Confirmed with Link: DJ Smith fired, Jacques Martin in as interim, Alfie as assistant

[DueDiligence]

do me a favour, read #430.

You are business man.. I am an Engineer.. both are similar.. Be prepared, always have a plan.. never be caught off guard.. Know the answer, before the question is asked.

What is happening is smacking of: being caught off guard. Actions appear to be reactions.....

If they believed that Dorion was their man, then a #1 forfeiture should not have resulted in his firing!!!! why would it.. why should it?

If they felt DJ was their coach, why fire him now?

When Andlauer says: the Final straw.. what was straw 1 to one before the final???????? To hire Martin as consultant 12/13 days ago!!! why? If they felt a need, why not day 1?

So much is coming of as being amaturish.

If I was working for you, and behaved as they did... I would be fighting you for severance now.

Wow I guess Andlauer and Staios are just a bunch of clowns that don't know what they are doing. After all you have it all figured out even though you have no inside information into the Sens operations and certainly nowhere near the professional hockey knowledge that those two seemingly have.
Most people will realize that like an iceberg , most of what transpired will never be seen or heard , so based on that, they will give them their support and see how it all unfolds.

 

[GCK]

no.. it is in the NFL .. not the NHL.

all but 6-7 teams are NOT cash cows. The remaining 25 are cash sensitive.. And shelling out big dollars is a no- no.. unless it is less than AAV and unless it makes sense relative to performance.

No one is touching these contracts..

AAV is meaningless. It is for us the fans to play with... Andlauer and his 25 other cash strapped buddies, don't give a rats ass about it... The summary sheet of expenses for month X is what counts.

Yet almost every team is over the cap and utilizing LTIR. There is what you think and then there are facts.

 

[LevelingSolo]

Bruce is saying John Gruden is potential frontrunner for the job next season?

Are you serious? Are we really gonna go with another rookie head coach again?

 

[DaveMatthew]

Bruce is saying John Gruden is potential frontrunner for the job next season?

Are you serious? Are we really gonna go with another rookie head coach again?

I think that's an easy "connect the dots" for Brucey to make, but I really hope not.

The NHL is not the OHL. Let's not just re-assemble the Hamilton Bulldogs here.

Rod Brind'Amour's contract is up at the end of this season, and there are rumblings that Dundon may not be willing to pay up to keep him in Carolina.

If Andlauer and Staios want to make a splash, making him the highest-paid coach would be it. That would actually be best-in-class.

 

[Senscore]

EXCLUSIVE: Fired coach D.J. Smith leaves Ottawa Senators with his head held high

D.J.. Smith came on the telephone from his hotel room in Tempe on Tuesday morning, he was killing time before his flight back Ottawa.

ottawasun.com

"I have no doubt that if I had stayed right to the end, we’d be right close to the playoffs.”

DJ my guy that just wasn't happening.

 

[Beech]

Wow I guess Andlauer and Staios are just a bunch of clowns that don't know what they are doing. After all you've have it all figured out even though you have no inside information into the Sens operations and certainly nowhere near the professional hockey knowledge that those two seemingly have.
Most people will realize that like an iceberg , most of what transpired will never be seen or heard , so based on that, they will give them their support and see how it all unfolds.

Melnyk was rich, successful, guided the Sens to the 07 cup final. to the 04 and 17 ECF.

Yet a clown!!!

 

[PatrickEaves]

DJ my guy that just wasn't happening.

“You can bring in other guys to help you with the details and the structure and all those things. If you can’t get your top players to play, and to play every day, it’s hard. Those guys played hard for me. They didn’t cheat me on effort."

That says everything about his coaching.
The details and structure are not the priority, just play hard. Shows why we look like a Timbits team following the puck when we defend.

 

[Beech]

Yet almost every team is over the cap and utilizing LTIR. There is what you think and then there are facts.

Figure out why trades are so hard to make in today's NHL.

1) you need to trade an 8 M AAV for 8 M in AAV
2) if you paid your 8 M AAV (1 or more players), their money up-front and they are now due 6-6.5 for the 2-4 years left. Meanwhile other team's players(s) are due 9-9.5 M.. why the F make that deal? you will be on the hook for 3-3.5 M a year extra.. so 6-15 M in real dollars out your pocket. Meanwhile, the other teams saves 6-15 M.

Deals are difficult to make, because you have to balance aav AND true dollars.

The most beautiful contract out there is: Jack Hughes.. AAV and true are the same... NJ will be fielding calls on him for the next 6 years.

