Everybody at some point in time makes mistakes. It is a part of life, and I made a couple of big blatant ones yesterday in my recap when I said Rakell scored tying goal and Perry the winner, while it was actually Rakell scoring the winner in OT while Hampus Lindholm had the tying goal. I blame it on vacation mode limiting my exposure of the game to a 4+ minutes highlight reel and a lack of sleep...but even so errors like that are embarrassing, not acceptable and I apologize to those who caught it, and also those who didn't.

Which sort of leads me into today's discussion...mistakes - making them, learning from them and thus the ability to avoid repeating them. And to that end, I turn the attention to the coaching merry-go-round that the Senators have been on since Bryan Murray left the bench for the GM post.

There is a fine line when hiring a coach, and a lot of it depends on the roster that the team has. A young roster can be harder to find a fit for, and in most cases need a veteran hand to step in to guide them, because not only are they getting their feet wet for the most part, but it is hard to do when the coach is in the same boat. Think Claude Julien in Boston, who haven't missed much of a beat despite the changes that were made in Beantown in the off-season (but for some reason is still an early playoff exit away from the can.

A veteran team, although it is almost against the grain, can get by a little easier if the coach is new to the league because they have been there before and can usually take care of themselves while the coach gets into the groove of things...think Jeff Blashill in Detroit, who came up in the system with many of the players.

And then you can have the veteran parachuted in to help rebuild the team from the ground up like the Toronto Maple Leafs have done with Mike Babcock.

Assistant coaches also play an important part in the transition, as veteran assistants can ease a new coach in to his job.

For the Senators, they haven't found the right answer. John Paddock was a pretty well respected NHL head and assistant coach for a long time, and he flamed out. Ditto Craig Hartsburgh. Then they went unrproven with Cory Clouston, which was not good from the start and Paul MacLean, which was good but he changed and the success seemed to go to his head. The final move was to promote the guy who had been in the organization for a while as head coach in the minors twice and an assistant to MacLean, in Dave Cameron. The first two (Paddock and Hartsburg) in that list had at least had a combined 700 NHL head coaching games before they were hired by the Sens, lasted a combined 112 games behind the Senators' bench.

Clouston, MacLean and Cameron had all coached exactly 0 NHL games (as a head coach) before being hired by Ottawa, and that hasn't worked either.

Not one of Cameron's 5 predecessors have stepped behind an NHL bench since (in a head coaching role).

I don't know that Cameron is going to get his pink slip for sure after the season is over, but Eugene Melnyk (who for years has been Cameron's staunchest supporter) last week indicated that all bets were off.

So, assuming he does get fired, who do the Senators bring in to replace him? Is the roster veteran enough to break in a new coach from outside the organization? Probably not.

Promote from within, meaning Luke Richardson? A couple of years ago that would have been a no-brainer, but he hasn't had the success developing players all that quickly of late, since Cody Ceci made incredible strides in a couple of months under Richardson. He has worked with a lot of the players on the roster so that will be an option.

Or, do the Senators go outside and bring in a "name" If, for example, Julien or Ken Hitchcock do get fired, would Melnyk write the size of the cheque that would be required to bring them in? Guy Boucher? A guy that has a Stanley Cup ring and wants get back into the NHL so badly that he has stated he would even take an assistant's job like Marc Crawford? Someone to improve on the power play like an Adam Oates?

There are probably a hundred names that could be put forth to fill the role, but the question is, is there 1 that fits?

Or, when all is said and done, is the right guy here and it is the players who aren't buying what he is selling?

If you look at the major problems why this team isn't in a playoff spot you see:

1. Not being ready to play at the opening puck drop (allowing the first goal an inordinate amount of times)
2. Giving up far too many shots
3. Horrendous special teams

Is this coaching or players responsibility? Probably a little bit of both, but if a coach can't get the most out of his players then maybe it is time to move on.

Every coach is going to deploy his resources in a certain way, and not everyone is going to agree all the time, but certainly player deployment has had a lot of people who pay attention to that sort of thing scratching their heads. But I felt the same way in the waning days of MacLean's tenure as well. It goes farther than starting Matt O'Connor in the home opener, the thing that seemed to get under Melnyk's craw the most, but it is there under Cameron too. The staff under him has part to do with it as well, and that needs to be looked at at the same time

I don't know what the answer is, or even if the question is truly there, but Bryan Murray has the support of Melnyk, but if he has to make the call it would be his 7th coaching change (if you include his returning to the bench after Paddock was canned in less than 10 seasons as GM. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that that isn't a great track record of identifying what your team needs to lead it.

The Senators had a reputation for being a goalie graveyard for much of their existence, but it is perhaps even more a "Coach's Cemetery" these days.

---

Clarke MacArthur's season is done as the Senators have shut him down. Of course that is the correct decision with nothing to play for now, despite the fact that he passed his baseline test. There is no sense pushing it, and giving him until training camp to be absolutely sure and more confident in his health is the right call.

Join the Discussion: » 21 Comments » Post New Comment

» Goodbye, and good luck!

» Can Colin White fill the #2C role as early as next year?

» Boucher staying put, at least for now

» Boucher Day

» Sens fall to #4 in draft lottery