.
Dorion and Smith will not survive the ownership change. But, come on Ottawa. Let's get this right. Enough with all this premature speculation. First is new ownership. Next we see the naming of a new GM. This how the fresh start begins. Don't pour trash in the front yard of the new guys coming in before they even get to town. Keep it simple. Do it right. I said it at the beginning of the season and I repeat, when all is said and done, the guy I would like to see behind the bench in Ottawa is Chris Kelly.
- spatso

I think you're right on here spatso. DJ might be loved, but he's objectively bad at his job. He was also a bad defensive coordinator in Toronto, which Dorion/Melnyk seemed oblivious to. He also got off to a terrible start by helping his former employer in pushing for the albatross Zaitsev trade. Agree with previous comments about him being a placeholder coach - in most scenarios he is replaced after a season, but he's lasted here 3 years. No solid coach candidate is going to take over a broken boat only to be reshuffled by a new GM. Dorion and Smith have made their bed together - the only way they stick IMO is for a complete about face and playoff run to happen, and even if that unlikely scenario unfolds, it's more than likely too late. Every year this team goes on a meaningless tear late in the season, which IMO would just make new owners miffed that their first draft pick is worse. Doubt we see new owners hire unproven bench talent like Kelly in the hopes of getting them for a song because they were former Sens players - that's the Melnyk model and now there will be real money involved. New owners will finally bring in a suite of splashy marquee names to take over, and the whole front office will get a desperately needed injection of human resources and talent with new money. Unfortunately, when it comes to success, it remains a waiting game for us - there is a lot of promise here, and hopefully we aren't waiting much longer.

Thoughts on whether you think new ownership will make the changes immediately, or at end of season?

I think you're right on here spatso. DJ might be loved, but he's objectively bad at his job. He was also a bad defensive coordinator in Toronto, which Dorion/Melnyk seemed oblivious to. He also got off to a terrible start by helping his former employer in pushing for the albatross Zaitsev trade. Agree with previous comments about him being a placeholder coach - in most scenarios he is replaced after a season, but he's lasted here 3 years. No solid coach candidate is going to take over a broken boat only to be reshuffled by a new GM. Dorion and Smith have made their bed together - the only way they stick IMO is for a complete about face and playoff run to happen, and even if that unlikely scenario unfolds, it's more than likely too late. Every year this team goes on a meaningless tear late in the season, which IMO would just make new owners miffed that their first draft pick is worse. Doubt we see new owners hire unproven bench talent like Kelly in the hopes of getting them for a song because they were former Sens players - that's the Melnyk model and now there will be real money involved. New owners will finally bring in a suite of splashy marquee names to take over, and the whole front office will get a desperately needed injection of human resources and talent with new money. Unfortunately, when it comes to success, it remains a waiting game for us - there is a lot of promise here, and hopefully we aren't waiting much longer.

Thoughts on whether you think new ownership will make the changes immediately, or at end of season?
- Bartacus

Chris Kelly has a huge hockey mind. He played the game the way a guy who has survived on his hockey smarts, as opposed to pure talent. He projected the fine balance between work ethic and skill. Rod Brind'Amour is a great example of someone who knows how skill needs to be reenforced by effort.

I do not think Chris Kelly will come cheap. He will have a pretty high profile and other teams will come looking if the Bruins win the Cup.

Kelly
or even Mann.

Like why would they want to come near this place until management and ownership was solidified.

The rash of shoulder injuries can be directly blamed on this bone head old school coach who preaches "smash mouth" hockey----or you sit. I'm still a fan of White's.

Kelly
or even Mann.

Like why would they want to come near this place until management and ownership was solidified.

The rash of shoulder injuries can be directly blamed on this bone head old school coach who preaches "smash mouth" hockey----or you sit. I'm still a fan of White's.
- Octavarium

I believe that Mann would jump at the opportunity to coach at the NHL level, even as a placeholder. He has been working hard his whole career in an effort to get his shot. To me, if we were to do an interim coach then Mann or Capuano are the obvious candidates. Mann would be my preferred choice of the two.

I expect no change in coach until new owners are brought on. If anything, I think that Dorion will try to add the top 4D in the hopes that it will magically fix the team.

TSN reporting that the Sens are "open to trades", as potentially both sellers and buyers.
https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/vi...ns-open-to-trades~2615634

Seems pretty dumb to be both at the same time, but I guess that's what happens when you're incapable of firing your head coach after failing to meet what had been very clear expectations for the season. Honestly, what do they think they're going to be buying at the trade deadline, with virtually no chance at making the playoffs? Unwanted players with mid/long-term contracts from playoff teams looking to shed salary? Not good.

