from Ian Mendes of TSN,

With less than three weeks to go until the NHL trade deadline, Pierre Dorion knows that time is running short.

In that condensed window, the Ottawa Senators general manager has to figure out how to sign his top three scorers – Mark Stone, Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel – to lucrative contract extensions. Failing that, Dorion may be forced to trade all three of the pending unrestricted free agents.

On Tuesday, Dorion admitted he probably can’t take things right up to the 3 p.m. ET deadline on Feb. 25 when it comes to negotiations with his pending UFAs.

“I don’t think it would be ideal to take it to 3 p.m. (on deadline day), but we have a good idea of what time frame we need to have contracts done by,” Dorion told TSN 1200 on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s interview was Dorion’s first on-the-record conversation about the status of his UFAs and the upcoming trade deadline in several weeks.

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