Quite frankly, I don't think the players on the Sens have been "broken" yet. And by broken, I mean that they don't seem to be quite willing to give up their old ways yet.
Martin and Alfredsson and co. need to really break each player to get rid of the old bad habits. Has any coach ever taught any of them how to play defensive style hockey before. I think their mindsets need to be completely washed. It will take time and each player needs to step back and assess if they want to change. I think that is part of the process the management team is going through right now ...... who wants to change? If you don't or can't then they will be traded.
I actually see a difference in the games of Batherson and Norris. They seem to be trying to make that change, but can still fall back to the old ways on occasion.
Brady and Stu on the other hand don't seem to be quite ready for the change yet. Although Stutzle may be fighting a hand injury (wrist?). Some offensive minded players will need convincing to give up offence in the short term. But that offense will come back through their defensive play. The old Martin forte .... strong defence creates good offence through counter attacks (the old Ottawa way when Martin was our coach). I am not suggesting any MOGA approach, this set of players are different then what Jacques worked with in the old days.

But for untouchables , I also add Norris and Batherson to the mix (and Batherson's contract is extremely cap friendly). Norris, I think, will eventually become one of the premier 2 way players in this league. Remember ..... he spent most of last season injured and as a young player, this takes away from development time (on the plus side, it is one year less of f*cked up coaching from DJ). I wonder what Boston would have done had they traded Bergeron because of his injury history, or Pittsburgh with Crosby's injuries/concussion issues, or even Ottawa back in the early days of Alfredsson or Mike Fisher when they went through their knee issues.

If a core player was traded. It's not going to be a dorion trade. Those days are over.
Poulin,Staios,Andlauder will make sure it is a good trade or won't do it

I do like the team that has been assembled so far in management and i suspect it is not done. I do like Poulin saying we are going to determine what a Senators player is andnot fit a square peg in a round hole

Although I agree with most of what you said, how is JBD a statistical disaster? it's his first year, he is a + player learning to step up at the blue line to stop entries, decent size, blocks shots, only 23, he will get better, it's just he should have been doing all this learning and adapting 2 years ago. LT has been wasted, he should have been up here for an extended look aswell, but Dorion was doing everything he could to save his own a$$. A lot of our prospects were 'over baked' in the words of Mann, but Dorion just kept playing crappy vets instead. I like Demelo, but I would rather JBD at this point. Get Kleven up here and watch him throw some people around in front of the net instead of Branny, who should have been moved to a 3rd line forward role 2 years ago aswell.
- RyeDog13

Dig a little deeper and you'll find JBD has an atrocious takeaway to giveaway rating, mostly in the defensive zone. His Corsi/Fenwick scores are low. He scrambles and struggles to keep up because he's slow, and he almost never provides a positive impact on the game. He rarely shoots but when he does, they are low quality shots that have a habit of going in - he's shooting at 21%+ as a defenseman, which is ludicrous and the only reason he has any goals. Outside his willingness to lay the body, which I will admit is admirable, he's a liability. In blocking shots he very often screens the goalie, which is a *massive* understated problem for this team. Kris Russell was exceptional at blocking shots as well, and exceptionally maligned for being a poor defenseman. When your best asset is being a bag of meat in front of shooters, you're not doing a good job. He should be in the minors.

Agree re: LT - who knows what we might have had there... When we weren't expecting this team to perform, why on earth did we not run the young guys out more? Dumb. Dorion and DJ 'insulating' them from doing what, gaining valuable experience? I'm just glad that era is over.

Dig a little deeper and you'll find JBD has an atrocious takeaway to giveaway rating, mostly in the defensive zone. His Corsi/Fenwick scores are low. He scrambles and struggles to keep up because he's slow, and he almost never provides a positive impact on the game. He rarely shoots but when he does, they are low quality shots that have a habit of going in - he's shooting at 21%+ as a defenseman, which is ludicrous and the only reason he has any goals. Outside his willingness to lay the body, which I will admit is admirable, he's a liability. In blocking shots he very often screens the goalie, which is a *massive* understated problem for this team. Kris Russell was exceptional at blocking shots as well, and exceptionally maligned for being a poor defenseman. When your best asset is being a bag of meat in front of shooters, you're not doing a good job. He should be in the minors.