Just sell off:
- Talbot
- Holden
- Brassard
- Watson
- Hamonic (though watch out for a possible extension)
- Zaitsev (can always hope)

And for God's sake, don't just throw away the #%$ 1st Rounder in 2023.

TSN reporting that the Sens are "open to trades", as potentially both sellers and buyers.
https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/vi...ns-open-to-trades~2615634

Seems pretty dumb to be both at the same time, but I guess that's what happens when you're incapable of firing your head coach after failing to meet what had been very clear expectations for the season. Honestly, what do they think they're going to be buying at the trade deadline, with virtually no chance at making the playoffs? Unwanted players with mid/long-term contracts from playoff teams looking to shed salary? Not good.

Just sell off:
- Talbot
- Holden
- Brassard
- Watson
- Hamonic (though watch out for a possible extension)
- Zaitsev (can always hope)

And for God's sake, don't just throw away the #%$ 1st Rounder in 2023.
- khawk

add Debrincat to that list, OTT cannot afford to keep him if they want another top 4 RD

Trouble scoring? More grinders!

TSN reporting that the Sens are "open to trades", as potentially both sellers and buyers.
https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/vi...ns-open-to-trades~2615634

Seems pretty dumb to be both at the same time, but I guess that's what happens when you're incapable of firing your head coach after failing to meet what had been very clear expectations for the season. Honestly, what do they think they're going to be buying at the trade deadline, with virtually no chance at making the playoffs? Unwanted players with mid/long-term contracts from playoff teams looking to shed salary? Not good.

Just sell off:
- Talbot
- Holden
- Brassard
- Watson
- Hamonic (though watch out for a possible extension)
- Zaitsev (can always hope)

And for God's sake, don't just throw away the #%$ 1st Rounder in 2023.
- khawk

I find it laughable that the reason DJ Smith can’t be fired is because of impending ownership but it’s clear Dorion is working the phones for trades. If the ownership argument had any merit, things would be quiet on both front other than unloading pending free agents. Management and co are trying to impress before the new boss comes to town. For some reason, that means keeping a coach that should have been relieved of his duties a year or two ago.

Perhaps Dorion can swing a nice deal but he doesn’t have the greatest track record when he isn’t in a position of strength and the assets willing to be moved are not strong.

TSN reporting that the Sens are "open to trades", as potentially both sellers and buyers.
https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/vi...ns-open-to-trades~2615634

Seems pretty dumb to be both at the same time, but I guess that's what happens when you're incapable of firing your head coach after failing to meet what had been very clear expectations for the season. Honestly, what do they think they're going to be buying at the trade deadline, with virtually no chance at making the playoffs? Unwanted players with mid/long-term contracts from playoff teams looking to shed salary? Not good.

Just sell off:
- Talbot
- Holden
- Brassard
- Watson
- Hamonic (though watch out for a possible extension)
- Zaitsev (can always hope)

And for God's sake, don't just throw away the #%$ 1st Rounder in 2023.
- khawk

One silver lining of the team being this bad is I'm confident they wont trade away their first. Well, farily confident.

Agreed on trading away what they can, they wont get much but stock piling picks can always be benefitial. A team might want Talbot for goaltending depth. Does raise the question of what the teams goaltending situationn will be next year.

I find it laughable that the reason DJ Smith can’t be fired is because of impending ownership but it’s clear Dorion is working the phones for trades. If the ownership argument had any merit, things would be quiet on both front other than unloading pending free agents. Management and co are trying to impress before the new boss comes to town. For some reason, that means keeping a coach that should have been relieved of his duties a year or two ago.

Perhaps Dorion can swing a nice deal but he doesn’t have the greatest track record when he isn’t in a position of strength and the assets willing to be moved are not strong.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

Dorion is a solid B on trades - hits about 50 percent of the time. I'd give him a B+ on drafting, given Sanderson, Pinto, Grieg upside. I give him a C on evaluating other teams players and signing veterans. And a D on developing goaltenders.

Now, concerning DJ, a new coach can make the difference....look at the Jets. Either that, or Paul Maurice is an overrated coach.

Nothing happens until new owners. But they should fire the coach on principle, given no playoffs in 4 years and no marked improvement this year, and repeated bad starts to season. Like any other coach in the NHL would have been fired by now.

PS - Sens feed off the main page now....

Give them structure and teach them. It's not that they are not back in their own end. They don't know what to do and how to identify where the threats are and will appear.

If we had Trotz , Babcock or Claude Julien who are all available , I guarantee those three would not be minus 57 as they teach, which is part of coaching.
- Nimm

Would accept any of those three, plus Brunette and maybe Coach Q. Anyone but a rookie patsy that won't push back on Dorion and who the players don't respect or fear. And Babcock only if he comes cheap.

One silver lining of the team being this bad is I'm confident they wont trade away their first. Well, farily confident.

