Dorion: Senators will be 'doing a lot of things' to field competitive team

A trade that sent Dion Phaneuf to the Los Angeles Kings appears to be just the beginning of a change in Ottawa.

This according to Senators general manager Pierre Dorion, who indicated he'll remain busy leading up to the Feb. 26 trade deadline and beyond.

Related: Sens should make these 5 moves after trading Phaneuf for Gaborik

"We're going to be doing a lot of things to make sure we can field as competitive a team as we can," Dorion said Wednesday, per Callum Fraser of NHL.com. "Whether it's in the near future or whatever future you want to look at, but this is an exciting time, I think for our fans, because we know we're going to do some good things, for the organization we'll do some good things. And we're looking forward to it."

Dorion said he spoke to several of his counterparts following the Phaneuf trade, which also saw Nate Thompson shipped out in exchange for Marian Gaborik and Nick Shore. Not surprisingly, the GM added he's only open to a "good hockey deal" that makes sense in terms of Ottawa's short- and long-term goals.

"Obviously, we'd like to compete for the playoffs next year, there's no doubt about that. But at the same time, we want to have a team here that will be able to compete every year for the playoffs," he said.

Dorion also reiterated the team's first and foremost priority is to sign Erik Karlsson, who lamented the Phaneuf deal in a couple of tweets Tuesday night.