TSN's James Duthie interviewed Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion ahead of the NHL Draft and opening of free agency.

The Ottawa Senators hold picks No. 3, No. 5, and No. 28 in the first round of the upcoming NHL Draft. TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button projected the Sens to select C/LW Tim Stutzle (No. 3), RW Lucas Raymond (No. 5), and LW John-Jason Peterka (No. 28) in the TSN Mock Draft. What do you think of Button’s picks for you?

Dorion: I definitely like No. 3 (Tim Stutzle), we’ll have to see what happens at No. 4 before we debate on No. 5, and there are so many things that can happen with our 28th pick: moving up, moving down, trading it. If we get three picks in the first round we’ll still be happy. But we’d be pretty happy with those three players.

Button has called this a potential franchise-defining draft for the Senators. Is that how you see it?

Dorion: This is definitely a huge day for our organization. Especially on Tuesday with picks No. 3 and No. 5, getting the two impact players we feel we’re going to get. There’s a strong chance we have a third one with our pick No. 28. But having nine picks in the first 71 selections definitely means that it can really alter the direction of this franchise.

Have you received any firm offers for any of your picks, most significantly No. 5?

Dorion: I think we’re going to keep No. 5. I would probably put it at 99 per cent sure we’re going to make that selection at No. 5. We always listen. Have we gotten firm offers? I think that might come closer to the draft. But at this point and time we see ourselves selecting at No. 5.

So most likely if you deal one, it’s the one at No. 28?

Dorion: If there’s a deal, it could be No. 28 or any one of our picks in the second, third, or fourth round. That is probably more likely to happen that at pick No. 5.

*The Senators traded their fourth round pick (No. 95 overall) to the Florida Panthers in exchange for defenceman Josh Brown after this interview.

Do you think there will be more or less trades in a virtual draft?

Dorion: I think that there could be more just for the simple reason that we all know how to get a hold of each other. We all have our contact list … I think there could be more potential trades, if teams are high on certain players, than they have been in the past.

What is the best way to solve your goaltending issue long-term?

Dorion: Probably the best way to solve our goaltending issue is look at the four young players that we have at the goaltending position right now.

Joey Daccord only played half the year in the American Hockey League last year, his numbers were as good as any goalie’s that played there. We went from a fourth place team to a first place team when he took over.

Filip Gustavsson has great upside. He was the best goalie at the World Juniors two years ago.

Kevin Mandolese was probably the best goalie in Major Junior in the second half last year in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

And we took a gamble last year in the second round on a guy that is 6’7 who moves really well in Mads Sogaard. So I think internally is probably the best way to look at it for us to improve our goaltending.

What specific positional needs would you like to address?

Dorion: I think it’s adding the right mixture of players that could come in. We do have a lot of good young players in our organization just by the fact that (AHL affiliate) Belleville was the best team in the AHL, or one of the highest scoring teams in the AHL. So we have a lot of young prospects on our team and then we’re going to give a chance to those players internally to crack our roster this year. But at the same time, we know we can’t have just a bunch of 21-, 22-, and 23-year-olds on the team. So it’s just finding the right mixture and we hope to do that via trade or via free agency when that opens up on October 9.

Wouldn’t your priorities be centre and right defenceman?

Dorion: There’s interest everywhere. I think when you’ve finished in the last three years 30th, 31st, and 30th place you have to look at upgrading at all positions.

How many times have you guys conducted your own mock drafts ahead of October 6?

Dorion: We have done two so far and they have been run extremely well by our staff. Trent Mann and I are always Ottawa. Our scouts are assigned different teams, we talk potential trades, they finally realize that it’s pretty tough to make hockey trades on draft day, and it’s been a very productive experience for us. And we’re going to have one more either Sunday or Monday and then we’ll be done with the mock drafts.