Agree re: LT - who knows what we might have had there... When we weren't expecting this team to perform, why on earth did we not run the young guys out more? Dumb. Dorion and DJ 'insulating' them from doing what, gaining valuable experience? I'm just glad that era is over.
- Bartacus

The whole team has sucked and has played with no defensive structure. With JBD, he hasn't played more than 20 games a season until this one (on DJ Smith teams) and has had no chance to develop at the NHL level. His foot speed can definetly use some work, but the whole team screens the goalie in our own end because we run around out of position too often so that's not just a JBD problem, it's a structure problem. He is going to be the exact defensive defenseman we want if we trade him away, we dont need another point producer. I was ragging on Chychrun last week, kept a closer eye on it and it's happening to everybody, not just Chych. no defensive support from the offense leads to a string of quick, panicked passes and nobody looks ready to receive them because there are 2 opposing players bearing down on them before they receive the pass. With more structure and support from the offense, he can turn into the defensively responsible 2nd line RD. If we roll 3 D pairings fairly equal timewise at even strength, then we could look like

Chabot/Zub
Sandy/JBD
Chychrun/Kleven

That's a good set up any combo of L/R defense. I would like to see JBD given the benefit here and the rest of this year to grow, see how he comes out to camp next year.....but....I have been wrong before lol
And yeah, if a big contract is moved, Chabot may be the one to trade given his health problems and inability to get back to the point production of his younger years. But I would be weary to nonetheless.

I think trading Stutzle would be selling low. He’s going to bounce back and at 21, he’s going to grow up. While every player is trade able, trading him, Tkachuk, or Sanderson seems crazy to me.

I don’t see the point of having a yard sale this year; just let them play it out and let Martin try and fix the lack of defence. Tanking will just reinforce the losing culture.

You can argue that nobody should be untouchable, but any change to the elite core of Stutzle/Tkachuk/Sanderson would be more than difficult to sell to the fan base at this point. I would also suggest that it's also the incorrect approach, because it's not the team's problem. Right now they have far too many players trying to play top-6/top-4 offensive roles, and not enough middle-6/bottom-4 defensive roles. But you still need a nucleus of elite talent at key positions, and that big-3 covers that off quite effectively.

In terms of "ideal" roster structure, they really need just 3 of Norris, Batherson, Giroux, Tarasenko, and Kubalik. The last 2 will almost certainly be traded before year-end, so that problem solves itself and gives back $7.5M AAV. They also really need just 1 of Chabot, Chychrun, and Brannstrom, so you can have your debate over which you keep and take back at least $6.6M AAV. Where that $12.0M absolutely needs to go is in bringing in a defensively-sound top-4 RHD, and adding at least 2 more quality defensive forwards like Greig, Joseph, and Pinto. Then you bolster the D with Kleven, replace Forsberg with Sogaard, and see if you can't improve the team's overall defensive system.

You can argue that nobody should be untouchable, but any change to the elite core of Stutzle/Tkachuk/Sanderson would be more than difficult to sell to the fan base at this point. I would also suggest that it's also the incorrect approach, because it's not the team's problem. Right now they have far too many players trying to play top-6/top-4 offensive roles, and not enough middle-6/bottom-4 defensive roles. But you still need a nucleus of elite talent at key positions, and that big-3 covers that off quite effectively.

In terms of "ideal" roster structure, they really need just 3 of Norris, Batherson, Giroux, Tarasenko, and Kubalik. The last 2 will almost certainly be traded before year-end, so that problem solves itself and gives back $7.5M AAV. They also really need just 1 of Chabot, Chychrun, and Brannstrom, so you can have your debate over which you keep and take back at least $6.6M AAV. Where that $12.0M absolutely needs to go is in bringing in a defensively-sound top-4 RHD, and adding at least 2 more quality defensive forwards like Greig, Joseph, and Pinto. Then you bolster the D with Kleven, replace Forsberg with Sogaard, and see if you can't improve the team's overall defensive system.
- khawk

The question in my mind is are those top 3 guys really "elite" or just very good. I would argue the latter.

The question in my mind is are those top 3 guys really "elite" or just very good. I would argue the latter.
- Rang

Well, Tkachuk is an elite-level power forward (one of very few in the league), Stutzle is a PPG centre at age 21, and Sanderson is already the best D-man on the team in less than 1.5 NHL seasons. There are few teams in the NHL with a better trio of young players to build around, and if nothing else they should be more than good enough to make them a regular playoff-quality team. What they're learning is that success in the NHL as just much about team-wide defensive ability as it is on individual offensive talent. They're nowhere near the sum of their parts, which is a pretty scathing indictment of the previous long-term coach.

