Breaking: Pierre McGuire has been fired.

It sounds like Pierre McGuire's time as a member of the Ottawa Senators' front office has come to an end.

According to a report from TSN's Steve Lloyd and AJ Jakubec, the former National Hockey League television analyst that was recently recruited into the Senators organization has been fired from his position as vice president of player development within the team. The news comes as something of a surprise if only due to the fact that McGuire has been with the team for a relatively short period of time, although there had been some rumblings of discontent off the heels of his arrival.

Back in December former National Hockey League general manager Doug MacLean had commented on the rumored rift between McGuire and current Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion, citing the fact that McGuire had been hired directly by late Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk as one of the reasons for the friction between the two front office executives.

"From the rumblings I'm hearing in the last few weeks, it's not pretty right now between Dorion and McGuire," said MacLean back in December.

When asked at the time if he was certain about what he had heard, specifically as it pertains to the conflict between Dorion and McGuire, MacLean made it perfectly clear that he was very confident about his information on this particular topic.

"No doubt in my mind," added the former NHL GM.

MacLean also expressed confusion with the decision to hire McGuire in general, stating that he had never liked the move in the first place.

"I didn't get it when it happened and I certainly don't get it now," said MacLean in conclusion.

Given what has recently transpired in the Ottawa Senators organization I can't help but wonder if the timing of this move is simply coincidence, or something more. If McGuire was indeed a Eugene Melnyk hire, could the fact that Mr. Melnyk is no longer with us have played a role in McGuire's sudden firing? Pierre Dorion remains at the helm of the organization and, given that he was the man that MacLean alleged was butting heads with McGuire, it may very well be that he played some part in this decision being made as well.