Steve Staios keeps Senators GM role, Dave Poulin added as senior VP

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After a bit of poking around, Steve Staios, with a nudge from Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer, found the perfect candidate to be the team’s new general manager.

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Himself.

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On Andlauer’s 100th day of ownership, the Senators announced Sunday Staios, the president of hockey operations and interim GM, will have his interim tag removed. They also announced Dave Poulin will be the team’s senior vice-president, hockey operations and Ryan Bowness has been elevated to the role of associate general manager.

The key for the team, according to Staios, will be collaboration. While he’ll have the final say, Staios said the best way for the team to move forward is for a group of hockey people to take the bull by the horns. Together.

“It’s a collaborative approach,” said Staios during a press conference a couple of hours before Sunday’s home game against the Buffalo Sabres. “Far too often in the past here, it hasn’t been that.”

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Take that, Pierre Dorion, who was fired as the team’s GM two months ago for a series of mis-steps.

Another big thing for the team: Stability.

“I understand this team a lot better now,” said Andlauer. “Stability is not a word that’s been synonymous with this organization. My New Year’s resolution as we enter 2024 will be to make stability part of our fan vocabulary.”

Ouch. Another jab at the hierarchy of an organization that’s disappointed its fans for too long.

So, why Staios and why now?

“I see Steve as a natural to be our general manager,” said Andlauer. “He spent the last two months rolling up his sleeves, working diligently to better understand the needs of our team. He knows this team better than anybody else I know.

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“When you think about our team today – assistant coach Hall-of-Famer Daniel Alfredsson, coach Jacques Martin, Ryan Bowness who won two (Stanley) Cups with Pittsburgh before joining us, and David and Steve, we’ve created a hockey ops environment with a common culture of care, passion, hard work, experience, collaboration and incredible competitive fire.”

“As we talked about other (GM) candidates and how we wanted to structure this about being the full-time general manager, I was open to options about how this structure would work,” said Staios. “I’m pleased to take on the responsibilities. It’s a big job, there’s a lot of work to be done. To be able to do this with Dave Poulin and Ryan Bowness, putting together that foundation, gives me great confidence as we move forward.”

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Poulin was vice-president, hockey operations with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2009-2014 (he was also the GM of the Toronto Marlies). Most recently, he worked at TSN, covering the NHL as a hockey analyst on both TV and radio. He also played in 724 career NHL games (205 goals and 325 assists) over 12 seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals.

Bowness joined the Senators in 2022 as assistant GM after serving as the Penguins’ director of professional scouting for three seasons.

With the change from D.J. Smith to Jacques Martin as head coach nearly two weeks ago, Staios said there has been a mandate to add discipline and structure to the Senators’ game.

“I want to see how this coaching staff resonates with this group,” he said. “We have all the talent in the world. You see in the National Hockey League, if you drop off just a bit in your game play, there’s relatively no chance of winning. We still have to build that up. I believe we have the right coaching staff in place to implement those core values to play the right way. As time goes on, you evaluate the roster and see how everybody fits in, what the dynamics are and what changes need to be made.”

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