Dans Le Vestiaire avec Nicolas St-Pierre · 94,5 Unique FM

Renaud Lavoie, Julian McKenzie, Maxime Jolicoeur, Jacques Rougeau et plus | 07/04/2026

·1 hr 58 min·9 clips

Renaud Lavoie argues Patrick Roy's firing by the Rangers was directly caused by his decision to trade Noah Dobson, and asks whether the Islanders would currently be in the playoffs if Dobson had stayed.

1. Dans Le Vestiaire avec Nicolas St-Pierre, a daily Ottawa-region sports talk show on Intersport Productions, airs on April 7th, 2026, a match day for both the Ottawa Senators and the Gatineau Olympiques. 2. Host Nicolas St-Pierre is joined by co-host Michael Lafleur in studio, with remote guests including Renaud Lavoie from TVA Sports and Julian McKenzie from The Athletic. 3. The episode's main hockey question is whether the Senators, in a strong playoff push with five games remaining, can secure their playoff spot and how a potential Hurricanes matchup would unfold. 4. Thomas Chabot returned to the ice in a non-contact jersey two weeks after forearm surgery, with Tim Stützle saying it was the fastest post-surgery return he had witnessed, and Travis Green confirming the timeline would be sooner than the initial four-to-six-week projection. 5. Lenny Solmark is confirmed as the Senators' starting goaltender against Tampa Bay, who arrive fatigued after a loss to the Buffalo Sabres the previous day. 6. Drake Batterson's pre-game interview covers the team controlling its own destiny with five games left, describing the entire 45-game back half of the season as an extended must-win environment. 7. Tim Stützle is interviewed and describes the playoff push as something every player looks forward to, mentioning a call from Sider — who said every player in the house celebrated Stützle's anthological goal except Sider's girlfriend due to the playoff pressure. 8. Renaud Lavoie from the press gallery at the Bell Centre argues Patrick Roy's firing was caused by the Rangers acquiring defensive players like Palat and Braden Shen to address defensive system problems, those players failing to deliver, and Roy then becoming accountable for the system issues. 9. Lavoie makes the specific counterfactual that if the Rangers had kept Noah Dobson, who is now leading the NHL in blocked shots with around 40 points playing on Montreal's second power play, the Rangers would very likely be in playoff position today. 10. Lavoie also discusses the firing of Tom Fitzgerald from New Jersey, suggesting Fitzgerald may have been released to pursue the vacant Nashville general manager position, similar to how Mike Sullivan left Pittsburgh knowing the Rangers wanted him. 11. Lavoie raises the potential job security of Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, noting depth issues, roster health problems, and underperformance in the draft, while cautioning that firing Yzerman — a Red Wings legend — would require exceptional circumstances. 12. Julian McKenzie of The Athletic, who also writes for the New York Times and authored the book Black Aces, breaks down the potential Senators-Hurricanes first-round series, arguing both teams' defensive systems are more similar than the standings suggest. 13. McKenzie notes the Senators were last in the Eastern Conference in January and their current playoff position, controlling their own destiny with five games left, is impressive given the personnel challenges throughout the season. 14. The hosts discuss Fabian Zetterlund being demoted to the fourth line after failing to produce consistently on the top six, with McKenzie noting Zetterlund provided a strong assist in the Hurricanes victory before the demotion. 15. Renaud Lavoie connects John Cooper's long tenure with Tampa Bay to the difficulty of coaches sustaining player buy-in, arguing that player uprisings in modern hockey no longer require confrontations — simply performing poorly during important weeks makes the case without any player needing to say a word. 16. The episode includes a news segment covering Marc Madness final results — Michigan over Connecticut 69-64 for their first title in 37 years — and Toronto Blue Jays losing 14-2 to the Dodgers. 17. Jacques Rougeau is announced as a guest later in the episode, with a boxing gala announced for May 30th at Centre Bell. 18. The show airs on 94.5 Unique FM, TV Rogers, TV C22, YouTube, Facebook, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, and includes real-time traffic updates for the Ottawa-Gatineau region. 19. Ottawa Senators fans invested in the playoff push and NHL trade deadline analysis will find the episode's mix of player interviews and insider journalism directly useful. 20. Listeners who prefer analysis in English or who are not familiar with the Ottawa-Gatineau sports market may find the predominantly French-language format and local focus less accessible.

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