This is a Jekyll and Hyde team.

It was always my fear that the fire DJ crowd would become enraged when a new coach produced a similar result. I never bought into the idea that the problem could be repaired by improvements in team's playing "structure."

Specifically, I do not want to see a negative fan base focus now begin to focus on the young guys in the simplistic belief that moving some of these guys would be the answer.

These are very good players. They will get us to the promised land. We need a more patient and understanding fan base. Clearly the young players do not like us very much and they began disappearing the night we booed them. It would be tragic if the new ownership group turned sour on us as well.

It was always my fear that the fire DJ crowd would become enraged when a new coach produced a similar result. I never bought into the idea that the problem could be repaired by improvements in team's playing "structure."

Specifically, I do not want to see a negative fan base focus now begin to focus on the young guys in the simplistic belief that moving some of these guys would be the answer.

These are very good players. They will get us to the promised land. We need a more patient and understanding fan base. Clearly the young players do not like us very much and they began disappearing the night we booed them. It would be tragic if the new ownership group turned sour on us as well.
- spatso

everyone with a functioning brain cell knows it will take a while for 6 years of bad coaching, habit's and system or lack there of, to be fixed by a new coach, when your used to do something for years it takes time to instinctually do something different, it is why we see, as PogBoi said, a jekyll and hyde team.

sens going to lose alot more, get that top 5 pick, trade Chabot as he is redundant and retool in the offseason with a top 4 defensive RD and a new or re-sign Tank top 6 F, a new coach to start next season.

everyone with a functioning brain cell knows it will take a while for 6 years of bad coaching, habit's and system or lack there of, to be fixed by a new coach, when your used to do something for years it takes time to instinctually do something different, it is why we see, as PogBoi said, a jekyll and hyde team.

sens going to lose alot more, get that top 5 pick, trade Chabot as he is redundant and retool in the offseason with a top 4 defensive RD and a new or re-sign Tank top 6 F, a new coach to start next season.
- Mithos

I don't disagree with your sentiment. Although, I think, Chychrun might prove to be a more movable asset at the deadline than Chabot.

Sens played really strong hockey coming down the final stretch of last season. The young guys were especially strong. A lot happened since last spring. Mainly, for me, this team and the kids do not resemble the strong promise and expectations of this past summer.

So, what happened? What appeared to be an extremely solid foundation for growth appears to have completely dissipated. Folks are now saying it will take a long time and a rebuild of some type in order to overcome the current inadequacies. The fans that seem the most unhappy are those who believed that merely replacing Smith would be the right answer.

I think if we are to be entirely honest, we need to start with the recognition that a very large segment of the Sens fan base got it wrong and we developed expectations totally beyond the capacity of this group of players to deliver at this time.

Well, Tkachuk is an elite-level power forward (one of very few in the league), Stutzle is a PPG centre at age 21, and Sanderson is already the best D-man on the team in less than 1.5 NHL seasons. There are few teams in the NHL with a better trio of young players to build around, and if nothing else they should be more than good enough to make them a regular playoff-quality team. What they're learning is that success in the NHL as just much about team-wide defensive ability as it is on individual offensive talent. They're nowhere near the sum of their parts, which is a pretty scathing indictment of the previous long-term coach.
- khawk

Stutzle is only a ppg player because he was let loose with disregard to team structure
Same with Tkachuk, he was let loose. And still cant stop cheating on the play

Sanderson is salvageable faster. He didn't get long term exposure to dorion smith.


We really don't know who they are yet. Wich is hard to believe at this stage.

The Sens can work on them and in a few years start to turn it around. Or....
Its a disaster of a situation.

I don't disagree with your sentiment. Although, I think, Chychrun might prove to be a more movable asset at the deadline than Chabot.

Sens played really strong hockey coming down the final stretch of last season. The young guys were especially strong. A lot happened since last spring. Mainly, for me, this team and the kids do not resemble the strong promise and expectations of this past summer.

So, what happened? What appeared to be an extremely solid foundation for growth appears to have completely dissipated. Folks are now saying it will take a long time and a rebuild of some type in order to overcome the current inadequacies. The fans that seem the most unhappy are those who believed that merely replacing Smith would be the right answer.

