I think some people are taking this move as a short term fix. If organization didn't think it was working with Mclean now, how are they going to work with him in a year or two? I don't think there is a right answer for this season and its results, but Murray is trying to make this team better. What happens when Eakins is fired in Edmonton? Will that be the wrong decision because of the roster?

I'm as critical about this roster as anyone and think they have been overestimated for this season. That doesn't give the coach a free pass. I don't think Maclean was necessarily the problem, but he wasn't really providing any solutions either for the most part.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

This is more or less my view on things as well. Not really the problem, not really providing solutions.

I couldn't care less if he was coaching us or not, moving forward... Given our team's makeup, not upset that Cameron will be interim head coach.

EDIT: not interim?

He changed? You mean the goaltending changed?


Great year of goaltending = playoffs and Jack Adams
Below average year of goaltending = no playoffs.

Back to another good year of goaltending = massively overachieving considering the schedule to date.

To me, this team is exactly the same as the 'pesky' Sens. Outshot on a nightly basis, great goaltending and overachieving.

As I have said in the other thread, we are .500 without a 1LC 1LLW, 2LRW and top 4 Dman and the lowest payroll in the league (and playing 19 of 27 games against playoff teams).

Pretty decent if you ask me.
- Charliebox

Fact of the matter is SOMEBODY signed Greening, Michalek, Phillips and Legwand to mid-roster money when that wasn't happening.

That somebody badly needed that money to get an above-average return because there is not the same salary based as other teams with real winning, non-divorcing owners.

That means finding the Mason Raymonds for $1M a year, and the 30 minute defensemen for market value.

That hasn't happened. We need value per dollar and instead wasted here, wasted on Kovalev, overpaid on Gonchar, etc. etc..

Winning a Cup during your career means at some point you bought more wisely than the others.

I believe that happened very few times, but one was when we hired MacLean.

Letting players freelance and put up a minus to get more point glory helps nobody. Do you think Cameron will be able to do it? Welcome Clouston 2.0.

The fact that they have already hired Melnyk's OHL buddy as the coach (and not even as interim) speaks volumes.

I doubt very many veteran NHL coaches would touch this job with a stick, but the fact that they didn't even look around shows they just want somebody who will tow the party line.

I'm going off the page with this one and will predict that the next GM will be Tim Murray, who will promote Luke from Bingo to Ottawa.

Arrangements will be made for this to take place once BM steps aside. Ottawa will need to send Buffalo compensation as TM isw under contract, but it has happened in the past (Rick Dudley)
- SensnRBs

I'm not sure that the GM job in Ottawa is nearly as attractive as the job in Buffalo right now. That's not a shot at Ottawa either, it's about the resources Murray has available to himself in Buffalo. They're absolutely loaded with high draft picks, they've got a bunch of decent prospects, and an owner willing to spend to the cap. I don't see what Ottawa could offer to pry him away from that.

Bang on, buddy.

Sens fans, after reading through the general thread (eklund's) this seems to be the general consensus among non-Sens fans.

They know our roster is weak as hell. They know we are overachieving and should probably be a lottery team.
- Charliebox

He may actually be a good coach for oilers...kick some of them in the ass...although I doubt MacT wants a vocal coach

The fact that they have already hired Melnyk's OHL buddy as the coach (and not even as interim) speaks volumes.
.
- noffsin6

this is why melnyk should not make decisions.

what did murray say at the presser? i can't watch it bc at work.

I NEED TO KNOW!!!!!
- sen_smile

basically not happy that paul has changed the way he talks to players, not happy with some of the guys on the ice a certain times, not happy his forwards are waiting on the opposite blue line every game for the puck instead of helping the D. had a bunch of interviews with players before the canucks game and the players said they don't like him so he got his ass fired. I agree he should be fired but he is not the only problem with the team. we have tons of dept now its time to bring in a big gun or two to take it to the next level. I would start by sending out Greening, Condra, Smith ASAP and dealing Methot for a big return.

this is why melnyk should not make decisions.
- sen_smile

But he's a successful business man. That 100% translates into how to run a hockey team.

basically not happy that paul has changed the way he talks to players, not happy with some of the guys on the ice a certain times, not happy his forwards are waiting on the opposite blue line every game for the puck instead of helping the D. had a bunch of interviews with players before the canucks game and the players said they don't like him so he got his ass fired. I agree he should be fired but he is not the only problem with the team. we have tons of dept now its time to bring in a big gun or two to take it to the next level. I would start by sending out Greening, Condra, Smith ASAP and dealing Methot for a big return.
- JS_19

thanks for the summary.... did he go into why cameron is the guy to change this? that's what blows my mind.

But he's a successful business man. That 100% translates into how to run a hockey team.
- david22

But he's a successful business man. That 100% translates into how to run a hockey team.
- david22

Unfortunately manipulating Bermudan accounting rules into share pricing isn't an NHL success factor.

"And more, much more than this, I ran the team into the ground myyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy wayyyyyyyyy."

Not really sure about this one...Paul MacLean really did deserve the Jack Adams and with fewer front office distractions and a bit more spending toward the cap, who knows?
Unfortunately he did start buying his own press and seemed to enjoy the media time a little too much. His eventual undoing was likely player deployment. It is extremely difficult to coach a young team to be consistent when chemistry never has the chance to develop due to constant line shuffling. Sitting players in the press box had more to do with favoritism than sending the RIGHT messages. One thing for sure is that Mr Melnyk can now point the likely end result of this season in yet another distracted direction instead of allowing one of the moths to escape from his wallet. Don't get me wrong, he gets value for dollar but the Ottawa faithful may not be...

thanks for the summary.... did he go into why cameron is the guy to change this? that's what blows my mind.
- sen_smile

we have a young team and cameron is use to working with young players as a teacher and getting good results. i agree on giving him a shot. if young players make mistakes they don't deserve to be benched and have Neil on the pp instead. the guy made alot of clown moves. putting condra on the first line against the penguins for one. he was just straight him being a jerk again this year.

we have a young team and cameron is use to working with young players as a teacher and getting good results. i agree on giving him a shot. if young players make mistakes they don't deserve to be benched and have Neil on the pp instead. the guy made alot of clown moves. putting condra on the first line against the penguins for one. he was just straight him being a jerk again this year.
- JS_19

i will believe it when i see it (benching neil, philips, gryba, boro cop, mm9 etc).
thursday is going to be interesting.

this is why melnyk should not make decisions.
- sen_smile

unfortunately he OWNS the team.

He can change the name. colors... anything he friggin wants. it's his.

thanks for the summary.... did he go into why cameron is the guy to change this? that's what blows my mind.
- sen_smile

Murray said he talked to Cameron and he liked what he said about the team...so he kissed Murray's rear-end and got the job

He changed? You mean the goaltending changed?


Great year of goaltending = playoffs and Jack Adams
Below average year of goaltending = no playoffs.

Back to another good year of goaltending = massively overachieving considering the schedule to date.

To me, this team is exactly the same as the 'pesky' Sens. Outshot on a nightly basis, great goaltending and overachieving.

As I have said in the other thread, we are .500 without a 1LC 1LLW, 2LRW and top 4 Dman and the lowest payroll in the league (and playing 19 of 27 games against playoff teams).

Pretty decent if you ask me.
- Charliebox

so basically what you're saying is that maclean is unable to win unless he gets vezina calibre goaltending (which he got this year by the way, and is still sitting in the bottom 3rd of the league) yet it was wrong to fire him? makes no sense.

this move was inevitable IMO. didn't think it would happen after last night, but we ALL knew it was coming. it's pretty apparent that maclean lost this team. his message has always been "best players play", and yet he continually plays guys like phillips, neil, gryba, etc, who have far more bad or mediocre nights than good nights, and get the young guys get benched at the first sign of adversity. sorry, but what kind of message is that to send to the young guys. also, in a rebuilding team that does/will rely heavily on youth, the last thing you want to do is alienate the young guys just to make a few vets (who have no bearing on the future of this team) happy.

it's also pretty apparent that his system doesn't work. if the sens weren't getting exceptional goaltending, they'd be one of, if not THE worst team in the league right now. they've won 11 games, and you could probably argue that they were outplayed in nearly half of them. of the games they've lost, i can't think of a single one where i thought "man, sucks they lost, they were clearly the better team".

this team has been wildly inconsistent, not just from game to game, but from period to period, or even shift to shift. i put a lot of that on the coach, his system, and his ability to get his team ready to play.

as to teh timing, i guess given teh fact that they have 3-4 days off, probably makes sense to do it now.

so basically what you're saying is that maclean is unable to win unless he gets vezina calibre goaltending (which he got this year by the way, and is still sitting in the bottom 3rd of the league)

it's also pretty apparent that his system doesn't work. if the sens weren't getting exceptional goaltending, they'd be one of, if not THE worst team in the league right now. they've won 11 games, and you could probably argue that they were outplayed in nearly half of them. of the games they've lost, i can't think of a single one where i thought "man, sucks they lost, they were clearly the better team".

- sensarmy_11

this, and player management/ deployment is what i'm most curious to see if will change... if it does, then i'm happy. but if not, then choosing cameron makes no sense to me. would rather fall in standings and get good picks and fire mac at the end of season.

Maybe, maybe not. It's possible that this all falls on Maclean. But this team was pretty bad before he was hired as coach to begin with.