Agreed on trading away what they can, they wont get much but stock piling picks can always be benefitial. A team might want Talbot for goaltending depth. Does raise the question of what the teams goaltending situationn will be next year.
- david22

Merilainen is having a solid year playing against grown men in Finland - a silver lining perhaps from the ill-informed Demelo trade.

I believe that Mann would jump at the opportunity to coach at the NHL level, even as a placeholder. He has been working hard his whole career in an effort to get his shot. To me, if we were to do an interim coach then Mann or Capuano are the obvious candidates. Mann would be my preferred choice of the two.

I expect no change in coach until new owners are brought on. If anything, I think that Dorion will try to add the top 4D in the hopes that it will magically fix the team.
- SensFan25

Virtually anyone with half a brain for defensive systems, or a bit less faith in the value of bottom-6 grunt forwards would be an improvement. But your point about the top-4D is exactly what concerns me right now. Everyone crapped on the team all summer for not bolstering the D, but the Sanderson-Hamonic pairing has exceeded all expectations. Hands-up if you called that those two would be leading the team with 3min/GP of PK time, on a PK that's top-10 in the NHL? Yet it's Hamonic specifically that's causing them to be a bottom-10 team in terms of overall GF/GP, despite having an overloaded forward roster and a top-5 PP? Or the cause of 7 different forwards having a -10 or worse rating? Since when is the #4D-man the root cause for a team-wide problem of this magnitude?

Seriously, look around the league. Consider the D-Men from the #1-3 teams in each NHL division who are 4th in ice time, and you get names like Clifton, Lindgren, Skjei, Cole, Hakanpaa, Roy, and Schultz. If you look at the D-Men from the #4-6 teams in each NHL division who are 4th in ice time, you get names like Walman, Gustafsson, Carrier, Kulak, Dumoulin, and Bear. There are a few examples of teams with a higher-end #4D, but we're just talking about the Senators cracking the top-16 in the NHL. I just don't see a marginal improvement on Hamonic as #4D as any kind of silver bullet for a team with these kinds of top-down performance issues.

The defense system breakdowns are coaching issues. I have never seen a team give up so many quality opportunities to teams on a consistent basis with almost no game adjustments. It sounds like DJ will mix up lines tonight, but likely too little too late and probably won’t change the actual system.

That said, I am also not sold the top d-men on this team are actually top d-men. Chabot always get slotted into the #1 spot but might be better suited for a #3/#4 slot guy. As much as we all love Zub, he is a 3/4 d-man. Nothing more. So, while Dorion might be on the hunt for a #4 d-man, it might just be ignoring the hole of the lack of true top 2 d-men.

Outside of Batherson, I think the forward group has the capabilities to be better defensively, but they need the coach to enforce a system that works. Batherson, has a bit of a floater vibe, which is fine as long as other players pick up the slack. Stu has shown improvement in that regard, but still needs a system rather than effort. Brady should have no issues adjusting. Debrincat and Giroux are a bit of wildcards but Giroux’s faceoff abilities certainly help.

Last but not least, having below average goaltending will always set you back. While I don’t think they need to make a ridiculous trade for a true starting goalie. It’s clear Talbot and Forsberg are not ‘the guys’. It’s unfortunate Forsberg is on the books for a couple of more years. Yet another weird back up signing by Dorion but goalies are hard to predict so I don’t mind waiting as seeing if a guy like Merilainen, Søgaard, or Mandolese takes a step forward in a year or two.

Two great back to back comments. Chabot isn't playing like a #1, he has flaws in his game that are exacerbated and more noticeable with overdeployment. Jake Gardiner's stint with the Leafs come to mind (and guess who was their defensive coordinator when Gardiner was around). He's still young enough, but long term ineffective coaching and poor deployment are showing signs. I think he has the talent to reverse those trends, but he is in desperate need of a coach who knows how to use him better.
It's flabbergasting that a team with such impressive special team stats can't put it together 5 on 5. When they are down, they close in and play defensive, when they are up they exploit the open ice very well. When they are even, which is most of the time, they fall apart. They basically play 5 on 5 like they do on the powerplay, and it means lots of intercepted stretch passes and odd man rushes against.

It's not just the goaltending. If they played to their numbers last season, with Talbot we'd have eight less goals against. Forsberg, 11 less goals against. Assuming their play was at a level that we hoped for, we're still only at a +1 differential. Their numbers last year were were good enough for 10th and 24th in the NHL out of goalies who played at least 20 games. Not the greatest, but should make for a stable tandem on a contending team. 19 more saved goals would put us up maybe 6-8 points in the standings (unless you're this year's LA Kings - 9th in the league with a -7, wow), still outside looking in.