 

[DaveMatthew]

EXCLUSIVE: Fired coach D.J. Smith leaves Ottawa Senators with his head held high

D.J.. Smith came on the telephone from his hotel room in Tempe on Tuesday morning, he was killing time before his flight back Ottawa.

ottawasun.com

If I were a parent with a 16-year-old leaving home to play junior hockey, DJ Smith is someone that I'd want them to play for.

If I were the owner of an NHL team looking to make the playoffs, DJ Smith is someone that I'd want nowhere near my team's head coaching position.

DJ has a lot of great qualities that will keep him in the game for the rest of his life. He'll have a great career. It just won't be at the NHL level. And there's no shame in that.

 

[The Professional]

Part of the blame has to go to the FYOUS, that set ridiculous expectations that were never in reality, and never an actual plan, that I think many still think they have a timeline that coincides and falls in line with that

This team has not been, and is not, ready to take a step into a playoff team. The conference is full of teams ahead of the curve, with as many good players as we have. There is still work to be done, that will hopefully begin in April. The sale of the team pushed the team back a full year minimum for coming online.

Disagree. They have a lot of good pieces in place. Their offense is one of the best In the league, and on paper they have a top 4 that is solid as well. With better coaching, this roster is easily a playoff team, I don't understand this "Ottawa is terrible anyways and still very far from competing etc." narrative. They're really not, and this is what's frustrating as a fan.

Hopefully Jacques can instill some defensive discipline into this young core the way he did with the 90s Sens.

 

[LevelingSolo]

I think that's an easy "connect the dots" for Brucey to make, but I really hope not.

The NHL is not the OHL. Let's not just re-assemble the Hamilton Bulldogs here.

Rod Brind'Amour's contract is up at the end of this season, and there are rumblings that Dundon may not be willing to pay up to keep him in Carolina.

If Andlauer and Staios want to make a splash, making him the highest-paid coach would be it. That would actually be best-in-class.

Ideally Mike Sullivan or Jon Cooper become available but that seems unlikely

Brind'Amour is an Ottawa guy so that could be a possibility

I think Berube would be my number one target right now though

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Complain, Complain, Complain lol

Timing could be off starting with later take over. I think Dorion and DJ should both have been history for a while. We turned a BIG page , we rid ourselves of toxic waste and a good guy but limited coach. This is a positive. Getting Alfie and Jacques in the fold is a positive. Things will get better with this new regime even if they don't exactly meet your schedule. Most everyone had too high expectations for this group entering the season. Reset . Move on.

Please man, don't tell people to move on, that's plain disrespectful.

And yes, they absolutely should have done this at the very least ten games ago. It might have been the difference between saving the season and wasting a second one in a row(as far as expectations go). It's entirely fair to bring this up until the season is over.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Please man, don't tell people to move on, that's plain disrespectful.

And yes, they absolutely should have done this at the very least ten games ago. It might have been the difference between saving the season and wasting a second one in a row(as far as expectations go). It's entirely fair to bring this up until the season is over.

It's fair to suggest that DJ should have been fired by Staios 10 games earlier.

It's ridiculous to suggest that Staios should have kept Pierre Dorion so that he could've fired DJ 10 games earlier, as one poster is.

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

A day later and still the idea that we will have Jacques Martin backed up by Alfredsson as coaches on the bench still seems fever dream perfect.

these two more than any others embody what the Ottawa Senators should be all about and how they play.

 

[DueDiligence]

Melnyk was rich, successful, guided the Sens to the 07 cup final. to the 04 and 17 ECF.

Yet a clown!!!

When EM bought the Sens in 2003 they were already a successful playoff team. The core he inherited were the same guys that lead them to success in 2004 and 2007. And yes he did get very lucky with the 2017 team.
Regardless if you are comparing Andlauer to Melnyk , especially the EM from 2010 on, then I really don't know what to say to you. Other than being rich successful businessmen I don't see a similarity between the two. Then again maybe you don't like billionaires that buy sports teams?

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

Please just get someone that is qualified and has experience at the NHL level for the full time coach position.

 

[Micklebot]

Wish him well.

This whole mess began with a puffed chest, foolish baravdo move by the organization to part ways with Dorion for something he did two years ago. I am fully convinced that if they did not do that, DJ would have been fired back in November, before Sweden.

Instead, we have lost another season dithering around and while the hires yesterday are good for short term, and non-committal, I am not impressed at all with the new owner/POHO handling of this season. They tried to win a social media game and torpedoed the season instead

I suspect they decided to fire Dorion because of the details unearthed in the 70 page report the NHL put together. I don't see how it was a puffed chest, foolish baravdo move to fire him, he quite clearly deserved to be fired.

