Latest On Pierre Dorion, Canucks GM Vacancy

5/5/26: The Canucks’ interest in Dorion appears to be heating up. The Athletic’s Thomas Drance reported today that there is, according to one league source, “a strong possibility” that Dorion is the team’s next GM.

Vancouver has reportedly begun cutting down their search for their next GM, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman saying on the 32 Thoughts podcast a few days ago that candidates Patrick Burke, Ray Whitney and Ryan Martin are no longer in the running.

This is no guarantee, of course, that the Canucks end up hiring Dorion. But based on Drance’s reporting, the former Senators GM should now be seen as a serious contender to land in Vancouver.

5/3/26: The Canucks have held at least an initial interview with former Senators general manager Pierre Dorion regarding their GM vacancy, Darren Dreger of TSN reports.

Dorion is one of several names to reliably appear in connection with Vancouver’s opening. Since firing Patrik Allvin on April 17, they’ve either received permission to talk to or have otherwise interviewed the Maple Leafs‘ Shane Doan, NHL VP of player safety Patrick Burke, Flames AGM Brad Pascall, and Oilers AGM Bill Scott.

Among those, Dorion is the only one of those with previous experience as an NHL GM. A longtime scout with the Canadiens and Rangers to start his executive career, he joined the Sens as their director of amateur scouting in 2007.

Dorion worked his way up the organizational ladder over the next decade before assuming the GM chair in 2016. In his first season at the helm, Ottawa advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time in 10 years. That was the first and only time they made the playoffs in Dorion’s tenure. A massive rebuild was initiated the following season as the team regressed, and years of stalled progress eventually led to Dorion’s firing early in the 2023-24 campaign.

Dorion hasn’t been hired anywhere since, nor has he been frequently mentioned in connection with any vacancies. That’s no surprise considering how his maligned tenure in Ottawa came to an end. His mishandling of a trade that sent Evgenii Dadonov to the Golden Knights, in which he failed to disclose the player’s no-trade list, resulted in a subsequent botched trade on Vegas’ part when they attempted to send him to the Ducks, which Dadonov had on his list. Ottawa was stripped of a first-round pick as a result, although under new ownership and a new front office, they were given the pick back – albeit locked into 32nd overall – this season.

If Vancouver views experience as paramount, he’d be a fine hire. The particular situation he would be stepping into, though, is eerily similar to the state of the Senators following their Conference Final run. Given how long it took the organization to build forward momentum under his direction, there would be fair criticism about repeating those same mistakes by opting for a “safer” hire in Dorion.