Pierre Dorion shed light Thursday on the Ottawa Senators' decision to place veteran forward Zack Smith on waivers earlier this week.
"We knew that if we let the team know we are not going to accept what happened last (season), including how Zack played, that hopefully the message would be passed to the room," the club's general manager told TSN's Brent Wallace.
Dorion stressed that it wasn't easy, but Smith's play justified the move.
"It was probably the toughest discussion I have ever had with a player." the GM said. "Zack is a high-character person. He is (the) heart and soul of that dressing room, but at the same time, it was performance related."
Smith cleared waivers on Wednesday after being placed on the wire the day before. He'll play for the Senators on Thursday night in their preseason game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The 30-year-old has three years left on his contract at a cap hit of $3.25 million. He managed five goals and 19 points last season.
We're officially one week away from puck drop for the 2018-19 NHL campaign.
To help ring in the new season, we're predicting point totals for every team. So, without further ado, here are the 16 Eastern Conference clubs:
(All point totals are taken from Bookmaker.eu; be sure to shop around for the best numbers available.)
Boston Bruins
Pick: Under 101.5 points
After underlying numbers suggested an uptick for the Bruins following a 95-point 2016-17 season, Boston did just that, surging to 110 points and second in the Atlantic behind an elite top line and a dash of youth movement within the bottom-six forward group and the blue line.
This is one of the tighter numbers right out of the gate. With a gun to my head, I'll bet against the Bruins, or in this case, Tuukka Rask, who isn't exactly trending in the right direction.
Oh, and that Rasmus Dahlin fella should be a pretty decent building block for a future that also includes 20-somethings Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart.
Contender? Hardly. But I'll gamble on the Sabres' revamp.
Carolina Hurricanes
Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire / Getty
Pick: Under 86.5 points
It seems the Hurricanes have been the perennial sleeper among the public for years now, to no avail. They still own the longest playoff drought in the NHL.
The good news is Scott Darling probably can't get worse between the pipes than he was in his first season with the franchise. Then again, where the scoring will come from is the burning question. The Hurricanes have finished bottom 10 in scoring in each of the past five seasons and are now banking on youngsters like Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen to take bigger leaps with Skinner out the door.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Pick: Over 96.5 points
Columbus will soon have to deal with the situations of star winger Artemi Panarin and two-time Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky, who are both eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer. Still, the Jackets are rife with talent up top - with Panarin, Cam Atkinson, and Pierre-Luc Dubois - and have capable goal-scorers on the blue line in Zach Werenski and Seth Jones. The total is ambitious, but I think they'll get there.
Detroit Red Wings
Pick: Over 75.5 points
When Anthony Mantha is your best player in terms of value, you'll struggle to find wins. That's not to discredit Mantha, but to stress just how short on talent Detroit is.
The defense is old. The bottom six is an island of misfit toys. For the Red Wings to at least be fun, they'll need to squeeze out every ounce of scoring from guys like Thomas Vanek and Andreas Athanasiou.
I don't trust the Red Wings to magically spike in the East, but I sure as hell trust this franchise's current position and how it will treat the upcoming season more than, say, the New York Rangers.
Florida Panthers
Joel Auerbach / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Pick: Under 93.5 points
Is Florida the best bad team in the division? Or the worst good team?
The Panthers should be right in the middle of the Atlantic again in 2018-19 - a notch below the Lightning, Bruins, and Maple Leafs, but above the non-contenders.
For the Panthers to succeed again following a 96-point season, you'd be betting on the top-six forward group, which is chock-full of scoring.
What I'm betting against here is the bottom six (yikes) and the expected decline of veteran goaltender Roberto Luongo behind what should be a questionable blue-line corps.
Montreal Canadiens
Pick: Under 80.5 points
I desperately want to find a reason to take this over based on everything the franchise has endured over the last few months. But, I just can't.
The offense would have struggled to score even withMax Pacioretty in the fold. Key players are out due to injury, and that includes Shea Weber, which puts an already suspect defense completely behind the eight ball. We saw last season how tough it was for Carey Price to stop pucks behind a below-average defense, and I wouldn't expect anything different in 2018-19.
New Jersey Devils
Pick: Under 90.5 points
Welcome to the Devils regression train; I'll be your conductor for this long, sad ride back to reality.
