Bullish Senators fans bask in the sunlight of ‘Summer of Pierre’ Dorion

Summer used to not be considered Pierre Dorion’s season.

Before the summer, when Ottawa Senators general manager Dorion (along with assistant GM Trent Mann) presided over the NHL draft, it was a different story. The Senators had some big designs, perhaps none bigger than 2020 – the year of Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson, Ridly Greig, Roby Jarventie, etc.

Yet when summer rolled around and it was time for free agents, Ottawa usually hung around at the shallow end of the UFA pool, collecting veteran trash to try and fill a team-building need here and there with strong young cores like Brady Tkachuk, Thomas Chabot and Josh Norris.

That was then. And now?

Now Dorion, once a prime target for fans for online grumbling, is being treated as a rock star in Ottawa-Gatineau. He’s beaming for photo ops as he hangs out with the stars (including his new BFF Claude Giroux) at the recent CP Canadian Women’s Open golf tournament.

Now you can order your GMPD Hot Pierre Summer t-shirt in multiple sizes for $23.94 (down from $27.53 – let’s face it, summer goes by fast).

With all due respect to the talk in Calgary that Brad Treliving is the “MVP of the Summer,” spare a thought for Dorion, whose moves preceded those of the Flames’ GM and may have been forgotten outside of Ottawa. Upbeat senator tweets circulate here every day throughout the summer.

The inclination for timeliness may have tipped the scales towards Treliving, who made the best of a difficult situation by bringing in Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri while saying goodbye to Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk and the contract of Sean Monahan . We’ll see how this all plays out in Calgary and in Florida.

Ottawa too. It will be a fascinating season to see how a host of new faces can come together as a competitive entity.

Has there been a more upheaval summer in the Senators’ 30-year history? I would suggest that there wasn’t.

Before the Flames made headlines with those big deals, Dorion was already hitting the fences. Back on the July 7 draft, Dorion acquired two-time, 41-goal goalscorer Alex DeBrincat from the Chicago Blackhawks for a first-round pick and two third-round players.

Dorion then canceled the contract of often-injured goaltender Matt Murray, as well as a third- and seventh-round pick for the Toronto Maple Leafs for future consideration. A day after that July 11 transaction, the Senators cemented their goaltending position by acquiring veteran Cam Talbot from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for potential goaltender Filip Gustavsson, who was coming off a so-so season in the Ottawa organization.

Just like that, the Senators should have, on paper at least, the best goaltender tandem in the last five years in Talbot and Anton Forsberg, coming off their breakout year last season with the Sens.

Dorion wasn’t finished yet. On the first day of the free hand, July 13, the Orleans suburban GM signed one of the most sought-after offensive stars as fellow compatriot Giroux signed a three-year, $19.5 million deal.

It was a commitment that kept grins on faces all summer long. At 34, Giroux has quite a few miles under his belt but is keen to play for his hometown side and is training hard to make a big contribution to a suddenly daunting attacking line-up.

On the same front, Ottawa’s 35-goal scorer of 2021-22 Norris has been signed on an eight-year, $63.6 million deal. Norris is only 23 and a big part of Sens’ future. Teams now have to contend with a power play characterized by DeBrincat and Norris, not to mention other holdovers like Tkachuk, Drake Batherson and Stützle, who himself was rewarded with his first major contract this week – an eight-year, 66.8 deal million dollars goes into the next season.

With so many photo opportunities, it’s no wonder Dorion smiles.

“We definitely have a better team than last year,” Dorion said in a recent interview on Ottawa Sports Radio. “We are a better team than last year as long as everyone is healthy.”

At the same station, head coach DJ Smith suggested that for the first time in his tenure, the Sens will have the ability to win some games through skill alone.

Meanwhile, Dorion continues to try to improve his defenses. Right now, D-Corps consists of Chabot, Artem Zub, Nick Holden and Travis Hamonic, Nikita Zaitsev, and then the prospects led by Sanderson, Jacob Bernard-Docker, Lassi Thomson, etc. With Chabot-Zub as the top pair, Sanderson will given a chance to join Hamonic or Holden in a second pairing, but won’t be rushed if he’s not ready.

Whether an upgrade could include Jakob Chychrun from the Phoenix Coyotes remains to be seen. Dorion has refused to give up some of his blue chippers in the pipeline, namely Greig, Shane Pinto and Jarventie.

When the camp opens on September 21, there will be storylines everywhere – from offensive chemistry to defensive competition and who starts in goal.

Pierre’s summer is about to intrude into fall’s expectations for Smith and his revamped roster. In a sign that Ottawa is determined to start this season quickly, nearly all roster players had checked in by Labor Day weekend to attend open skates weeks before training camp.

Key Sens moves out of season

IN: Claude Giroux, Alex DeBrincat, Cam Talbot, Jake Sanderson.

OUT: Matt Murray, Connor Brown, Colin White, Chris Tierney, Tyler Ennis, Josh Brown, Adam Gaudette, Michael Del Zotto, Zach Sanford, Victor Mete.

ADVANCED: Josh Norris, eight years, $63.6 million. Mathieu Joseph, four years, $11.8 million, Tim Stutzle, eight years, $66.8 million.