. Unfortunately you don't seem to understand the definition of hindsight? When he was traded we had defenseman like JBD, Brannstrom, Englund, and Jaros in the pipeline who many believed had good upside. BUT AGAIN!!! Under DJ Smith not one single defenseman in the organization progressed. Under DJ Smith's reign not one single defenseman ever became better than they were. That is coaching. Had we made the playoffs? Maybe had some success? DeBrincat likely stays making that trade not so bad. He brought in a solid 1st line talent to play on our 2nd line!! To do this he didn't give up any of our prospects or young roster players. That is how you build a team. Had Ottawa finsihed 13th - 15th overall that trade woyuld've been great, DeBrincat would've been a piece that moved things in the right direction. But coaching has absolutely killed this team. They played pond hockey for 4 years, now Martin has to come oin and coach out 4 years of pathetic coaching to get these young guys playing in a structured environment. The coaching was Dorion's biggest mistake because had he huired Martin 4 years ago instead of Smith, the team is wiinning and the moves that were made would be way more valuable. But we kept Smith for too long and this is the result.

Already things that have been discussed...

- take chances : of course but when you miss on pretty much all your "chances", that's the problem

- coaching : yes and it has been one of Dorion's biggest shortcomings

- DeMelo : hindsight maybe for you but many Sens fans (on another forum I have a member for 15+ years) found the move stupid (like a million other Dorion moves) WITHOUT the benefit of hindsight

- DeBrincat : it looks like his mind was already set on going UFA to sign with Detroit. Giving up a 7th OA for 1 year of a player when you miss the playoffs is totally among the reasons why the rebuild stalled

You're right that things could have ended up better with different coaching but Dorion decided to sink or swim with Dorion and he sank.

That is ludicrous to think his mind was made up. DeBrincat even hinted he was willing to stay but wanted a massive payday. Dorion believed he would be able to get him signed. Sometimes that's the risk you have to take. Like I said, if this team had a coach that was semi-decent at teaching a defensive structure? We wouldn't be anywhere near where we are in the standings. So most of his moves weren't bad, but became sour with one main decision he refused to acknowledge. One mistake makes many of his moves look worse than they really were.

Of course the decision to stick with DJ the whole rebuild hurt everything else but Dorion has made more blunders than any GM I have ever seen

What we have left for

Mika Zibanejad + 33rd OA in 201 + 64th OA in 2018 is ----> Jacob Bernard-Docker

Mark Stone is ----> Erik Brannstrom + Egor Sokolov

Kyle Turris + 4th OA in 2019 + 28th OA in 2017 + 63rd OA in 2019 is ----> Lassi Thomson

Mike Hoffman + 126th OA in 2020 is ----> Philippe Daoust

7th OA in 2022 + 39th OA in 2022 + 2024 3rd round pick (OTT) is ----> 2024 1st round pick (BOS) + 2024 4th round pick (DET) + Donovan Sebrango

10th OA in 2021 is ----> Tyler Boucher

Ryan Dzingel + 212th OA in 2019 + 76th OA in 2023 + 2024 7th round pick (OTT) + 25% retention on Murray AAV is ----> absolutely nothing

Cody Ceci + Ben Harpur + 44th OA in 2023 + 2026 4th round pick (OTT) is ----> 2024 2nd round pick (WSH)


And we're not even talking about the 1st round pick we'll have to forfeit because of the Dadonov situation and all the other blunders

it is INDEFENSIBLE