Prominent ESPN hockey writer thinks Pierre Dorion will land Canucks GM job
It’s the kind of news that makes you wonder, will being a Vancouver Canucks fan ever get easier?
The Canucks are about two weeks into their search to find the club’s next general manager. A few ex-general managers have appeared in their search, alongside some intriguing up-and-comers. And of course, they still have a perfectly viable in-house candidate with Ryan Johnson.
But the latest name to surface might be the most troubling of them all.
Ex-Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion, the man who torpedoed a young, up-and-coming team to the bottom of the NHL standings, is reportedly in the mix to be the Canucks’ next GM.
Not only that, but according to multiple reporters, he might even be the front-runner.
The Athletic’s Thomas Drance first reported that there’s a “strong possibility” that Dorion will be named the next GM of the Canucks, a report that was backed up by CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal.
But ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski took it one step further.
“I think he’s gonna get the gig,” Wyshynski said bluntly while speaking to Sportsnet 650’s Mike Halford and Jason Brough. “I’ve heard it’s trending that way. He came into the fray very late, and when you do that, they probably feel like he’s a quality candidate.”
When the Canucks interest in Dorion began to surface on Monday night, fans were less than pleased. And you can’t blame them.
Three of his biggest moves ended up being complete flops for the franchise:
- Acquired Matt Duchene from the Colorado Avalanche for what ended up being a fourth overall draft pick (Bowen Byram)
- Traded Mark Stone to the Vegas Golden Knights for Oscar Lindberg, Erik Brannstrom, and a second-round pick
- Traded three draft picks for Alex DeBrincat, including a seventh overall pick, only to trade him away a year later once it was clear he wasn’t going to re-sign
Dorion also traded away Erik Karlsson in his prime. That trade probably would have ended up as a loss if it weren’t for the San Jose Sharks’ own miscalculations, which resulted in the Senators drafting Tim Stutzle third overall.
But there were also several Benning-esque moves throughout his tenure.
Dorion consistently traded away draft picks for fringe roster players. Across multiple trades, Dorion acquired a broken Matt Murray, Travis Hamonic, Erik Gudbranson, Derek Stepan, Austin Watson, Josh Brown, and Vlad Namestnikov for two second-round picks, a third-round pick, two fourth-round picks, and a fifth-round pick.
Not only that, but he later traded away some of those players for lesser draft picks. In the case of Murray, he had to attach draft picks to get out of the contract.
After Ottawa made the Conference Finals in Dorion’s first year, they missed the playoffs for the final six years of his tenure.