With the offseason talent injection, this team should be much better. Can't help but point fingers at systems which have been flawed for years now - is there any doubt that Toronto's defence has gotten better since Smith departed? The writing is all over the wall, and this ownership situation muddying the waters and paralyzing decisionmaking means another lost season for the Sens. But with attendance up and a number of exciting young players to watch, I can't wait for somebody capable to take the reins.

Mildly entertaining game between to wayward hockey clubs. There was zero flow to this game in the first and large portions of the third. It was just dreadful to see live. The second it kind of picked up. The Isles look even more lost than the Sens. Coaching really does matter. These two coaches have no idea how to build a structure, have players buy in and see it executed effectively.

The building was nicely quiet. I wonder if the in-house entertainment people did that for mental health reasons (autism and other things that get disturbed by loud noises and lights) The funny part is it was the best the in-house entertainment has been all season. Yes. Less is best. We aren't Las Vegas. Nobody cares about DJ Prosper.

I don't think Talbot injury is serious. He was stretching between every whistle and commercial breaks BEFORE he pulled himself from the game. He'll have lots of rest and be back after the all star game.

Snoozer of a game last night. Forsberg made some key saves in relief. The 5 on 5 play of this team is a mystery. Can never seem to get quality chances consistently or decent rushes. Way too much forced play into slot areas that are occupied by defenders. I feel every team is just able to easily interrupt passes one way or another against this team. However, they pulled it out against an Isles team that looked a little less than inspired to play.

Grieg looked good in his debut. Hope he gets 10 games or so to get into a groove and see what we really have. If I have a dime for every rookie who looked ok in their career debut…

Interesting piece here on the team's lack of scoring.
https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/tr...ottawa-senators-1.1911497

The line that really grates on me is the up-front suggestion that Dorion continues to have "a belief the team is better than its record indicates". At some point as the GM, you have to at least consider the possibility that the team is pretty much exactly what the record indicates... especially when: a) more than one significant problem persists for more than one season, and b) you could be better than your record indicates and still fall well short of your season expectations.

But I'm sure wasting a few draft picks and moving some deck chairs at the trade deadline will fix everything. You'd hate to miss out on another utterly inconsequential late-season winning streak that does absolutely nothing but weaken your draft pick, and delude your off-season thinking.

I just favorited this thread in my browser for ease of finding it.

I wonder if Dorion would move the Cat for Chychrun or someone else straight up. I like the kid, but he hasn't really had immediate chemistry with anyone. I almost want them to go and get Kane no matter the cost just to have the Cat scoring 40+. I hope we get some good games against the Leafs and Habs.

On a blogger note. I have zero response from Ecklund and Hockeybuzz. I'll try sending another message, but we aren't the only team looking for a new blogger.

I just favorited this thread in my browser for ease of finding it.

I wonder if Dorion would move the Cat for Chychrun or someone else straight up. I like the kid, but he hasn't really had immediate chemistry with anyone. I almost want them to go and get Kane no matter the cost just to have the Cat scoring 40+. I hope we get some good games against the Leafs and Habs.

On a blogger note. I have zero response from Ecklund and Hockeybuzz. I'll try sending another message, but we aren't the only team looking for a new blogger.
- Octavarium

I’ve sent messages to Ek as well with no response. I hope they are able to find something that works for little community here can keep chatting about the Sens. I’ve looked into other sites but just prefer this site for conversations.

https://www.spectorshockey.net/


This guy is good. There are some Ottawa folks in there too. Good rumor discussions, good game summary with commentary

Where did Kevin disappear to?

The Canucks blog was told that Ek had someone lined up ready to take over from Carol when she left. That was a couple months ago now… he can’t get anyone to write here anymore.

Where did Kevin disappear to?

The Canucks blog was told that Ek had someone lined up ready to take over from Carol when she left. That was a couple months ago now… he can’t get anyone to write here anymore.
- TurdFergeson

He apparently wasn't who he claimed to be. Impersonated someone else. Accused of doing some other fraudulent crap.

He apparently wasn't who he claimed to be. Impersonated someone else. Accused of doing some other fraudulent crap.
- Octavarium

The things that came out on twitter were not pretty. I hope he can get things back on track for the sake of his personal life. Had interactions outside of the hockeybuzz with him and I think there is a guy with a good heart who is passionate about the team. He may have ended up taking on more than he can chew.

There is a great community on this fourm, so hopefully we can get someone to lead some good discussions soon.

Should be a fun game tonight against the Leafs. Looks like Matthews is out with an knee injury.

I’ve sent messages to Ek as well with no response. I hope they are able to find something that works for little community here can keep chatting about the Sens. I’ve looked into other sites but just prefer this site for conversations.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

I believe people from the forum have taken over for other teams before. Any volunteers?

Even just as a guest blogger to get us back on the main page.