Ottawa Senators appoint Steve Staios as interim GM after Dorion firing

The Ottawa Senators have appointed Steve Staios as the interim general manager of the club immediately following the firing of former GM Pierre Dorion. Staios had recently been hired by new owner Michael Andlauer to be the president of hockey operations. Following the ruling by the NHL that the Senators will be forced to forfeit a future first-round pick, Pierre Dorion was relieved of his duties as GM.

Staios played over 1,000 games in the NHL during his playing career from 1995-2012. He played for six different franchises as a depth winger, finishing his career with 220 points. Following his playing career, Staios spent a short amount of time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, first as a player development advisor, then later helping out behind the bench after Randy Carlyle was let go.

In 2015, was then hired by Andlauer, who was the owner of the Hamilton Bulldogs at the time, to be the president of the Bulldogs organisation. The following year he took on the role of general manager in addition to his presidential duties and held the two positions through the 2021-22 season. In his final season there, he was the recipient of the Jim Gregory Award for the top general manager in the Ontario Hockey League.

Dorion spent parts of the last eight seasons as the general manager of the Senators and was the de facto leader of the front office since former owner Eugene Melnyk passed away in March 2022. The team made the conference finals in the 2016-17 season but failed to make the playoffs since then. They have been enduring a gruelling rebuild since then.

Staios’ job in the interim is to stabilise the front office and handle the salary cap as it pertains to the Shane Pinto situation, once his 41-game suspension is complete. It is expected that Staios and Andlauer will find a permanent GM in the near future. A name that has come up in credible rumours for that position is former Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli.