After signing veteran free agent defenceman Johnny Oduya to a one-year contract this morning, Sens general manager Pierre Dorion spoke with the media about the negotiation process, the importance of having depth on the blueline and more...

On agreeing to terms with Oduya:

We just felt, as a group, that when we lost Methot that we have some great young kids coming but you can never have too many defencemen. I think Johnny fits in our mix really well and is someone that can play up and down the line-up. He's got experience which is something that we like and at the same time he's someone that will fit in very well with our system. He's a possible partner for Erik Karlsson but he also gives other guys on our defence corps the possibility to play with him as well.



On potentially pairing Oduya with Karlsson:

That'll be up to Guy Boucher. The coach decides who plays with who and we've said that since I've been GM here. He has carte blanche to play whoever he wants with whoever he wants but at the same time I think without divulging any secrets here, Erik is very happy about us signing this player. He knows that it helps our brand and our culture. We're bringing in someone who's a true pro and you can never know if guys can play with each other until they are paired together in the NHL. Sometimes some guys can play at the international level but it's not the same as if they go together in the NHL. It's definitely a possibility that we're looking at as far as adding depth on our defence though.



On targeting Oduya early in free agency:

We've been in on Johnny since July 2nd. His agent said that we were one of many teams that he was considering and I know we were on the short list when I asked Guy to talk to him. We can talk to players but I think the player has to be familiar with the coach and has to have some level of comfort. I know they talked early in July and that got us down to our short list. I talked to Erik about it just to make sure that they were buddies and I know they had a coffee at some point in time over the last few weeks together in Stockholm. We just wanted to make sure that the fit was right and Erik is on board with this. It will only help our defence corps moving forward.



On the bonus structure included in Oduya's one-year contract:

We definitely don't have concerns about injuries. We're very excited to sign this player. It's more about when you get to a certain age in the NHL you're allowed to do these types of contracts. At times the CBA is to our disadvantage while negotiating but this time the CBA is at our advantage. Once you're over 35, you can do these types of bonuses and that's exactly the way we did it. It motivates a player but I think this type of player doesn't need motivation. He's as good of a pro as I've heard about and everything that we checked in his background tells us that he'll be a great addition to our room.



On what the addition of Oduya could mean for some of the younger defencemen trying to crack the line-up:

We know from the course of last year and that when you look at the position that seems to get injured the most that defencemen are always at a premium. Does his mean that (Thomas Chabot) will start in Belleville? We don't know. We don't know what will happen in camp, there's a chance that we carry 8 defencemen or there's a chance that we carry 7. We also know that Erik might not be ready at the start of the year, we're hopeful that he'll start off the year but at the same time we have to protect ourselves because we know what a really good start can do and how it can help propel your team to a good season.