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Pierre Dorion, the general manager of the Ottawa Senators, spoke about the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the reaction if his team does not secure the playoffs. "You've never heard me say make the playoffs from the get-go because I knew where we were and I knew where we needed to be," - he said, as quoted by nhl.com "I think if we do make the playoffs it's a bonus, but the growth of this team was the most important thing this year." Speaking to NHL.com, Dorion was candid and talked about a variety of topics.
One of the topics was whether he expected his team to be in the position it is currently in: "Pretty much. Obviously, we've had a few losses. I didn't foresee (goalie) Cam Talbot getting hurt the day after the trade deadline in a game.
But you know what, we're playing meaningful games. The best thing for our team is the growth of our young core this year and that's what's happening with all these young players except for one, Josh Norris, who is hurt. They're growing through this run of trying to get into the playoffs.
That's the best and biggest growth that we could have."- he continued
Pierre Dorion on his team
Pierre has enormous confidence in the team and believes that they can make great progress in the coming period. He believes that they can learn a lot from this season and apply it in the coming ones.
"Yes, for sure. Everyone knows that the games ramp up through the season. There are segments in the season. There's a segment I would say up until about U.S. Thanksgiving. It goes to Christmas, and then from Christmas on to the trade deadline.
Then you get the meaningful games. It's kind of like four quarters in the year. Now, I'm generalizing a little bit, but in that last part they're the hardest games to be played when you're in it. The last few years we weren't in it, no one takes us seriously, and we're just going in playing carefree.
Now the games matter and I really think, to your point, when we look back in a few years we're going to say to ourselves that we made a lot of progress, and we learned what competing for the playoffs is all about. That carries over when you get into the playoffs too."