Dorion Speaks: Puempel, Dzingel, White, Hammond

Senators general manager Pierre Dorion made an appearance on TSN 1200’s In the Box with Steve Lloyd and Todd White today. You can find the full audio here.

On letting Ryan Dzingel know that he’s staying in Ottawa for the year:

“We told him that last week. And his play’s gotten even better ever since we told him, so maybe we should’ve told him a bit earlier. Ryan’s proven to us that he’s definitely an NHL player. After time in the hotel I think (he) was just ready to move on and get his own place.”

On Dzingel’s play this season:

“We always knew he had the speed and the ability to drive, that it was just about committing to pay the price and getting inside and getting into the dots and converting on his chances and using his speed to find open lanes and get the puck to his linemates. And he’s been able to do those things. His agent told me when we did the contract this summer ‘he’ll prove to you guys.’ And I said ‘that’s great, prove it to us.’ And you know what, he’s one guy that’s definitely proven it to us and congratulations to him. We’re happy when our players have success. No one more than me wanted Hoffman to get 30 goals last year. No matter what it meant for arbitration, we want our players to have success. And when you see someone like Ryan that’s gone through the organization have that type of success, we’re happy for them.”

On if he was surprised that the Rangers claimed Puempel:

“No. I was with a few friends Saturday night and I said ‘this is what’s going to happen the next few days.’ We put Puempel on waivers, and I knew it wouldn’t leak because they’re my buddies, and I just said to them ‘Hammond’s going to clear and Puempel’s going to be taken.’ And that’s exactly what happened. I told that to Chris Moore driving over to the Sensplex today. I said ‘Puempel will be taken today.’ Scorers (don’t) get through, even though Matt hasn’t produced here, scorers always get taken on waivers. You look at who got taken on waivers this year. Pulkkinen, Frk, Griffith; they’re all guys that have a history of scoring in the minors. So you know that’s going to happen, and good for Matt. Matt’s confidence level had gone down and we just thought that it’d be the best thing for him to go down to Binghamton, find his scoring touch back. And it’s unfortunate, they’re not easy conversations.”

On Andrew Hammond going through waivers:

“The same thing with Andrew (Hammond) when I told him Saturday after the skate that he’s going to be sent down. Andrew’s a terrific human being, a great guy, big part of our success a few years back, but you refuse a conditioning assignment and we couldn’t throw him back in the net with him playing four periods in over a month. It wouldn’t have helped him be in a good situation to have success and it wouldn’t have helped us. Andrew’s going to back here at some point in time this year when Andy’s going to be gone. Andy’s still our No. 1 and he’s the one we’re going to ride for our quest to make the playoffs, but at this point in time, we just felt that Andrew needed playing time.”

On the situation in Binghamton with three goalies:

“I alluded to that in the press conference. Pierre Groulx, Kory Cooper, Randy (Lee) and Kurt (Kleinendorst) will all talk in the next hour or so and we’ll talk about it. It’s not a big deal, I think if we go back - who was I talking to, Olaf Kolzig and Byron Dafoe both spent time in the East Coast League - so if either one of our goalies, even though one’s in his third year and the other one’s in his second year of pro, goalies it takes longer to develop. It’s a position that I think you have to be the most patient with. If you look at the success of Ben Bishop, how long it took him, and certain other guys. So going to the East Coast League (sic) for those other two guys won’t be the worst thing. Andrew’s going to go down, he’s going to play, it’s going to be the same situation, he’s not going to play every game because the other guy has to play once in a while, but in the American League, you know how the weekends are. They just played three in three and got five out of six points, so we’re happy about that. There’s enough  playing time there for Andrew and Chris Driedger and Matt O’Connor, for all of them to play.”

On Mike Hoffman and Bobby Ryan’s injuries:

“I think the coach is going to address it, but I liked both of them today in practice. I think Hoff has a really good chance and Bobby we’ll wait and see how he is tomorrow, but again, I’d rather the coach speak on injuries, that way i don’t get myself in trouble. But there’s a good chance Bobby will play for sure against Boston, if not, on Saturday against Carolina. While I think Hoff’s chances are really good for tomorrow night.”

On if he worries about the organization’s depth after losing Puempel:

“Not at all. I was in Bingo Friday. And probably the best line was Nick Paul, Curtis Lazar, Buddy Robinson. Really impressed by Casey Bailey. Impressed, too, by Michael Blunden. Varone did some good things and some bad things and all those guys we know can play games for us. Perron got two goals the following night, so he’s on his way, probably won’t be called this year, he’s got to learn the pro way, but he’s definitely shown some good things. As far as forwards, I’m not worried at all. I think we’ve got more than enough depth.”

On Colin White:

“I also talked about, there’s a guy playing in Boston College that i would bet a lot of money that he’ll be playing for us some time before the end of the year.”

On Curtis Lazar:

“If he plays the way he played Friday night in Binghamton and the way he played Saturday, he’ll be here to stay.”

On Clarke MacArthur missing practice:

“Don’t read too much into if he’s there or not there. With Clarke, some days he’s going to be here because he might be doing some other things to help his progress along. We all want Clarke back. We know Clarke makes us definitely a better team. I wish Clarke was playing tomorrow night. But as I said from Day 1, we’re going to take our time. We’re going to make sure that the doctor’s give him clearance to play, that we’re good with what he feels. He wants to play, we want him in our lineup, can’t come soon enough, but we’re going to make sure that it’s done properly. And once he’s in, we hope he’s in for good.”