I think if we are to be entirely honest, we need to start with the recognition that a very large segment of the Sens fan base got it wrong and we developed expectations totally beyond the capacity of this group of players to deliver at this time.
- spatso

I don't think there are many people talking about rebuild. There are a lot more people looking at Arizona and especially Vancouver as examples where some minor roster tweaks and a coaching/culture change as driving major improvements of on ice performance.

As for good Ottawa Senators performances at the end of the previous few seasons, they never provided a good indication of the overall performance level of the team. Our opponents used backup goaltenders for the vast majority of those games and did not seem to put in a full effort. So, fools gold.

I had thought one month would see major improvements with the team. It seems that changing old habits will take longer.

As for roster integrity, I would think that Tkachuk, Stutzle and Sanderson are close to untouchable. Giroux (leadership) and Zub (right D) are unlikely to go anywhere. Tarasenko, Kubalik and Brannstrom are locks to be gone for start of next year. The big questions are whether one of Chycrun/Chabot get traded and whether one of the second tier of forwards (Norris, Batherson, Grieg, Pinto, Joseph) also gets moved. Addition of a solid top 4 right D and a veteran middle 6 forward will be the top off-season roster priorities.

The plus side of the team hitting rock bottom is that there are some great comments flowing.

When DJ was fired, it would be naïve to assume that this team will automatically improve. I think folks expected maybe a couple of early wins like most teams do just to impress the coach and show that they have ‘woken up’ but that really didn’t happen. The average human takes about 30 days to form new habits. DJ Smith was only fired about 2 or so weeks ago. These players are still working on getting rid of old habits and forming new ones. It’s too bad that it’s been a very rocky road to do so. So, saying it was an error in evaluation to fire DJ Smith is a copout. The current coaching staff has expressed the holes in the team’s game. This shows the errors of the previous regime. It will take time to fix this. Some players will be able to adapt, and some will not.

Players that do not adapt might be subject to trade. Again, the new management and coaching staff have no connection to any player on this roster. Pretty much everyone is fair game. Obviously, Brady, Stu, and Sanderson will be harder for other teams to acquire but should not be labeled as untouchable.

There also might be an element that this group of players was just grossly misvalued and you are trying to slot players in spots higher than their actual ability. We talk about Stu being a superstar but maybe he is just a star. We speak of Brady being the heart and soul guy but maybe he is just a top 6 power forward. We talk about Chabot being a #1 d-man but maybe he is a 3-4 pairing guy. We talk about Norris being a top 6 centre but maybe he is a 3rd line center. You can say this kind of thing about almost every player on the roster.

At the end of the day, this team was supposed to be better than only being 7 points up on dead last in the league. Being in the 15th-20th ranked team in the league would not have been an unreasonable expectation for a cap team. There should be and we should expect consequences. The next step is a roster shake up that is more than moving bottom 6 forwards, depth d-man, or calling up an AHL goalie. Folks may not like it, but it will likely happen by October 2024. I don’t think you will see a huge blow up but there will be something like Chabot being traded before his no-trade kicks in.

It was always my fear that the fire DJ crowd would become enraged when a new coach produced a similar result. I never bought into the idea that the problem could be repaired by improvements in team's playing "structure."

Specifically, I do not want to see a negative fan base focus now begin to focus on the young guys in the simplistic belief that moving some of these guys would be the answer.

These are very good players. They will get us to the promised land. We need a more patient and understanding fan base. Clearly the young players do not like us very much and they began disappearing the night we booed them. It would be tragic if the new ownership group turned sour on us as well.
- spatso

If the players are truly that fragile that a small amount of booing is going to demoralize them to the point of being incapable of playing well, then they should be traded. Nobody is going to have sympathy for players who can't handle the responsibility of their high-$$$ contracts. And I have to 100% disagree with you about structure - no new coach can bring in a brand new system mid-season and get immediate results. Most teams just need a change in the tone of the coaching and a renewed sense of accountability. What we're seeing here are the gaping holes of a team that's been badly constructed for years, and appears to lack in terms of defensive fundamentals and game preparation. If that's compounded by mental fragility and a dislike of accountability then you can forget about the promised land.

Personally, I think the team just needs some remedial work, especially the really young players that may not have even had the benefit of AHL coaching (i.e. anyone but DJ Smith). Case in point, look at the production over the past 5 games from the team's top-9 forwards:

1G-4A-5Pts - Stutzle/Tkachuk/Norris
6G-6A-12Pts - Tarasenko/Giroux/Batherson
3G-2A-5Pts - Kubalik/Greig/Kelly

First off, the fact that Kelly is even on that list is a major problem. But if he, Greig, and Kubalik are out-producing the trio of $8M forwards, then it's no wonder the team is losing more games than they're winning. Meanwhile, the 3 top supporting veteran forwards are providing exactly what you'd expect from your secondary scoring... which I'm sure is not lost on the team's young core forwards. But this is all critical to their development - a major teachable moment and a dose of humility that will build up their resilience for when it will truly be tested later on in their careers.

unless OTT decides to enter a 2nd total rebuild, you do not trade players you cannot replace, thus Brady, Stu, Sanderson, Bath and Zub are 100% safe, Norris is mostly safe Greig has not shown he can be a 2C and Pinto missed half the season so no idea if he can build on last season, IMO chych is safe and chabot is not as chych has above and beyond outplayed Chabot.

Giroux is still greatly needed by this team for his veteran presence and his face offs.

Joseph should be safe, his speed is killer on the PK and he is a defensive F that OTT needs more of.

last year Canucks fans were ready to trade everyone and now look at them this year, how about we give this team some time to overcome the years of bad habits and coaching instilled by smith and let the eventual new coach and his staff work with this team.

players have bad years, most sens players having bad years, it happens stop panicking

unless OTT decides to enter a 2nd total rebuild, you do not trade players you cannot replace, thus Brady, Stu, Sanderson, Bath and Zub are 100% safe, Norris is mostly safe Greig has not shown he can be a 2C and Pinto missed half the season so no idea if he can build on last season, IMO chych is safe and chabot is not as chych has above and beyond outplayed Chabot.

Giroux is still greatly needed by this team for his veteran presence and his face offs.

Joseph should be safe, his speed is killer on the PK and he is a defensive F that OTT needs more of.

last year Canucks fans were ready to trade everyone and now look at them this year, how about we give this team some time to overcome the years of bad habits and coaching instilled by smith and let the eventual new coach and his staff work with this team.

players have bad years, most sens players having bad years, it happens stop panicking
- Mithos

I can understand people not wanting to overreact to this season and let players have a chance to redeem themselves in a years’ time. However, moving one or two ‘core players’ is not entering another rebuild. It’s simply retooling.

Say you move Chabot and are able to acquire a quality right-handed d-man in that trade or able to acquire that via free agency or another trade as a result of him being gone, that is a move to help the team now.

That is just one example. Certain players will have varying degrees of tradability which may affect things, but I don’t think many folks are advocating to trade players for picks and prospects to start all over. I think most are advocating trades that retool the team to create a better overall product with less roster redundancy.

Part of the reason new coaches and management were brought in now is to see what is working and what is not. I’d be shocked come October 2024 all the new folks say this entire core and roster is a-ok and no trades are needed. Granted trades might be difficult but there will almost certainly be guys on the outside looking in.

Once people start listing 7-8 players that should not be moved while you are near a last place team and are close to the cap, I am not sure how they expect the team to reasonably improve other than everyone getting onto the right page at the right time.

As for Vancouver, they are having a great season but are also having Vezina-like goaltending from Thacher Demenko. I don’t see that potential in any Ottawa goalie right now. With the goalie contract situations Ottawa is going to have to become a team that makes their goalie look good. Not the other way around.

I can understand people not wanting to overreact to this season and let players have a chance to redeem themselves in a years’ time. However, moving one or two ‘core players’ is not entering another rebuild. It’s simply retooling.

Say you move Chabot and are able to acquire a quality right-handed d-man in that trade or able to acquire that via free agency or another trade as a result of him being gone, that is a move to help the team now.

That is just one example. Certain players will have varying degrees of tradability which may affect things, but I don’t think many folks are advocating to trade players for picks and prospects to start all over. I think most are advocating trades that retool the team to create a better overall product with less roster redundancy.

Part of the reason new coaches and management were brought in now is to see what is working and what is not. I’d be shocked come October 2024 all the new folks say this entire core and roster is a-ok and no trades are needed. Granted trades might be difficult but there will almost certainly be guys on the outside looking in.

Once people start listing 7-8 players that should not be moved while you are near a last place team and are close to the cap, I am not sure how they expect the team to reasonably improve other than everyone getting onto the right page at the right time.

As for Vancouver, they are having a great season but are also having Vezina-like goaltending from Thacher Demenko. I don’t see that potential in any Ottawa goalie right now. With the goalie contract situations Ottawa is going to have to become a team that makes their goalie look good. Not the other way around.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

with Sanderson and Chych, chabot is expendable, all the other players i mentioned are not as OTT has not replacement for them, this would be like OTT trading zub for picks and prospects, dumbest thing to do because they have no replacement

unless OTT decides to enter a 2nd total rebuild, you do not trade players you cannot replace, thus Brady, Stu, Sanderson, Bath and Zub are 100% safe, Norris is mostly safe Greig has not shown he can be a 2C and Pinto missed half the season so no idea if he can build on last season, IMO chych is safe and chabot is not as chych has above and beyond outplayed Chabot.

Giroux is still greatly needed by this team for his veteran presence and his face offs.

Joseph should be safe, his speed is killer on the PK and he is a defensive F that OTT needs more of.

last year Canucks fans were ready to trade everyone and now look at them this year, how about we give this team some time to overcome the years of bad habits and coaching instilled by smith and let the eventual new coach and his staff work with this team.

players have bad years, most sens players having bad years, it happens stop panicking
- Mithos

I don't think anyone is panicked, that would imply there is need to do something drastic immediately or else the season/playoffs are lost.
The senators are having a bad year but what are we guaging that against? All their previous good years? Or are they just a bad team? Guaging against all their previous years.... that might be the safe bet.
Yep if all stayed the same, they could hit lightening in a bottle next season and tear it up. Is that what were hoping for? One and done... kinda like how they play now.
If emotion is removed and look at the situation critically, player personnel change is needed. And likely a big name or 2. The problems go deeper then that obviously. But that should be, where it will start .
I know our faith in trades,. to better the team is non exisitent after the Dorion era. Rest assured those days are over.

Gotta reaffirm comments saying it will take time to weed out six years of bad habits - I don't think anybody thought this team would immediately turn it around with a new coach, though it would have been a pleasant surprise.

I do wonder about accountability and character with this team - a Mr. Nice Guy coach like DJ shouldering blame and insulating you from constructive criticism is a nice shield to have, but if it's something you both need and expect your coach to do for you day in, day out, you're being complacent. When you show spark, passion and vim only when there's a threat that shield might get taken away, you've lost track of your priorities. In the long run, nobody cares provided the on-ice product is good. This team needs to focus on their game on the ice, not the noise that surrounds them.

Glass half-full, with new owners one massive benefit is resources - we do *not* need to dive into the unproven bargain bin to staff our bench or front office. Whoever finds themselves there best understand how to establish an accountable winning culture, because this team looks defeated and lost far too often.

with Sanderson and Chych, chabot is expendable, all the other players i mentioned are not as OTT has not replacement for them, this would be like OTT trading zub for picks and prospects, dumbest thing to do because they have no replacement
- Mithos

As my post said, no one is advocating trading for picks and prospects (unless it’s for guys on expiring deals like Kubalik and Tarashenko). Any trade made will likely involve players that can play now. That is why most trade scenarios will be difficult but not impossible. You also have to take the cap situation into account. Guys like Norris stick out like a sore thumb. Especially with Pinto and Greig poised to perhaps become quality NHLers.

You can likely relax with Zub. He plays in a position the team is looking to insulate, so he is probably low on the trade bait list.

The new Sens management team is not in an enviable position. Lots of hard decisions to make and moving large contracts is no easy task. However, just like how new GM’s want their own coaches, they also want their own players. I think lots of these players the management team is fine with but there are likely a few guys they will want to move. I’ll be skeptical if this team will turn a corner if we come to October 2024 and there was not a significant move or two was made. That’s a lot of pressure on the coaching staff to right a ship that has gone the wrong direction for far too long.

Gotta reaffirm comments saying it will take time to weed out six years of bad habits - I don't think anybody thought this team would immediately turn it around with a new coach, though it would have been a pleasant surprise.

I do wonder about accountability and character with this team - a Mr. Nice Guy coach like DJ shouldering blame and insulating you from constructive criticism is a nice shield to have, but if it's something you both need and expect your coach to do for you day in, day out, you're being complacent. When you show spark, passion and vim only when there's a threat that shield might get taken away, you've lost track of your priorities. In the long run, nobody cares provided the on-ice product is good. This team needs to focus on their game on the ice, not the noise that surrounds them.