This team outperformed its projections last season by a mile thanks to MVP Taylor Hall. That's not to say New Jersey can't surpass this year's projected point total, but I'll take a stab and say the team comes way back down to earth ... or at minimum, under the Vegas total.
New York Islanders
Elsa / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Pick: Over 83.5 points
I still think the Islanders, an underachiever from a year ago, have a shot at nailing this over despite the loss of John Tavares.
There's still some scoring left over. The defense figures to be a middle-of-the-pack group that probably just needs to avoid being horrible. Barry Trotz is now behind the bench, and unless the Islanders start tearing down the walls at midseason, he should be able to get the most out of his roster.
New York Rangers
Pick: Under 75.5 points
Some pundits I respect still peg the Rangers as a team that can jump the low point total despite a talent-poor roster. It's clear which direction New York has chosen to head, and perhaps knowing the playoffs are an afterthought for now will actually help the franchise and new head coach David Quinn.
Or perhaps Henrik Lundqvist is finally on his decline following consecutive subpar seasons, and perhaps the Rangers will roll over with no motivation as a bottom-five team in the league.
Give me the latter, please.
Ottawa Senators
Pick: Under 69.5 points
Yeah, no thanks.
Philadelphia Flyers
Trevor Robb/Twitter
Pick: Under 98.5 points
This team has been mired in mediocrity for a while now, but last season showed a glimmer of hope for the days to come in Philly. The roster contains skilled veterans, bright youth, and the elite defensive pairing of Shayne Gostisbehere and Ivan Provorov. But goaltending is a major concern, and is the one thing keeping the Flyers from an guaranteed jump in the standings.
Philadelphia still figures to be chasing Pittsburgh and Washington while keeping pace with the Blue Jackets. I'm just not ready to push my chips into the middle of the table.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Pick: Over 102.5 points
The Penguins are so good that they topped the 100-point mark (again) last season despite finishing in the bottom seven of the league in both five-on-five save percentage and shooting percentage. Unless 2018-19 is the year we start seeing wear and tear on Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel, this team is simply tough to bet against.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Pick: Over 107.5 points
You can point to distractions within the front office, the caliber of starting goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, how the postseason ended last year, expectations, injury concerns, and all that other jazz to explain why Tampa might disappoint in 2018-19
Still, there's too much talent on both offense and defense for me to pick against this team, even though some of the smarter guys out there are pegging the Lightning as a tad overrated.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Claus Andersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Pick: Under 105.5 points
The youth movement brought in John Tavares to help solidify the Leafs as a true contender. The rich got a bit richer.
That is, offensively, and at the top.
Once you get past Tavares, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and Nazem Kadri, that's where the concern lies. Toronto might be built to simply try to score its way to the Cup, but what happens if it can't? There are still obvious weaknesses on this team - depth and essentially half the defense - and I think the number is a bit inflated due to Tavaras' arrival and offseason traction Toronto has gained.
Washington Capitals
Pick: Under 97.5
I like the Capitals, but I don't love them. Then again, that's usually how it goes with this team.
Washington had been so hard to trust in the past. It was a roster built for contention centered around the best goal-scorer in the world that couldn't make the big leap. The difference last season was once the Caps were written off and sold, they mowed through the postseason.
This season, the aging core is a bit older and the head coach (Trotz) is no longer in the fold. The Capitals are now the hunted, and I'd bet against them here post-Stanley Cup.
Alex Kolodziej is theScore's betting writer. He's a graduate of Eastern Illinois who has been involved in the sports betting industry for 11 years. He can quote every line from "Rounders" and appreciates franchises that regularly wear alternate jerseys. Find him on Twitter @AlexKoIodziej.
It looks as though Montreal Canadiens prospect Jesperi Kotkaniemi has made quite an impression on head coach Claude Julien in his first NHL training camp.
Following the club's 5-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, Julien discussed where the 18-year-old stands with just one preseason game remaining.
"It's pretty hard to not see him on our roster," Julien said, according to TSN's John Lu.
Clause Julien doubles down in English, basically saying management has a say but if it’s up to him Kotkaniemi is staying.
The 19-year-old is coming off an outstanding 2017-18 that saw him break Evgeny Kuznetsov's KHL record for most points by a player under 20 years old. Tolvanen recorded 36 points in 49 games, surpassing Kuznetsov's mark of 32.
Tolvanen entered camp with hopes of cracking the Predators' roster after he was unable to cement a spot last season. Although he joined the team down the stretch a year ago, the 2017 first-round pick had a rather unimpressive camp, failing to record a point in four preseason contests.
