- Apr 2, 2008
- 25,856
- 13,581
My take on Dorion thus far:
Dorion's good moves:
Hiring Boucher - passed up the coach with the highest winning percentage in history that wanted to come coach in Ottawa, which I thought was insane, but it is looking like a great move. Full credit to Dorion on this one. Boucher looks like the perfect coach for this hockey team. Other than EK, Boucher's amazing system was the biggest reason for this team making it all the way to game 7 of the ECF.
5th for Condon - good move to replace Andy when he had to leave the team for personal reasons. Not exactly an amazing move, considering Condon was available for free not long before we traded for him, and we obviously needed a better backup than Hammond behind Andy at that time too, but it was a good move nonetheless. Having said this, re-signing him to 2.4M for 3 more years is too long a term for too much money.
7th for Wingels - solid acquisition of a good 4th line winger for next to nothing. Not exactly sure why Dorion followed it up with two more forward acquisitions in Burrows and Stalberg, which pushed Wingels and Dzingel out of the lineup a lot of nights, but that's a whole different thing.
Signing Pyatt - this might be more of a Boucher-acquisition, but signing Pyatt for no assets was a great move. Great bottom 6 winger who provides some much needed speed. Also glad we re-signed him to a fair deal.
Dorion's bad moves
Zibanejad + 2nd for Brassard - a trade which looked bad when it happened and has done nothing but look worse and worse since. Traded a bigger, faster, younger and better center for a smaller, slower, older and worse center, and gave up an extra high pick as a cherry on top. Absolutely awful asset management.
Dahlen for Burrows - one of the single worst instances of asset management I've seen in the NHL in some time. You have a 36YR old 3rd line winger with a NTC who's only willing to go to the Sens, the only team that was apparently willing to give him a multi-year extension, and Dorion gave up a 1st-round quality prospect in the biggest buyers market in decades. And the contract he gave Burrows is just awful. Wouldn't have taken him at 2.5M for 2YRs on July 1st, let alone giving up a good prospect for the privilege of signing him to that contract.
Lazar for 2nd - brings Lazar up from the AHL early, despite him having done nothing in his stint in Bingo to warrant a call-up, kills his waiver wire exemption and his development gets ruined by playing beside Kelly and Neil all season. After destroying his value around the league, then trades him for a mediocre return of a mid-2nd. Sold low on a former 1st round pick that showed promise.
3rd for Stalberg - refuses to do anything on July 1, neglecting to fill the bottom 6 with another body, and then is forced to fix the bottom 6 via trade. Overpays for a 4th line winger in a major buyers market, and now it looks like he's not even going to re-sign with us. I like Stalberg, but we gave up too much for him, and after trading for Burrows, his acquisition wasn't necessary. Just pushed Dzingel/Wingels out of the lineup.
Not replacing Methot in FA - losing Methot instead of paying Vegas's insane ransom was the right move, but not trading for him after expansion was a mistake. Dallas got him for a 2020 2nd, which is worth about a 2017 late 3rd/early 4th in my books. If not Methot by trade, we should have traded for Scandella, who went to a divisional rival in Buffalo for diddly squat. If not by trade, Dorion should have signed a replacement in Kulikov/Alzner/Hainsey. Losing Methot and not replacing him with the money opened up is a big step in the wrong direction for the team.
Signing Kelly - I originally liked this move, more because I thought that it would mean Lazar would go to the AHL where he belonged, rather than because I believed Kelly was a quality center. Still I thought he could perform decent as the 4th line C of this hockey team. Did okay for the first half of the year, but faded massively as the year went on, to the point where he became a liability later in the year and had to be replaced by Smith, who's much better as a winger than as a center. Signing Kelly for 1M when Vermette went for 0.75M more, and the likes of Moore, Sceviour and Marchessault all went for around 1M, is looking like a bad decision right now.
Signing Thompson - 1.65M is too much money for a 4th line center and 2YRs is too long of a term for a guy with major injury issues the past couple years. Would have been happy if Thompson was signed for around 1M for 1YR to be our 5th center/13th forward, but the deal Dorion signed him to is just terrible. Could see Paul and White outperforming him at camp, with no center spot available for them for another 2YRs, as a budget team can't scratch 1.65M. Just another case of Dorion getting taken to the cleaners on a contract for a guy Boucher likes.
Losing Puempel on waivers - now don't get me wrong, I don't think Puempel is a future top 6 sniper or anything like that, but he's a young forward that was on pace for 30+ goals and close to a PPG in the AHL last season, and he didn't get any kind of a shot with this hockey team. He played almost every minute of his 13 game stint beside Kelly and Neil. That's not a place where a finisher can succeed. On the Rangers Puempel continued to play on the 4th line, but he played beside Lindberg and Pirri mostly - two guys who are much more skilled than Kelly and Neil. In his time with the Rangers he put up 6G and 9P in 27 games, which put him on pace for 18G and 27P over 82 games. That's not nothing - it's close to the production Burrows had this year, and is better than the production Stalberg had this year. I still think he could carve out a decent career as an Eaves-type player - a grinder who can pot the odd goal due to a good shot, goal scoring instincts and a willigness to go to the net. Wasted asset.
