From the recent trades to the makeup of the Sens' roster, Dorion touched on a number of subjects.
What was the thought process behind the recent trades?
The Derek Stepan trade, the biggest reason we made that trade was that we wanted to bring in leadership. We wanted to bring in someone who has a great hockey IQ and someone who is a pro. We wanted someone who could play tough minutes against top lines. At the same time, we wanted to protect and isolate some of the young players, some of our younger centres like Logan Brown, Colin White and Josh Norris. We want to make sure they grow as they're going to face some very good centres in the Canadian division on any night. We're going to give a chance for our young players to play but at the same time we want them to be successful in their development and have as much internal competition as we can have. No one can come into this camp thinking they have a job. They have to earn it.
On the Tampa trade, it was trading away two players who weren't going to play for us for two players that will play for us this year. It's improving our depth at the forward position and the defensive position. Our job is to make Ottawa better and we felt we did that with this trade. Both are high character players and both are players we feel we are going to need.
How do you feel currently about the roster?
We feel really confident about this roster. We feel we are going to be a very competitive team. We definitely added character, we definitely added more NHL bodies. As we move forward during the season, it's going to be very difficult to make trades with probably 24 U.S. based teams and then the other six teams you're in competition against. I think trades will be way more difficult to make so that's why when we looked and sat down at things, we felt that to make these moves sooner rather than later was probably more beneficial for the organization.
What intrigues you most about the Canadian division?
I think the rivalry aspect for every division in the NHL will be prominent this year and I think that's great. Fans through the means of twitter, sports channels, written media, there's going to be lots to talk about with these Canadian teams playing each other. I think the league has done a really good job as far as protecting its staff and players but also protecting the people in places we're going to visit. With the Canadian government, everything we've done, a lot of people should be applauded here.
How big will the training camp roster and taxi squad be?
It's very simple. We'll have 36 players in camp. A few have been omitted. Derek Stepan, his wife is expecting. Obviously, Cedric Paquette and Braydon Coburn won't be able to join us because of the protocols so we'll have 36 players in camp. As far as the taxi squad, it's been very fluid. We have to have four players on our squad at all times and one of them has to be goalie and you can have a maximum of six. For the first road trip being 13 days, we might have to carry the six especially with the AHL not starting until Feb. 5. After that, we'll have to gage where our injuries are and guys who might have bruises and nicks who might have to come out so we'll attest once we get there. We obviously don't want younger guys not playing but I know guys on the taxi squad will be skated hard so they can be ready for action at any point in time.
