I would not mind keeping Pierre Dorion on board in some capacity. Not as G.M, definitely not as President, but maybe in a role somewhere in our scouting department.
The guy did put together a core of Tkachuk, Stützle, Norris, Batherson, Pinto, Chabot and soon to be Sanderson which is an impressive haul of talent.
Add Jarventie, Sokolov, Daoust, Crookshan, Boucher, Thomson, Bernard-Docker etc. and I would say he did pretty good restocking the cupboard.
He had an INCREDIBLY easy job (and yet our team hasn't taken off despite more rebuilding years than other teams)
When the rebuild started, he already had guys like Chabot, White, Batherson, Formenton, Paul, Driedger, Daccord, etc in the pool. 2 of these guys are our best players, 1 D-man, 1 forward.
He then had the luxury to trade these players (all in their prime except maybe 30 y/o Brassard) : Karlsson, Stone, Duchene, Pageau, Brassard, Hoffman, Dzingel, Ceci... Rebuilding teams usually don't have nearly as much quality to trade, like NOT EVEN CLOSE.
Congrats I guess for not screwing up (?) on drafting Stutzle, Tkachuk and Sanderson with 3rd, 4th and 5th OA picks. We could be grateful they didn't "
bouchered" up these picks...
You could say "
but he's the one and went out and got Duchene and Brassard!". It's true but anybody wanting to defend Dorion would rather NOT say that lol
He kept them around and got them signed to long term deals. Dorion was also heavily involved in drafting when Murray was still G.M, so I am sure Dorion had a say in drafting both Batherson and Chabot.
Bryan Murray hired Dorion for 2007-08, which coincided with our turn around in drafting (Murray revamped the whole scouting department). Our first pick in 2008 was Erik Karlsson
We wish Dorion stayed in the scouting department but it's natural to be seeking promotions. When Murray got older and sick, he had a opportunity open. All he had to was to be a YES man for Melnyk
