Senators Owner Eugene Melnyk said that the "timing is right" for the franchise to "bring in a president of hockey operations," according to Bruce Garrioch of the OTTAWA SUN. The position will help Senators GM Pierre Dorion with the team's rebuild, and Melnyk compared the role "to the job the late Bryan Murray had with the organization" as club VP & GM from '07-16. Melnyk: "I never replaced Bryan, but I always planned to. I had to wait, give it time and I had to let Pierre do his thing. With all these assets in place it’s time to bring ... somebody in to help him out. It’s another voice, another thought." Melnyk "praised the work Dorion has done" since taking over the GM’s duties in April '16, as the last 15 months "haven’t been easy with the organization deciding to take a step back to try to get return to being a contender." Melnyk said that he has been "talking to different people about the role but the club is in no hurry." Melnyk: "I’ve been doing what I would call soft recruiting. I’ve been looking and talking to people" (OTTAWA SUN, 3/25). Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman first reported the news on Saturday and said a hire is "not imminent." He said, "The one thing they wanted to come out and say clearly was that this does not mean that Pierre Dorion is in trouble" ("HNIC," Sportsnet, 3/23).
TIME TO TAKE A STEP BACK: Melnyk has long denied that he is looking to sell the Senators, and in Ottawa, Rick Gibbons writes if Melnyk will not sell the team, the "next best for him would be to act as if he had and disappear for a while." He is the "single biggest obstacle to reversing the team’s fortunes, a problem made worse only by the fact he refuses to see it that way." He needs a "high profile hockey person with serious street credibility with the fans" (OTTAWA SUN, 3/25).
