Speculation: DJ Smith Extended

[PatrickEaves]

Why does Ottawa always hire the most stubborn and obtuse coaches?

Because they are willing to accept the lowball salary offers our owner is willing to pay.

 

[TheNewEra]

bring back boucher or jacques martin

 

[Gil Gunderson]

bring back boucher or jacques martin

Why does it seem like we hire the same coach every time?

 

[Cosmix]

It's strange. If we have a lead going into the third, it seems we try and lock it down instead of getting 1 or two more goals and putting it away. I remember a game I was at in Carolina, 3-1 going into the third and my Father said "1 more and we're good." I said "Nope, we will try and trap". We lost in a shootout. Cameron was the coach then. I think this is a team philosophy..not a coaching one.

Coaches coach. It is a coaching strategy to play defence and minimize risk of getting scored upon. However, it leads to more D zone time with our set of defensemen and defensively challenged forwards.

 

[TheNewEra]

Why does it seem like we hire the same coach every time?

everyone has a type we now know eugene's

 

[Samsquanch]

Why does it seem like we hire the same coach every time?

?

Maclean, Cameron, Boucher and Smith are all drastically different coaches in nearly every way...

But yes we have been a mess defensively since Brian Murray was the coach, basically.

But great defense doesnt just come down to the system the coach is running either, although it can help or hinder it.

It comes more down to the players and the strength of the roster than the coaches imo.

We dont have any mature defensive stalwarts. And ideally you need at very least one complete 5 man unit that can be counted upon to be elite defensively against the best players on the planet. The NHL is too good, and good coaching alone cant stop the talented teams of the league from scoring.

And at least one of those forwards and one of the dmen should be elite caliber players so that this unit can play big minutes each night. Again, we quite obviously dont have that right now. Pinto and Sanderson could very well be those exact players for us though thankfully.

Team defense wont be accomplished by those two players alone - but between Norris and the top line, Chabot, Zub, Brown, Paul. White, Formenton, and JBD - I do believe that we have the right pieces here or on the way to become a great defensive team one day.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

I don’t think any coach can make this defence look fine.
But he has abandoned what worked for him at the end of last year in favor of what did not work for him at the start of last year. Which is incredibly frustrating

 

[topshelf15]

PD really hasnt given him much to work with...But for sure he needs to cut the cord with some of these vets and play more youth

 

[operasen]

Mete and Brown playing over Brannstrom is a joke. Why not try Brannstrom on the right side. It’s his preferred choice and that’s where he played when people were saying he was a can’t miss prospect that we wanted in the Stone deal.
I hear players like to play for him (Smith) and I’m sure Mete, JBrown and MDZ lead the cheers. Maybe he’s just stubborn and tunnel visioned. Youth deserves to be developed and not have placeholders block them just because the have more time on someone else’s roster before they were released. This old boys club system sucks everywhere it’s ever been run. Best players play - that is NOT JBrown, Mete or MDZ. Holden is right there as well.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Elite Defender Zaitsev per 60 "against" stats on the Sens
5/6 in CA (shot attempts against)
4/6 in unblocked shot attempts against
5/6 in expected goals against
6/6 in scoring chances against
5/6 in High Danger scoring chances against
5/6 in High Danger goals against
5/6 in Medium Danger scoring chances against
4/6 in Medium Danger goals against
4/6 in Low Danger scoring chances against
6/6 in Low Danger goals against
all per 60
By the CA xGA SCA numbers its pretty easy to see who our top 3 D are .. which matches the eye test.
Brown actually has better metrics than Zaitsev although not stellar by any means
Ottawa has 3 D in the top 10 CA numbers in the entire league .. for any D playing more than 60 minutes to date
4th OA Mete, 8th OA Zaitsev (elite) , 10th OA Brown, 27th OA Holden
Worst SCA across the league.. Zaitsev is 20th, Brown is 30th and Mete is 36th surprisingly
Worst xGA across the league .. Mete is 7th, Zaitsev is 16th, Brown is 33rd

Player	Position	GP	TOI	TOI/GP	CA/60	FA/60	xGA/60	SCA/60	HDCA/60	HDGA/60	MDCA/60	MDGA/60	LDCA/60	LDGA/60
Thomas Chabot	D	11	243	22.1	57.17	39.92	2.25	30.81	10.35	0.74	27.27	0.66	32.39	0.71
Artem Zub	D	11	223	20.3	57.28	40.34	2.15	30.12	9.68	0.81	27.25	0.36	33.41	0.78
Nick Holden	D	10	146	14.6	63.55	45.92	2.4	30.34	11.89	2.05	24.6	0.55	43.83	0.59
Josh Brown	D	11	137	12.5	69.49	52.01	2.78	32.78	13.11	1.75	26.22	1.17	47.98	0.63
Nikita Zaitsev	D	10	156	15.6	70.54	51.27	3	33.92	13.49	2.31	27.24	1.03	47.89	1.11
Victor Mete	D	9	109	12.1	72.25	58.46	3.18	31.99	14.34	3.31	23.53	2.21	54.17	0.8

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[Loach]

So there are worse ones out there? Shhhhh. Don't tell PD.

