Dorion cautious about making deals
Don’t go out and purchase a Matt Duchene jersey if you’re an Ottawa Senators fan.
Senators GM Pierre Dorion, speaking on TSN 1200 after the club’s skate at the Canadian Tire Centre on Monday, confirmed he’s held talks with Colorado Avalanche GM Joe Sakic about a possible trade but indicated a deal isn’t realistic because of the asking price.
While Dorion didn’t confirm whether the talks involved Duchene and centre Gabriel Landeskog, who has also been mentioned in trade rumours, Sakic is looking for a boatload of assets in return.
The belief is the Avs wants Ottawa defenceman Cody Ceci along with one of the club’s two blue-chip prospects — Saint John blueliner Thomas Chabot or Boston College centre Colin White — a first-round pick in 2017 plus a couple of other assets to deal Duchene or Landeskog.
“I’ve talked to (Sakic), as I’ve talked to a lot of my other counterparts, and maybe some names aren’t out there,” Dorion said Monday.
“It’s the right thing to do to kick tires to find out what’s available and what’s not available from their team. I don’t think the reports are always accurate and sometimes it’s better to hear from the horse’s mouth. Joe and I talked and at this point in time I can’t see us going in that direction. It wouldn’t make sense. We want to do something to try to improve the team and making deals is very difficult to do.
“We’re second after Florida as far as making deals but I can’t see us mortgaging everything in the future and some stuff in the present to get one or two or whatever players are out there. I think we have to be realistic that we want to improve, but to give up three, four or five assets would be something that would be very difficult to do.”
Dorion, who dealt for depth forward Tommy Wingels from the Sharks last month, said he’s still considering acquiring a forward or defenceman before the March 1 NHL trade deadline.
“If we can improve our depth or improve a position it might be something that we look at but there’s nothing really specific at this point in time,” Dorion said.
Dorion confirmed he’s had contract discussions with the agent for UFA goaltender Mike Condon. He told the station he’s also sat down with winger Tom Pyatt’s agent in hopes of getting something done before he hits the market July 1.