‘WE’VE GOT TO RELOAD’
Team hopes to retain much of group as possible, prepares for improvements
As Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators readied for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals, Senators GM Pierre Dorion and coach Guy Boucher talked about next year.
The Ottawa Senators won’t rest on their laurels.
As general manager Pierre Dorion and coach Guy Boucher met with the media Monday at the Canadian Tire Centre to wrap up 2016-17 campaign, they were pleased with the most successful season for the franchise in a decade but understand the Senators can’t afford to sit still if they’re to improve.
After being eliminated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final last Thursday, Dorion and Boucher have shifted their focus to next season following seven hours of exit meetings with the players Saturday with the goal in 2017-18 to have the franchise make the next step toward a Stanley Cup.
“I think we’re headed in the right direction. We can always improve,” Dorion said Monday. “We can always get better. I don’t think we’re looking for anything specific. If we can improve this team we will.”
And the Senators won’t be trying to repeat the magic with the same group.
Before the playoffs started, Dorion called off all talks with agents to focus on the post-season. Yes, he wants to keep RFA’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Ryan Dzingel, but isn’t sure what route the club will take with UFA’s Tommy Wingels, Viktor Stalberg, Tom Pyatt along with veteran forwards Chris Kelly and Chris Neil.
“A few days after we were done we started conversations again,” Dorion said.
No question Boucher wants Pyatt back while the future of Wingels and Stalberg, who were deadline rentals, is uncertain. Since Kelly and Neil haven’t just been good players on the ice for the Senators — they’ve made contributions in the room and in the community — Dorion wants to sit down with both players individually.
They’ve both expressed a desire to play next year but they may not be in the club’s plans just judging by how little they played in the playoffs.
“I will meet personally with Chris Neil and Chris Kelly in the next few weeks to find out what their plans are,” Dorion said. “If they’re in relation with our plans, then we’ll go from there.”
Dorion also has to get plans in place for the expansion draft next month. One of the first calls Dorion made when the season ended was to Vegas GM George McPhee to discuss possible trades. The Senators can sweeten the pot to ensure the Knights don’t select a player the Senators want to keep.
The only player Dorion committed to protecting was goalie Craig Anderson, and he isn’t sure how the Senators will roll the dice with their expansion list.
“We’re going to lose a player,” Dorion said. “That’s part of the deal. Las Vegas paid a lot of money to get in this league. Are you mad about it? No. That’s part of the deal. You accept it and you move on. We’ve got enough depth that I don’t see any big, radical changes coming to this team next year.”
Dorion admitted he will look at the possibility of asking alternate captain Dion Phaneuf to waive his “no move” clause so the Senators can protect Marc Methot.
“It’s something we’re going to talk about internally in the next week,” Dorion said. “We know we have quite a few good defencemen and we know if we end up losing a defenceman we know we have guys that can come in and replace them.”
Dorion said he expects defenceman Thomas Chabot,
who had a standout season in the QMJHL with the St. John Sea Dogs, to push for a position next year along with prospect Ben Harpur, who saw some playing time in the playoffs.
“We’ve got, probably one of the best defencemen outside the NHL (in Chabot), who’s going to look for a spot next year,” Dorion said.
The message from the players in the exit meetings was to try to keep as much of the group together as possible.
“Last year, a lot of guys said, ‘We can be a good in a few years’ and in some ways that frustrated me a bit,” Dorion said. “This year, a lot of guys said, ‘We were one goal (away), let’s not do too many changes.’ A few players felt this was the greatest group of guys and a few players, who were here in the past, felt this was the biggest culture change we’ve ever had.”
Boucher said the Senators should feel good about where they’re at.
“Living the playoffs is invaluable and becoming playoff players (is important). It doesn’t make you less hungry. You want it again,” Boucher said. “The challenge is the year when you come back you forget where you started. From game to game, you have to build it all back from scratch and that’s how it’s going to be next year.
“The reality of the NHL now is making the playoffs is extremely difficult from one year to the next. Teams are going to get better. We need to be improving. The players realize what they’ve done and we’ve got to do it all over again.”
I think we’re headed in the right direction. We can always improve. We can always get better.