Senators Plan No Probe of Gauthier’s Hiring

The Ottawa Senators do not plan to ask the National Hockey League to investigate whether the Mighty Ducks improperly discussed employment with Pierre Gauthier, Senator officials said Friday.

Gauthier resigned as Ottawa’s general manager five weeks ago, citing family reasons and firmly denying rumors that had him returning to the Ducks and replacing Jack Ferreira as general manager. Gauthier returned to the Ducks as team president three weeks ago and replaced Ferreira as general manager Thursday.

“When Pierre left, that was the end of his affiliation with the Ottawa Senators and the end of the story as far as this organization was concerned,” Senator spokesman Morgan Quarry said.

Anaheim Sports president Tony Tavares has said he did not contact Gauthier about potential employment until after he had left Ottawa and returned to the Orange County home he never sold. Gauthier joined the Ducks as assistant general manager during the expansion year of 1993, working under Ferreira, then took the Ottawa job two years later.

When the Mighty Ducks hired Gauthier as president, Senator president Roy Mlakar said he would not ask the NHL to investigate whether the Ducks tampered with Gauthier. Mlakar, under heavy fire from local fans and media and lampooned as “naive and stupid” in Friday’s Ottawa Sun, reiterated Friday the Senators would not pursue the tampering issue despite Gauthier adding the general manager position to his portfolio.

“We have no comment on the management structure of another team,” Mlakar said in a statement.

Gauthier acknowledged he looks bad since the rumors became reality but insisted he never discussed employment in Anaheim until after his departure from Ottawa.

“I didn’t have a job,” Gauthier said Friday. “I talked to a number of teams. Then the president’s job came up here and what happened [in assuming Ferreira’s job] happened.

“They’re calling me a liar. They’re calling me all kinds of names. But I can look my wife in the eye and know I told the truth.”