The bad far outweighs the good.
Dorion's good moves:
Hiring Boucher - passed up the coach with the highest winning percentage in history that wanted to come coach in Ottawa, which I thought was insane, but it is looking like a great move. Full credit to Dorion on this one. Boucher looks like the perfect coach for this hockey team. Other than EK, Boucher's amazing system was the biggest reason for this team making it all the way to game 7 of the ECF.
5th for Condon - good move to replace Andy when he had to leave the team for personal reasons. Not exactly an amazing move, considering Condon was available for free not long before we traded for him, and we obviously needed a better backup than Hammond behind Andy at that time too, but it was a good move nonetheless. Having said this, re-signing him to 2.4M for 3 more years is too long a term for too much money.
7th for Wingels - solid acquisition of a good 4th line winger for next to nothing. Not exactly sure why Dorion followed it up with two more forward acquisitions in Burrows and Stalberg, which pushed Wingels and Dzingel out of the lineup a lot of nights, but that's a whole different thing.
Signing Pyatt - this might be more of a Boucher-acquisition, but signing Pyatt for no assets was a great move. Great bottom 6 winger who provides some much needed speed. Also glad we re-signed him to a fair deal.
Dorion's bad moves
Zibanejad + 2nd for Brassard - a trade which looked bad when it happened and has done nothing but look worse and worse since. Traded a bigger, faster, younger and better center for a smaller, slower, older and worse center, and gave up an extra high pick as a cherry on top. Absolutely awful asset management.
Dahlen for Burrows - one of the single worst instances of asset management I've seen in the NHL in some time. You have a 36YR old 3rd line winger with a NTC who's only willing to go to the Sens, the only team that was apparently willing to give him a multi-year extension, and Dorion gave up a 1st-round quality prospect in the biggest buyers market in decades. And the contract he gave Burrows is just awful. Wouldn't have taken him at 2.5M for 2YRs on July 1st, let alone giving up a good prospect for the privilege of signing him to that contract.
Lazar for 2nd - brings Lazar up from the AHL early, despite him having done nothing in his stint in Bingo to warrant a call-up, kills his waiver wire exemption and his development gets ruined by playing beside Kelly and Neil all season. After destroying his value around the league, then trades him for a mediocre return of a mid-2nd. Sold low on a former 1st round pick that showed promise.
3rd for Stalberg - refuses to do anything on July 1, neglecting to fill the bottom 6 with another body, and then is forced to fix the bottom 6 via trade. Overpays for a 4th line winger in a major buyers market, and now it looks like he's not even going to re-sign with us. I like Stalberg, but we gave up too much for him, and after trading for Burrows, his acquisition wasn't necessary. Just pushed Dzingel/Wingels out of the lineup.
Not replacing Methot in FA - losing Methot instead of paying Vegas's insane ransom was the right move, but not trading for him after expansion was a mistake. Dallas got him for a 2020 2nd, which is worth about a 2017 late 3rd/early 4th in my books. If not Methot by trade, we should have traded for Scandella, who went to a divisional rival in Buffalo for diddly squat. If not by trade, Dorion should have signed a replacement in Kulikov/Alzner/Hainsey. Losing Methot and not replacing him with the money opened up is a big step in the wrong direction for the team.
Signing Kelly - I originally liked this move, more because I thought that it would mean Lazar would go to the AHL where he belonged, rather than because I believed Kelly was a quality center. Still I thought he could perform decent as the 4th line C of this hockey team. Did okay for the first half of the year, but faded massively as the year went on, to the point where he became a liability later in the year and had to be replaced by Smith, who's much better as a winger than as a center. Signing Kelly for 1M when Vermette went for 0.75M more, and the likes of Moore, Sceviour and Marchessault all went for around 1M, is looking like a bad decision right now.
Signing Thompson - 1.65M is too much money for a 4th line center and 2YRs is too long of a term for a guy with major injury issues the past couple years. Would have been happy if Thompson was signed for around 1M for 1YR to be our 5th center/13th forward, but the deal Dorion signed him to is just terrible. Could see Paul and White outperforming him at camp, with no center spot available for them for another 2YRs, as a budget team can't scratch 1.65M. Just another case of Dorion getting taken to the cleaners on a contract for a guy Boucher likes.
Losing Puempel on waivers - now don't get me wrong, I don't think Puempel is a future top 6 sniper or anything like that, but he's a young forward that was on pace for 30+ goals and close to a PPG in the AHL last season, and he didn't get any kind of a shot with this hockey team. He played almost every minute of his 13 game stint beside Kelly and Neil. That's not a place where a finisher can succeed. On the Rangers Puempel continued to play on the 4th line, but he played beside Lindberg and Pirri mostly - two guys who are much more skilled than Kelly and Neil. In his time with the Rangers he put up 6G and 9P in 27 games, which put him on pace for 18G and 27P over 82 games. That's not nothing - it's close to the production Burrows had this year, and is better than the production Stalberg had this year. I still think he could carve out a decent career as an Eaves-type player - a grinder who can pot the odd goal due to a good shot, goal scoring instincts and a willigness to go to the net. Wasted asset.
The bad far outweighs the good.
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