Senators Fire Head Coach D.J. Smith, Bring Back Jacques Martin As Interim Coach
The Ottawa Senators announced they’ve relieved head coach D.J. Smith and assistant coach Davis Payne of their duties.
Jacques Martin takes over as head coach on an interim basis. Former Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson joins the staff as an assistant coach.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This has been building for several weeks. Coming off four straight losses, the Senators have floundered with just three wins in their last 10 games. Despite holding several games in hand over their Eastern Conference rivals, they’re mired at the bottom of the Conference standings.
Ottawa Senators interim head coach Jacques Martin. (NHL.com)
Smith was hired by former Senators general manager Pierre Dorion, who was fired on Nov. 1. The club failed to reach the playoffs in his four previous seasons behind their bench.
It was excusable for most of those seasons as the club was rebuilding with young talent. This season, however, there was an expectation that the Senators would finally break through as a playoff contender.
They had a .500 record on Dec. 5 but they’ve managed just one win in their last six games since then. That slump threatens to derail their playoff hopes as they failed to gain ground in the standings.
Martin was hired earlier this month as a special advisor to the coaching staff. Many observers, however, suggested that he was brought in as Smith’s potential replacement. He has 17 years of NHL head coaching experience, including nine seasons behind the Senators bench from 1995-96 to 2003-04.
During that period, the Senators had four 100-plus points season, with Martin winning the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 1998-99. He was also an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins during their Stanley Cup seasons 2015-16 and 2016-17.
Alfredsson, meanwhile, is stepping behind an NHL bench in a coaching role for the first time. Revered by Senators fans and respected by his former teammates, he spent 17 of his 18 NHL seasons with the Senators, 13 of those as team captain and nine seasons playing for Martin. Their all-time leader in goals (426), assists (682) and points (1,108), he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2022.
Martin and Alfredsson face a difficult task in reversing the Senators’ slide.
Stocked with stars such as Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Claude Giroux and Jakob Chuchrun, the Senators have no problem scoring goals, sitting 10th overall as of Dec. 17 with a goals-per-game of 3.35.
Keeping the puck out of their net, however, is another matter. They possess the seventh-highest goals against per game (3.42) and the second-worst penalty-killing percentage (72.4). In short, they lack reliable goaltending and a sound defensive system.
Defensive hockey was Martin’s bread-and-butter in his previous head-coaching tours with the Senators, St. Louis Blues, Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens. It will be interesting to see if he can get this version of the Sens to buy into his system.
Overdue George will be đ
Yes, a happy moment for George.
Finally. Especially after my comment on the news this morning.
I liked Smith. I think he was great at developing young talent. I just feel like thatâs all he has. Actual systems to compete never showed themselves.
Now the goaltending is STILL weak, but if the defense can tighten up maybe it wonât matter as much.
Itâs not going to immediately save the team, but sticking with what they were doing was going to go nowhere.
Most The Sens player semed to like DJ Smith,
However Very Poor play from Both Goaltender’s and poor defencive plays from the d, and the lost of top pairing d/man Chabot and other d players
That has not helped the team.
along with its lack of systems they seemed to be missing.
Who could be the new Coach..? im thinking they go with NHL Experience for the next coach….đ¤
A few Retread faces hear….
-Joel Quenneville
-Barry Trotz
-Claude Julien
Some Newer faces
-Andrew Brunette
-Jay Woodcroft.
– Marco Sturm
Please donât ever name Q. He may have been a great coach but I donât want that toxic insanity in the Sens room.
Canât fire 23 players . Already did the GM so a natural progression . I am sure DJ wasnât buying any green bananas.
By the way Merry Christmas
The Sens currently have a total goals for/against differential of -1. There are 14 teams with a worse total number. In theory, they should be close to a playoff team with those numbers.
DJ was brought in as a successful junior coach – cheap – for a deceased cheap owner and a young scout who was thrust into the GM role…also cheap.
But they did it wrong. They sold the fans on a rebuild, had some great drafting done before stutzle/sanderson/tkachuk but didn’t develop. Instead of playing the kids when he should have DJ played old WAY-past-prime vets in losing seasons. Fans knew and were prepared for losing seasons, but this is when you throw D prospects into the fire and teach them. He did none of that. And by his side was defensive anti-christ Jack Cappuano running the D. As things progressively got more talented through drafting DJ had no plan or vision. He just vomited players on the ice and hoped everything would work out. In fact, in a number of cases, injuries forced coaching moves that looked genius—rather than actual coaching genius. (Stutzle to center for example). His propensity, nay, love affair—of throwing his fourth line on the ice after a goal…..ANY GOAL…home or away was ludicrous!. The league is so tight competitively you simple can’t give opponents that free pass.
Chabbot was burned out as he played over 30 minutes a night. When he was once a balanced offensive D man with some shooting skill he got relied up on to be an anything bagel. He now can’t find his offensive game as he hasn’t actually shot the puck in about 5 years. He was too busy carrying dead weight D men around. And when you have no D structure your goalies are facing keystone cops in your own end or an endless string of odd man rushes. Trash the goalie signings all you want, but most of them were successful in other places who had competent defensive coaching. People have said you’ll see DJ back in an assistant role. I say no you won’t.
I don’t think Jacques or Alfie are the answer but at this point it can’t hurt.
(Sens season ticket holder)
Smith was an assistant coach with Mike Babcock before the Sens hired him; he coached the Oshawa Generals before joining Babcock’s staff.
I have seen several references to Barry Trotz as a coach replacement. He is the GM of Nashville, yes? I don’t believe he will be coaching anytime soon.
Barry Trotz is not leaving the Predators to return to coaching, especially not in Canada. The Jets wanted him and he turned them down.
Thank you, Lyle. That was my thinking with my post.