If they continue to play poorly, will his replacement be the wrong coach as well?
- david22

i personally don't think it all falls on maclean, the players obviously share some of the blame.

that being said, maclean lost the room, his system didn't work, and most importantly IMO, was that he was saying one thing but doing another in terms of "best players play". i'm sorry, but if i'm jared cowen, and i'm watching phillips SINGLE HANDEDLY cause 2 goals last night (typical night for him), and yet he still plays big minutes every game, while i'm getting benched despite playing better......i'm pretty pissed, and probably not wanting to play for that coach anymore. when players start having that attitude, and it seems like they did, then you obviously can the coach.

this, and player management/ deployment is what i'm most curious to see if will change... if it does, then i'm happy. but if not, then choosing cameron makes no sense to me. would rather fall in standings and get good picks and fire mac at the end of season.
- sen_smile

i'm pretty sure cameron is there on an interim basis.........granted i didn't see the press conference, so please correct me if i'm wrong. they'll probably let him finish out the year (hopefully leading to a pretty sweet draft pick) and then find a new guy (hopefully richardson) in the offseason. it makes no sense to bring luke in now, because you'd not only be disrupting the NHL team, but AHL team as well. that's probably not what you want to do mid-season.

so basically what you're saying is that maclean is unable to win unless he gets vezina calibre goaltending (which he got this year by the way, and is still sitting in the bottom 3rd of the league) yet it was wrong to fire him? makes no sense.

this move was inevitable IMO. didn't think it would happen after last night, but we ALL knew it was coming. it's pretty apparent that maclean lost this team. his message has always been "best players play", and yet he continually plays guys like phillips, neil, gryba, etc, who have far more bad or mediocre nights than good nights, and get the young guys get benched at the first sign of adversity. sorry, but what kind of message is that to send to the young guys. also, in a rebuilding team that does/will rely heavily on youth, the last thing you want to do is alienate the young guys just to make a few vets (who have no bearing on the future of this team) happy.

it's also pretty apparent that his system doesn't work. if the sens weren't getting exceptional goaltending, they'd be one of, if not THE worst team in the league right now. they've won 11 games, and you could probably argue that they were outplayed in nearly half of them. of the games they've lost, i can't think of a single one where i thought "man, sucks they lost, they were clearly the better team".

this team has been wildly inconsistent, not just from game to game, but from period to period, or even shift to shift. i put a lot of that on the coach, his system, and his ability to get his team ready to play.

as to teh timing, i guess given teh fact that they have 3-4 days off, probably makes sense to do it now.
- sensarmy_11

it'll be interesting to see if Cameron can get this team to the playoffs - that's the goal of management.

If they tought it was a playoff team they should of hired Brent Sutter / Bylsma - at least a coach that has made the NHL playoffs recently.

I think this an admission of defeat by the team and Murray trying to keep Melnyk happy by hiring his buddy

i will believe it when i see it (benching neil, philips, gryba, boro cop, mm9 etc).
thursday is going to be interesting.
- sen_smile

those guys arent really the problem, like murray stated when half your forwards are standing on the opposite blue line waiting for the defence to get them the puck thats your problem. 9mm is actually a very good at helping out his D men as well as Neil. DO we really need two starting goaltenders ? do we need to sign Methot for that kind of money ? Could we ship out lots of players for picks such as Smith, Condra, Neil, Greening and 9mm. I see a fast quick easy rebuild here if BM just grows a set and gets it done. Stop thinking about the playoffs and start thinking about a fast rebuild. Prince, Paegue and Peumple are also assets for trade or to play what more can those guys do in the AHL.

i'm pretty sure cameron is there on an interim basis.........granted i didn't see the press conference, so please correct me if i'm wrong. they'll probably let him finish out the year (hopefully leading to a pretty sweet draft pick) and then find a new guy (hopefully richardson) in the offseason. it makes no sense to bring luke in now, because you'd not only be disrupting the NHL team, but AHL team as well. that's probably not what you want to do mid-season.
- sensarmy_11

still though--- if they don't start changing the way guys are used then i wonder why to fire mac now and not (before or) after the season. cameron is melnyks guy.
im gonna wait and see what happens going forward... curious to see if the style of play (hard to change during season but not impossible to transition) and player usage improves.

I think this an admission of defeat by the team and Murray trying to keep Melnyk happy by hiring his buddy
- tuna99

this is what i'm leaning towards as well. will be curious to see if / how team's play and player usage changes over hte next few months.

i'm pretty sure cameron is there on an interim basis.........granted i didn't see the press conference, so please correct me if i'm wrong. they'll probably let him finish out the year (hopefully leading to a pretty sweet draft pick) and then find a new guy (hopefully richardson) in the offseason. it makes no sense to bring luke in now, because you'd not only be disrupting the NHL team, but AHL team as well. that's probably not what you want to do mid-season.
- sensarmy_11

They specifically said he is not an interim coach.