Pierre Dorion Explained

Birth Date:July 6, 1972
Birth Place:Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Occupation:Ice hockey executive
Years Active:1994–2023

Pierre Dorion Jr. (born July 6, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey executive. He served as a scout for the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers before serving as the general manager of the Ottawa Senators (NHL) from 2016 to 2023.

Career

Dorion was an amateur scout for the Montreal Canadiens for eleven years until 2005. He then joined the New York Rangers as a scout of amateur teams. Dorion joined the Ottawa Senators in July 2007 as chief amateur scout. In 2009, he was named director of player personnel.[1] In 2014, Dorion and Randy Lee were both named assistant general managers after general manager Bryan Murray's nephew Tim Murray left his assistant general manager position to become the general manager of the Buffalo Sabres.[2]

On April 10, 2016, Bryan Murray announced that he would be stepping down as the Senators' general manager and that Dorion would succeed him. Murray remained with the team as a senior advisor through the 2016–17 season up until his death in August 2017. Lee remained as assistant general manager.[3] [4] On February 10, 2018, the Senators announced that they signed Dorion to a three-year contract extension.[5] At the end of that contract, Dorion agreed to a three-year extension on September 7, 2021.[6]

Dorion was fired as Senators' general manager on November 1, 2023, after the team was forced by the NHL to forfeit a first-round draft pick as punishment for their role in a voided trade between the Vegas Golden Knights and Anaheim Ducks. Dorion had traded forward Evgenii Dadonov to Las Vegas in 2021 but failed to provide the Golden Knights with the player's 10-team no-trade list, a list which included the Anaheim Ducks.[7] Las Vegas subsequently traded Dadonov to the Ducks at the 2022 NHL trade deadline, but the trade was rejected by the NHL due to Anaheim being on the player's valid no-trade list. Upon Dorion's firing, Steve Staios, the Senators' president of hockey operations, was named the team's interim general manager.[8]

Personal life

Dorion has two children from a previous marriage. Dorion's father was also an ice hockey executive, having worked for the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau during the 1980s, spent a year as an assistant general manager in junior ice hockey with North Bay, and was the head scout for the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1990 until his death from a heart attack in 1994.[9]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Pierre Dorion . Ottawa Senators . 2016-04-10.
  2. Web site: Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray diagnosed with cancer . Canada.com . 2014-07-07 . 2016-04-10.
  3. Web site: Breaking: Murray steps down, Dorion named new Sens GM . Ottawa Citizen . 2016-04-10 . 2016-04-10.
  4. Ottawa Senators . News Release: Ottawa Senators name Pierre Dorion general manager . April 10, 2016 . April 10, 2016.
  5. Web site: Senators announce multi-year extension with GM Pierre Dorion. NHL.com. February 14, 2018. February 10, 2018.
  6. Web site: Senators, GM Pierre Dorion agree to extension through 2024–25 . The Athletic . September 7, 2021 . July 1, 2023.
  7. Web site: Schram . Carol . Pierre Dorion Out As GM Amid Ottawa Senators’ Turbulent Early Season . forbes.com . . 27 November 2023.
  8. Web site: Dorion out as Senators GM, replaced by Staios . NHL.com . November 1, 2023 . November 1, 2023.
  9. Web site: On the road scouting junior prospects: Part II . Winnipeg Sun . 2012-11-03 . 2016-04-10.