You may be convinced Dorion would have fired Smith in Nov, assuming Staois would even let him make that move, but I think it's equally likely he'd have tried to make some major trade to "salvage" the season instead. Keeping Dorion around just adds more risk of an incompetent man making consequential decisions. Why would any business keep someone around they know is a liability?

I think we all agree that Staios dragged his feet on firing DJ, but the solution wasn't keep Dorion, it's for Staois to make the call earlier.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Babcock was just fired this year a couple weeks before the season began

I guess that’s one, that seems like a special case though

 

[Emerica]

For context here is the actual full quote:

“For me, what i look at is how we play the game and make sure we take care of details and that we get better. I haven’t changed any of the systems, maybe down the road we’ll bring some changes but for now i want to leave them in their comfortable zone. I want to make sure that they prepare properly for the opponents and that we go out and play”

Whoever runs that TSN account often does a terrible job paraphrasing

 

[DaveMatthew]

For context here is the actual full quote:

“For me, what i look at is how we play the game and make sure we take care of details and that we get better. I haven’t changed any of the systems, maybe down the road we’ll bring some changes but for now i want to leave them in their comfortable zone. I want to make sure that they prepare properly for the opponents and that we go out and play”

Whoever runs that TSN account often does a terrible job paraphrasing

Or a great job, if they're looking to maximize angry engagement...

 

[Bileur]

For context here is the actual full quote:

“For me, what i look at is how we play the game and make sure we take care of details and that we get better. I haven’t changed any of the systems, maybe down the road we’ll bring some changes but for now i want to leave them in their comfortable zone. I want to make sure that they prepare properly for the opponents and that we go out and play”

Whoever runs that TSN account often does a terrible job paraphrasing

 

[Beech]

When EM bought the Sens in 2003 they were already a successful playoff team. The core he inherited were the same guys that lead them to success in 2004 and 2007. And yes he did get very lucky with the 2017 team.
Regardless if you are comparing Andlauer to Melnyk , especially the EM from 2010 on, then I really don't know what to say to you. Other than being rich successful businessmen I don't see a similarity between the two. Then again maybe you don't like billionaires that buy sports teams?

what I like is billionaire who buy sports teams, but have a vision and a plan. Who are organized and methodical.

I want the same things from every comer of society.. Politicians, administrators, etc.

if I go into a Doctors office, I don't want to hear; We will try this and see what happens. I want that Doctor that outline all his options, tell me what they want to do, what the hope outcome is. If not, then how to pivot from there. What else can be used tried, etc. I want a Doctor who studied my case closely, not some guy who looked at my file 2 minutes earlier and does not give a rats ass if I live or die, if I am cured/healed or not.

I want a politicians to tell me the steps he/she will take to lower inflation. In real terms, specifics, expected outcomes, back-up plans and so on.. Not flowery speeches.

BEST IN CLASS... and a few guys in section 323!!!!! Final straw.. what was straw 1?

Professor Ramulas Nestasi.. McGill Engineering (He invented Fuel Air explosions, the forerunner to thermobaric bombs) ..... CCOT... complete, correct, on time.

Is it too much to ask for CCOT from billionaire owners.

 

[Beech]

If I were a parent with a 16-year-old leaving home to play junior hockey, DJ Smith is someone that I'd want them to play for.

If I were the owner of an NHL team looking to make the playoffs, DJ Smith is someone that I'd want nowhere near my team's head coaching position.

DJ has a lot of great qualities that will keep him in the game for the rest of his life. He'll have a great career. It just won't be at the NHL level. And there's no shame in that.

Cory Clouston, Paul MacLean, and so on.. Sadly the ocean is deep with one and done.

MacLean was a Jack Adams winner!!!!

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

—

If I were a parent with a 16-year-old leaving home to play junior hockey, DJ Smith is someone that I'd want them to play for.

If I were the owner of an NHL team looking to make the playoffs, DJ Smith is someone that I'd want nowhere near my team's head coaching position.

DJ has a lot of great qualities that will keep him in the game for the rest of his life. He'll have a great career. It just won't be at the NHL level. And there's no shame in that.

Good that you have in-depth knowledge of what makes an NHL coach.

 

[coladin]

"Every prognosticator" is not Andlauer and Staios. Find me a quote where they say that the goal this year was winning, playoffs, or they thought they were on the verge of any real success?

ok