 

[SENATOR]

DJ Smith is steadily regressing as a head coach in NHL.
First 20 games in 2019-20 season - 8 wins
2020-2021 in the first 20 games - 5 wins
So for we have 3 wins in the first 12 games.

I understand he has a starting goalie, who does not know how to play a glove side.
Or his left hand is permanently injured and we do not know about it.
Murray looks like he is on propose does not want to use his glove at all.
But, it is still a bottom one record in the league in the last three years.
How this coach is still in NHL? LIke he has 9 lives or something.
There is a zero spark or intelligence in his eyes. And he constantly delivers drivel, when he speaks

Everyone forgot already about this glorious piece. LOL He sees everything LOL. May be he sees everything, but he just does not want to catch it.

Senators' Smith on why he sees Matt Murray as a top level goalie - Sportsnet.ca

 

[tardigrade81]

everyone has a type we now know eugene's

Lol this is very true.

 

[Ice-Tray]

I like our coach.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Good guy, bad coach. He's at best an assistant at the NHL level, but much better suited for junior.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Only coach in the league that could make our defense look acceptable with the pathetic personnel we have is Barry Trotz

I'm not a DJ fan at all but dude has nothing to work with beyond Chabot and Zub. He's missing a 2nd pairing.

 

[cudi]

Im have a hard time judging DJ with the roster he has. I haven't loved some of his choices, but he cant make chicken salad out of chicken shit.

We'll see how he does with a more talented roster. I dont find it fair to judge right now.

 

[Deku]

Im have a hard time judging DJ with the roster he has. I haven't loved some of his choices, but he cant make chicken salad out of chicken shit.

We'll see how he does with a more talented roster. I dont find it fair to judge right now.

I agree. A lot of Detroit fans hated Jeff Blashill the past couple seasons, and I don't know what they think of him now, but he is starting to see some success as their lineup has improved

 

[aragorn]

This isn't about the coach, it's more about Covid 19 & injuries. How can anyone expect this team to be successful with so many players out of the lineup? And the mish mash of contantly rotating AHL & boderline NHL players in & out of the lineup with every game. It could be argued that the defence is bad because they get so little help from the forwards who are not getting back fast enough to help.

Stutzle gave up two goals in the last few games because he missed his man & didn't pick him up in time. Several goals have been scored because of lazy line changes by the forwards. And even the goaltenders are being rotated between three of them. Reading the comments people are basically complaining about everyone in this organization for the losses. There is no constant cohesion on this team because of all the problems they are having off the ice & the lack of good players on the ice. Some of these guys also have to worry about their families & their children who could be under 10 yrs old & not vaccinated.

It's another yr of Covid, it's another yr of semi-pro players & it's another yr where the GM hasn't helped to ice a decent team. But injuries & Covid have been the biggest culprit for the demise of this team so far IMO. Hopefully, all of this makes this team much stronger after going through all this.

 

[bert]

DJ Smith is steadily regressing as a head coach in NHL.
First 20 games in 2019-20 season - 8 wins
2020-2021 in the first 20 games - 5 wins
So for we have 3 wins in the first 12 games.

I understand he has a starting goalie, who does not know how to play a glove side.
Or his left hand is permanently injured and we do not know about it.
Murray looks like he is on propose does not want to use his glove at all.
But, it is still a bottom one record in the league in the last three years.
How this coach is still in NHL? LIke he has 9 lives or something.
There is a zero spark or intelligence in his eyes. And he constantly delivers drivel, when he speaks

Everyone forgot already about this glorious piece. LOL He sees everything LOL. May be he sees everything, but he just does not want to catch it.

Senators' Smith on why he sees Matt Murray as a top level goalie - Sportsnet.ca

HAHAHA

Hard to win with the lineup he is given but he isnt doing himself any favors. Mind blowing to make the same mistake two years in a row after saying you wont do it all summer long. Even used excuses like no pre season.

 

[topshelf15]

I mean who wouldnt want to coach this dynasty team for next to nothing,FYOUS attracts only the best talent

 

[TheDebater]

I feel like DJ Smith deserves credit for some of the bold roster moves he has made. He seems like a coach willing to adapt and today's game against Tampa shows that.

He has recieved a ton of hate, so I feel credit is due when he helps the team win games and look good doing so.

 

[bicboi64]

I dunno if i'd give him too much credit. His deployment of Zaitsev and Mete changing 20 games in is a bad sign. He's repeating what he did last year (overplayed scrubs like Gudbranson).

He's been stubborn with line combinations and hesitancy to play Stuetzle at C was ridiculous imo. He makes the same mistakes and it seems as though he's just riding the Brady Norris Bath line.

 

[HSF]

I dunno if i'd give him too much credit. His deployment of Zaitsev and Mete changing 20 games in is a bad sign. He's repeating what he did last year (overplayed scrubs like Gudbranson).

He's been stubborn with line combinations and hesitancy to play Stuetzle at C was ridiculous imo. He makes the same mistakes and it seems as though he's just riding the Brady Norris Bath line.

he was given a trash roster though

who does he play outside of Zaitsev?

 

[TheDebater]

he was given a trash roster though

who does he play outside of Zaitsev?

Del Zotto, duh.