The team also announced that defenseman Brian Cooper was released from his professional tryout, but the club expects to send him to training camp with the Admirals.
Making the playoffs in consecutive seasons in today's NHL is no easy feat.
Each year, the cycle of teams to qualify features some fresh faces, and since we've already guessed who those newcomers will be,let's estimate who they might be replacing.
New Jersey Devils
Nobody anticipated that New Jersey would qualify for the playoffs within a calendar year of drafting first overall, but the feisty Devils shocked naysayers with a fast-paced attack, a collection of breakout campaigns, and an MVP season from Taylor Hall.
Hall's Hart-worthy effort was so dominant that his 93 points were 41 clear of Nico Hischier, who finished second in team scoring despite the former missing six games. Hall will be the central figure in New Jersey's offense again, but the gap in production down the roster is too vast to comfortably rely on the Devils squeaking back into the playoffs.
New Jersey certainly has some nice pieces outside of their MVP. Hischier, Kyle Palmieri and Will Butcher are all solid players, but even in last year's dream season, the Devils only eked into the dance by one point, fending off the charging Florida Panthers. Not to mention, a loaded Metropolitan Division will make it even more difficult for New Jersey to qualify in back-to-back seasons.
Colorado Avalanche
Michael Martin / National Hockey League / Getty
Just call them Devils West.
Mirroring New Jersey, Colorado came out of nowhere last season to claim the final Western Conference playoff spot, and like the Devils, did so on the strength of MVP-level play from Nathan MacKinnon. The 23-year-old's 1.31 points per game trailed only Connor McDavid league-wide, but a middling Avalanche team will need more than his individual brilliance to reach for the postseason again.
MacKinnon's linemates Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen also put forth standout seasons in 2017-18, but Colorado's output as a whole is underwhelming for a team that needs to stay afloat in the Central Division gauntlet. Last year, a 10-game win streak in the middle of the schedule largely inflated the Avs playoff odds. Beneath the surface, the numbers suggest a repeat bid is unlikely.
Even with one of the best lines in hockey on their side, at five-on-five, Colorado ranked 27th in possession at 47.57 percent and 28th in expected goals for percentage 46.29, according to Corsica. However, a gaudy PDO (shooting percentage plus save percentage) of 101.45 was enough to mask their flaws and erase the memory of a dreadful last-place finish 2016-17.
They have the pieces to contend soon - and could make another major addition with the Senators' first-round pick in their back pocket - but don't count on the Avalanche to be in the Western Conference playoff picture this season.
Los Angeles Kings
Andrew D. Bernstein / National Hockey League / Getty
The Kings are an interesting team.
Their core is strong, although not exactly young. They have a world-class goalie in Jonathan Quick and landed a major piece in Ilya Kovalchuk via free agency. So, what's holding them back?
Primarily, it's the pieces supplementing Los Angeles' nucleus. Outside of Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Jeff Carter, and Kovalchuk, the Kings lack impact players down the roster. That collection of players is by no means anything to scoff at, but with Dustin Brown's gigantic shooting percentage increase last season, factored in with a less-than-stellar bottom six, L.A.'s offense - which ranked 16th in goals for in 2017-18 - has to be better in order to contend in the Pacific. The Kings face the same problem on their blue-line, which apart from Doughty and Jake Muzzin, features some sizable holes.
Overall, the Kings have the pieces to compete if they stay healthy and things continuously fall their way over 82 games, but that's not exactly an encouraging diagnosis for a team looking to get back to the postseason.
The incident occurred early in the third period of Tuesday night's preseason game between the two clubs, moments before the Capitals scored their third goal of the contest.
ICYMI: Here's the Michal Kempny injury last night.. Happened on #Caps 3rd goal.. Certainly looked like a high hit by Robert Bortuzzo.. Kempny was smiling as he skated off.. Hope that means he's ok.. #ALLCAPSpic.twitter.com/i8KQjecSFH
Capitals head coach Todd Reirden said on Wednesday that the team will continue to evaluate Kempny for an upper-body injury, but the rearguard is believed to have a concussion, according to The Washington Post's Isabelle Khurshudyan.
Anaheim Ducks forward Corey Perry had surgery to repair meniscus and MCL injuries and his recovery timetable is 20 weeks, or about five months, the club announced Wednesday.
