Rob DiMaio named as the Director of Player Personnel and Professional Scouting
Written by: Tyler Beauchesne
Photo taken by Bruce Bennet/Getty Images
According to the official Ottawa Senators Twitter page (It is not X, it will never be X), General Manager Steve Staios has appointed Rob DiMaio as the Director of Player Personnel and Professional Scouting to boost their hockey operations department.
https://x.com/Senators/status/1792935296855622085
DiMaio was a former player who played 894 career games in the league. He got his front office start with the St. Louis Blues in 2008 where he was a professional scout until 2012 when he became the Director of Pro Scouting. He stayed in that role until 2022 when he went to the Anaheim Ducks as an Assistant General Manager. Staios said that DiMaio is the perfect fit to lead our scouting department. “He brings more than 30 years of experience as a player and executive and has a track record of success. Rob is a hard-working leader and will be a great match to the team and culture we are building here in Ottawa.”
This is a home run hire! For the last month, I have questioned the “best in class” mission statement that Owner Michael Andlauer wants for this team. I hope that Head Coach Travis Green works out but the hire left a sour taste in the mouths of many Sens fans. However, this hire gives me more trust in the process as DiMaio is a proven winner with a great track record. The scouting has not been the best in recent years, yes the 2020 draft was a success but the Sens have had quite a few misses at the draft that have set the team’s progress back a bit. This hire shows that the Senators want to build a contender.
DiMaio is responsible for many great draft picks in St. Louis who were key contributors to that 2019 Cup run or have become stars in the league. These players include Alex Pietrangelo, Vladimir Tarasenko, Joel Edmundson, Jordan Binnington, Colton Parayko, Ivan Barbashev, Ville Husso, Vince Dunn, Tage Thompson, Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas and Joel Hofer. That is an elite group of talent, even if some of these players did not stay in St. Louis they still became great players in the league.
Even with the Ducks, DiMaio was helping them make moves to eventually become a scary team. In his time there, they drafted Pavel Mintykov and Leo Carlsson and traded Jamie Drysdale for Cutter Gauthier. That forward group will be elite in a few years. I expect DiMaio to continue his success in Ottawa and bring back the glory days of Sens scouting, where we found stars such as Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Erik Karlsson, and Mark Stone.
With all this experience and a big draft for the Senators coming up, I trust in his ability to pick the right player to make this team stronger. He has proven his ability to find star talent no matter what pick a team has in the draft. Many of the players I mentioned before were either later in the first round or taken in later rounds. DiMaio has an eye for talent that many executives in the league would kill to have in their front office, and I am incredibly proud that he is joining our team.
Welcome to Ottawa, Rob! We welcome you with open arms and trust that you will do great things in this city. If you somehow read this, could you tell Staios to make Zayne Parekh an Ottawa Senator? I would greatly appreciate that, thank you.