Glass half-full, with new owners one massive benefit is resources - we do *not* need to dive into the unproven bargain bin to staff our bench or front office. Whoever finds themselves there best understand how to establish an accountable winning culture, because this team looks defeated and lost far too often.
- Bartacus

I think we have seen what DJ actually meant to the players. It’s fair. They liked him. However, they did not develop a system that worked. It’s going to take time for guys to turn a corner. I think Batherson and Giroux have been the only guys that have really shown some improved play under the new coach. The rest kind of all look lost.

There should be more competitive games later in January but my, it’s crazy how poorly this team plays as a unit.

I think we have seen what DJ actually meant to the players. It’s fair. They liked him. However, they did not develop a system that worked. It’s going to take time for guys to turn a corner. I think Batherson and Giroux have been the only guys that have really shown some improved play under the new coach. The rest kind of all look lost.

There should be more competitive games later in January but my, it’s crazy how poorly this team plays as a unit.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

So we sent D'Accord and Gustafson away. We signed Murray, Talbot, Korpisalo and Forsburg. Nobody should have ever allowed Dorion to make a goalie trade or signing decision. He is 0 for everything he tried!

Everyone keeps talking about trading for (or signing a free agent) a right d-man. We could give up Chabot or Chychrun or maybe Norris in a trade to get one of these mythical available unicorn right d-men. They don't exist. No team is going to trade a top 4 right d-man. So let's stop talking about this mythical trade or free agent.
The answer needs to be developed from within the organization. That means it is incumbent develop Guenette, Toure, Thomson, JBD. We could find a 3rd pairing Right d-man to sign .... but they will not be top 4 replacements of Chabot or Chychrun.
Same is true with goaltending. The competition for whatever top end goalie that may be available will drive the cost of a trade too high.

Defensively, the issue with the Sens is several issues.
1) Players (like Chychrun and Stutzle last game) brain fart on a play for a horrendous giveaway.
2) We give up far to many high risk scoring chances making our goalies have to make too many fantastic saves. We need to limit the chances more to the perimeters and not allow rebounds.
3) The forwards do not defensively support the d-men. Why is Brady sitting on the blueline waiting for a breakout pass when we don't even have possesion ( a leftover DJ Smith thing .... fly your end as soon as it looks like you could get possession).
4) I 100% blame the previous coaching and management regime for not properly teaching structure and basic defensive structure (stop cheating on the offensive side of the puck). If you don't believe our previous coaching staff had many deficiencies? Then why was one of the first things Martin had to teach them was to how to make proper line changes, especially for the 3rd period. Please note ..... our 2nd periods are no longer a scoring abomination (that was the "long change"). AND we have taken less too many men on the ice penalties since Martin has taken over.
5) Its time to take the remainder of the year to coach structure into these players. I believe our goaltending numbers will increase if the goalies get more defensive support and the Sens start to eliminate more of the high risk area scoring chances they currently allow.

As I have said earlier .... Trade Tarasenko, Kubalik, Brannstrom, Forsberg (or buy out his final year). Bags of pucks and some draft picks are acceptable, but no sweeteners in a trade.
I would also look to trade Kelly and Joseph if possible. Buy out Hamonic. Send down McEwen and Smejkal.

Tkachuk/Norris/Batherson
Giroux/Stutzle/Veteran player
Veteran Player/Pinto/Greig
Crookshank/Kastelik/Veteran Player

Chabot/JBD
Sanderson/Zub
Chychrun/Guenette
Klevin ..... because defensive injuries will occur.

Sogaard/Korpisalo

Bring up Sogaard and Klevin.

That's where I would start next season + a new coach and coaching staff (keep Ben Sexton ... bye bye Capuano) ..... looking at John Gruden or Chris Kelly. Maybe an assistant like Jay McKee. But this young team needs to be taught and developed. Smith et al did not do that. They were more interested in being everyones pal and buddy and creating a country club environment.

The more I look back on all this time (hindsight is 20/20), the more you start to realize how poor of a structural building job that Dorion actually did. And while it was nice to let the young plays , there came a time when they should have had more constraints put on their play by Smith and the coaches. Its all so frustrating now that the regression makes this team possibly worse then its been in previous years.