My belief, expressed back in April, that the local rumours about moving DeBrincat ultimately originated from within the org, seem justified as Pierre Dorion has finally made public his desire to move the player. This dovetails into what I said when he was acquired back in the summer, which was that there was a good chance the deal would ultimately fail. Dorion has already admitted he has no hope of getting back the value he gave up for the player (a top-ten pick, an early 2nd, and a 3rd next draft), hoping for something like a 2nd or 3rd round pick. So, as I’ve asked repeatedly since he was acquired, what was the point of trading for him? One year of DeBrincat for what (moving from 26th to 20th overall)? Dorion tends to get a free pass and this has been helped this time by drip feeding this eventuality for the last two months. As I said last summer, his acquisition echoes that of Matt Duchene and with similar results (I’m not sure how many people realize Dorion has surrendered the 4th and 7th overall picks for players who didn’t get the team into the playoffs and who spent less than two seasons with the org). This is one of the reasons why I don’t trust Dorion and I’m hopeful his days as GM are numbered.

Dorion also talked about how the team has dealt with their RFAs:
Qualified: Brannstrom, Pinto, Sokolov, Bernard-Docker, and Mandolese
Not qualified: Gauthier, Gambrell, Lodin, Ferguson, Larsson, and Aspirot

Those not qualified all had arbitration rights and in theory could be brought back as FAs (I don’t know that any are worth bringing back, but keep that in mind–if I was going to guess there’s a chance someone like Aspirot could return on an AHL-deal). Among those qualified, only Brannstrom has arbitration rights, but I’d expect him to be signed and/or moved long before that. The only surprise for me was retaining Mandolese (cf), although that may be as an extra piece to move or as depth going forward.

It’s funny, but not long after saying the Sens didn’t need to add anymore skill, Mendes says that the team needs one or two top-six forwards. I can’t even pretend to understand what’s changed for him between June 9th to June 26th, but it echoes a similar about face from Marc Method on Zub’s contract (that change took about four months).

This article was written by Peter Levi

June 27, 2023
Categories: Belleville Senators, Ottawa Draft, Ottawa Senators, Ottawa trades . . Author: Eye on the Sens

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