Will Pierre Dorion remain general manager of the Ottawa Senators under new ownership?

The Ottawa Senators’ protracted sale process has raised more questions than it’s answered, at least to this point.

Will Ryan Reynolds be involved? Nope. Will Alex DeBrincat re-sign? Maybe not. Is a new arena deal coming as part of the package? Who knows.

And on Monday’s edition of the Daily Faceoff Live show, Senators reporter Brent Wallace joined Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna to discuss whether the club might retain the services of general manager Pierre Dorion and head coach D.J. Smith under new ownership.

Frank Seravalli: Anyone that you talk to, or anyone that Pierre Dorion has talked to, he’s told them, ‘I’m coming back, I’m going to be the GM of this team, the bidders all support me, I’m in.’ What is your sense of where this is at? Where does this land, and what does it mean for not just Pierre Dorion but also D.J. Smith?

Brent Wallace: I think that’s wishful thinking. Now, let me preface it by saying, we’re getting late into the season here. Like, if this thing doesn’t close until September, then Pierre Dorion may very well start the year as the general manager. I don’t know that he’s going to be long-term. I don’t know that he survives getting through the initial owner shift. I think there are some owners that are looking to bring in their own people and do that right away. Listen, they just didn’t start this plan a couple months ago, they’ve been at it for a while, which, you know, means they’ve already thought of who their team is going to be. We’re hearing about the Michael Andlauer group maybe wanting to bring in Patrick Roy as the head coach and Peter Chiarelli as an advisor and Steve Staios as the GM. Well, that pretty much sums up what they think of what the current management looks like in Ottawa.

I still think D.J. Smith survives. I think he gets one more year. He’s got one year left on his contract and then he’s got an option by the team for the following year. Enough players have really vouched and supported him that I think, perhaps, he gets a longer leash. I don’t know that Pierre Dorion does, but maybe.

Watch the full episode here: