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

[Pierre from Orleans]

Wtf was DJ talking about during that interview lol.

“If someone mad at my coaching was so good they’d be in the nHL!”

Bro I didn’t suggest the sens replace you with me. I suggested they replace you with a better coach. Does he not grasp that concept? But he probably doesn’t. Still talking about f***ing health. Dude you’re missing a second pairing d man and your team is playing horrendous hockey. Last year post trade deadline you were missing your second line Center. He really expects 100% health.


Nice guy. Treats others with respect. And that counts for something in life. Definitely a bit of a bozo tho and clear where tkatchuk and stutzle get some of their dumbass attitude towards the fans and towards the game in general.

Also he did not sound happy about Martin being brought in as advisor.

Then do your f***ing job better.

Yea I didn't really get a sense of true ownership of the terrible results despite him mentioning it a couple times.

Sounded more like shifting blame than anything else.

Like it has been said already, good guy but absolutely terrible coach at the NHL level.

 

[Crosside]

Bernard-Docker: It's exciting to have Alfie showing you the ropes

Sens blueliner Jacob Bernard-Docker speaks to the media after Ottawa's practice

www.tsn.ca

 

[HF Reader]

Martin: We have to keep our mindset for a full 60 minutes

Sens interim head coach Jacques Martin speaks to the media after his team's practice

www.tsn.ca

Maybe I missed it but I don't think I heard the word "bounces" once.

 

[Beech]

I don’t think we’ll have smaller D for very long. It would be nice if our bigger D played bigger though, especially Chychrun.

Chychrun, Chabot and Sanderson see themselves as puck movers, point getters. And so more in the Eric Karlsson mold. Physical play is not part of their game

Brannstrom is very short
JBD is short(ish) and he too sees himself as a puck mover

Hamonic is physical, but has slowed and his attempts at physical play can sometimes lead to penalties

that leaves ZUB.

Next year, 6' 4" Klevin comes around
The year after, 6' 4" Nordberg comes around

Many of their drafted Dmen 2015-2020 were 6 feet or shorter!!!

 

[BondraTime]

Chychrun, Chabot and Sanderson see themselves as puck movers, point getters. And so more in the Eric Karlsson mold. Physical play is not part of their game

Brannstrom is very short
JBD is short(ish) and he too sees himself as a puck mover

Hamonic is physical, but has slowed and his attempts at physical play can sometimes lead to penalties

that leaves ZUB.

Next year, 6' 4" Klevin comes around
The year after, 6' 4" Nordberg comes around

Many of their drafted Dmen 2015-2020 were 6 feet or shorter!!!

Sens haven’t drafted a D shorter than 6ft since 2009

 

[redbrick98]

Obviously DJ didn’t want the guys to play soft, and they used to not play soft and were known as being hard to play against.

The problem as I see it is that he was friendly and protective development coach for years, like a father to the youngsters. He was unable to change into a task master, and the guys started to take advantage of the close and comfortable relationship.

We have seen this kind of thing before with Paul McLean. He tried to change from nurturer to disciplinarian (for simplicity’s sake) and the players tuned him out. I suspect DJ didn’t have it in him to even try.

Like many said earlier it really does look like the team needed a different type of coach to match the different expectations and different goals that came with development.

Enter a vastly experienced head coach who preaches defence and details, along with 200 foot HHOF star player and local hero to embody how they need to play as individuals to go with JM’s team play.

It looks like a perfect evolution to the fundamentals that DJ had the guys doing in all previous years but this one. Chemistry, working hard, being hard to play against, and playing for each other. Now they need to add a professional game to the mix, and it’s high time.

Once JM is settled in Cap will be gone and they can add another voice to the mix. Would love to somehow get Chara into the fold again, he could really show our D how to play the game.

Ice Tray

LOVE YOUR LAST POINT ... if we can somehow??? Get ZDENO CHARA in the mix ....

I'm sure Alfie has his cell number ... make this happen @WALLY bring up the idea on your Podcast ... let's get this going mainstream

 

[Micklebot]

A) I’m not on the team, so what I think doesn’t have an impact on how the team plays.
B) It was more a comment about how, in the timelines of both team’s rebuilds, we shouldn’t have looked so far behind the Coyotes. But it just goes to show what good coaching and focused players can do. They’re sitting in a wildcard spot and we’re in the basement.

My comment is more about you seemingly being shocked, so I don't think it's relevant whether your thoughts impact how the team plays. It shows either a lack of understanding of how parity in the league works, or more likely, an attempt to make something seem more absurd than it is.

As for the timeline of their rebuilds, it's one game, again, bad teams will have good nights and vice versa, there really isn't anything shocking here, Arizona is playing about as well as we did last year, they'll have good periods just like we do and did.

At best, the only thing shocking is how inconsistent we have been this year after having been more promising last year, Arizona really doesn't play into the equation unless you're trying to manufacture outrage

 

[Tragedy]

Sens haven’t drafted a D shorter than 6ft since 2009

Don't let facts ruin a good narative

 

[Micklebot]

Sens haven’t drafted a D shorter than 6ft since 2009

Tychonick was 5'11 and a half.

2018 NHL Draft Combine Heights and Weights

Today we bring you the official height and weight measurements of the NHL Entry Draft prospects at the 2018 NHL Draft Combine.

lastwordonsports.com

 

[BankStreetParade]

I don't disagree with the bad goals.

But the collapse yesterday didn't start after Korpisalo let in the stinker. It started well before. So it's not like he let in a bad one and that reeled the team and they couldn't recover. They collapsed while he was still standing on his head.

It was a 3-2 game and they had been scored on just 30 seconds before that. It doesn't matter when the "collapse" started. He needed to save that shot and who knows what happens from there. The point I'm making is that bad goals go in at terrible times and this team is broken mentally because of it.

It's like the mental part of any sport. The golfer who suddenly can't trust his putter, the poker player who feels like they're missing every draw and running into coolers all the time, the basketball player who has a tough stretch shooting free throws, etc. You can say that person should just shake it off and I'm sure they are trying to but then if it happens again? Hard to say they can just get over it mentally.

Anyway, this whole mess started with the indecision at the top. The time to fire DJ was in late October/early November. We'd have had 12-15 games of a new coach by now and well over a month of building new habits and breaking old bad ones. They let this problem fester and now there might not be a way for the players to reset their mental game this season.

 

[Bileur]

Wtf was DJ talking about during that interview lol.

“If someone mad at my coaching was so good they’d be in the nHL!”

Bro I didn’t suggest the sens replace you with me. I suggested they replace you with a better coach. Does he not grasp that concept? But he probably doesn’t. Still talking about f***ing health. Dude you’re missing a second pairing d man and your team is playing horrendous hockey. Last year post trade deadline you were missing your second line Center. He really expects 100% health.


Nice guy. Treats others with respect. And that counts for something in life. Definitely a bit of a bozo tho and clear where tkatchuk and stutzle get some of their dumbass attitude towards the fans and towards the game in general.

Also he did not sound happy about Martin being brought in as advisor.

Then do your f***ing job better.

Couldn’t have done a better job confirming it was the right decision to fire him if he tried.

 

[DrEasy]

Why do we keep thinking it's just one thing that's the reason this team is underperforming? I see three factors, and if we can address even just two out of three we should be good:

- different voice/details/system/etc. : this one has been addressed, so now we're down to just having one of the next two right:

- health: we're missing Chabot, Joseph, Pinto. Nothing but time can address this. And things can get even worse as per Sens tradition!

- goaltending: we're kind of stuck here too, unless at some point someone like Sogaard or Merilainen is promoted and performs well, even if it's at a 1B capacity.

 

[BankStreetParade]

I don't know if it has been discussed but this whole fiasco has been so poorly handled by Staios. Waited and waited until the season was effectively over before making a move and then cans the guy in the middle of a western roadtrip, despite so many obvious opportunities with soft spots in the schedule. Just feels so amateur and bordering on unprofessional.

 

[redbrick98]

I don't know if it has been discussed but this whole fiasco has been so poorly handled by Staios. Waited and waited until the season was effectively over before making a move and then cans the guy in the middle of a western roadtrip, despite so many obvious opportunities with soft spots in the schedule. Just feels so amateur and bordering on unprofessional.

Have to say I disagree completely.

If anything it's been more than professional, giving DJ a more than honest chance to turn this around, not caving into pressure, letting him coach AFTER the embarrassment that was the Florida game, letting him before Sens fans had the chance to roast DJ right before Christmas at the next home game vs Pittsburgh

 

[Boud]

Why do we keep thinking it's just one thing that's the reason this team is underperforming? I see three factors, and if we can address even just two out of three we should be good:

- different voice/details/system/etc. : this one has been addressed, so now we're down to just having one of the next two right:

- health: we're missing Chabot, Joseph, Pinto. Nothing but time can address this. And things can get even worse as per Sens tradition!

- goaltending: we're kind of stuck here too, unless at some point someone like Sogaard or Merilainen is promoted and performs well, even if it's at a 1B capacity.

I feel like effort has also been an issue. Don't like to admit that but the team has not played up to even reasonable expectations after considering injuries and goaltending. Lazy on backchecks and lack of accountability for errors has caused the players to cheat offensively and not really have any repercussions for it. Tkachuk, Batherson and Stutzle have been very bad in that sense. Maybe not every game but definitely more than they should've. Just having a full effort from these guys would make a world of difference. I don't think all hope is lost, I still feel like this team can turn it around. Maybe wishful thinking but I truly believe that.

Goaltending is an issue but I feel like that will resolve itself at least partially with better systems and better defense. I look at last night and Korpisalo stood on his head and that loss just wasn't his fault. Sure, the 3rd goal was not the best but if you give 40 shots to your opponents a sneaky one will find its way to the back of the net. The other 3 goals he had no chance to stop. I feel like Korpisalo has been decent. Not incredible, but some games he deserved a better fate. Confidence has likely been an issue with our goalies, the team has been giving golden opportunities in high danger areas and teams capitalized on those and we've kept losing. When we're at a point where we can say with certainty that our goaltending is solely costing us wins, it will honestly be a great day because right now (at least personally) it seems like that's just one of the issues amongst a sea of problems. Some of these problems are leaving our goalies out to dry.

The injury part has certainly hurt the team. It's time for our coaching staff to expect more from the players on the ice rather than sulk about the injuries. We know injuries will always happen, especially with this team, many players have a tendency to get hurt every year and miss significant time. Like you say, I would bet that it will get worse because we've been so used to it. Tampa won a cup in a year where they missed their best player for the majority of the games, TWICE!

These players can do much better and they will, they don't have a choice.

 

[RyCam]

Couldn’t have done a better job confirming it was the right decision to fire him if he tried.

Agreed, also didn't like that he basically said that he was let go because he wasn't the current management's "hire". I think the current management gave DJ way more rope than he deserved.

 

[DrEasy]

I feel like effort has also been an issue. Don't like to admit that but the team has not played up to even reasonable expectations after considering injuries and goaltending. Lazy on backchecks and lack of accountability for errors has caused the players to cheat offensively and not really have any repercussions for it. Tkachuk, Batherson and Stutzle have been very bad in that sense. Maybe not every game but definitely more than they should've. Just having a full effort from these guys would make a world of difference. I don't think all hope is lost, I still feel like this team can turn it around. Maybe wishful thinking but I truly believe that.

Goaltending is an issue but I feel like that will resolve itself at least partially with better systems and better defense. I look at last night and Korpisalo stood on his head and that loss just wasn't his fault. Sure, the 3rd goal was not the best but if you give 40 shots to your opponents a sneaky one will find its way to the back of the net. The other 3 goals he had no chance to stop. I feel like Korpisalo has been decent. Not incredible, but some games he deserved a better fate. Confidence has likely been an issue with our goalies, the team has been giving golden opportunities in high danger areas and teams capitalized on those and we've kept losing. When we're at a point where we can say with certainty that our goaltending is solely costing us wins, it will honestly be a great day because right now (at least personally) it seems like that's just one of the issues amongst a sea of problems. Some of these problems are leaving our goalies out to dry.

The injury part has certainly hurt the team. It's time for our coaching staff to expect more from the players on the ice rather than sulk about the injuries. We know injuries will always happen, especially with this team, many players have a tendency to get hurt every year and miss significant time. Like you say, I would bet that it will get worse because we've been so used to it. Tampa won a cup in a year where they missed their best player for the majority of the games, TWICE!

These players can do much better and they will, they don't have a choice.

I think what we perceive as a lack of effort is due to the system they were playing. For one, they always seem to start the game really well, but it's not sustainable and they run out of gas (bring back the exercise bikes! ). Maybe play smarter instead of harder.

The offensive cheating is also going to be addressed by Jacques. Fewer cherry-picking opportunities, leading to fewer goals scored but also much fewer goals allowed.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Yea I didn't really get a sense of true ownership of the terrible results despite him mentioning it a couple times.

Sounded more like shifting blame than anything else.

Like it has been said already, good guy but absolutely terrible coach at the NHL level.

If only our second pair defenceman was healthy! We wouldn’t be so terrible. And also fans can’t Coach better than me so their criticism is totally unwarranted

 

[WallyD]

Not sure what face creams coach Martin is using, but he looks amazing for 71. He hasn’t aged a bit in 19 years. shout out to his moisturizing routine

A Greek Adonis for sure! Maybe he's been been moonlighting as that older guy, the father in the Plexiderm commercials... Dude calls his daughter every month to get her to order more face cream. He's either a luddite or a cheapskate, perhaps both!

Gord can ask him this critical question next game... "Safe to say Plexiderm is the cat's pyjamas coach?"

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

I like how he threw in there that they’re 1-5 since Jacques joined….i want to like DJ but damn if this doesn’t epitomize his time, I don’t know what does. Coaching Change was way overdue

I'm starting to see where the players' entitlement and lack of accountability comes from.

DJ spent over 4 years behind the bench here, but acts like he didn't get a chance to show his stuff. It's like, what more did he expect?

 

[DrEasy]

I'm starting to see where the players' entitlement and lack of accountability comes from.

DJ spent over 4 years behind the bench here, but acts like he didn't get a chance to show his stuff. It's like, what more did he expect?

To be fair he didn't have the horses the first couple of years. In fact they maybe even performed better than expected then, depriving us of higher picks.

 

[JD1]

I agree that the goaltending on most nights has been brutal, but yesterday it was different.

This team collapsed well before the 3rd goal (and it was a softie) and were getting dominated by Arizona for a good 20 minutes prior to it. Arizona!

If anything, Korpisalo was the reason we stayed ahead for as long as we did.

So I'm not going to disagree with you about something that I didn't

But here's the thing, this franchise has never had consistent elite goaltending. Andy had stretches. Hasek for a short time maybe.

Teams get dominated and win in the NHL. It's common. Just not for Ottawa. Geezus just look at how frequently the past season and a half we deserved a better fate but got stymied..

Or look at Boston. Actual goals against. 3rd. Expected goals against 18th.

Us. Actual 27th. Expected 9th.

Goalies win a lot of games for "good" teams when the play is even and when the play is tilted against you. Just not here.

 

[Tuna99]

So I'm not going to disagree with you about something that I didn't

But here's the thing, this franchise has never had consistent elite goaltending. Andy had stretches. Hasek for a short time maybe.

Teams get dominated and win in the NHL. It's common. Just not for Ottawa. Geezus just look at how frequently the past season and a half we deserved a better fate but got stymied..

Or look at Boston. Actual goals against. 3rd. Expected goals against 18th.

Us. Actual 27th. Expected 9th.

Goalies win a lot of games for "good" teams when the play is even and when the play is tilted against you. Just not here.

This is true the players from the net to the #1 center haven’t been good enough, but neither was the ownership, management or coaching. It’s all been bad

The GM lasted 15 games and the coach lasted 28 games. I think that says a ton about their skill level after 6 years of trying to build something - you’re boss wanted to keep yo but he had to fire you, it’s on you bud not everything else

 

[Melgene Eunyk]

What shocks me is a that a player like Giroux bought into DJs nonsense. Obviously DJ did a great job in building team cohesion. But, to me, it begs a question: Do these guys care more about the comraderie they've developed, or doing whatever it takes to win the grand prize?

Hopefully, they were so disillusioned by DJ that they come around. Alfie, I think, is someone that can get through to them. We've never seen someone more committed to bringing a winners mentality than Alfie.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Wtf was DJ talking about during that interview lol.

“If someone mad at my coaching was so good they’d be in the nHL!”

Bro I didn’t suggest the sens replace you with me. I suggested they replace you with a better coach. Does he not grasp that concept? But he probably doesn’t. Still talking about f***ing health. Dude you’re missing a second pairing d man and your team is playing horrendous hockey. Last year post trade deadline you were missing your second line Center. He really expects 100% health.


Nice guy. Treats others with respect. And that counts for something in life. Definitely a bit of a bozo tho and clear where tkatchuk and stutzle get some of their dumbass attitude towards the fans and towards the game in general.

Also he did not sound happy about Martin being brought in as advisor.

Then do your f***ing job better.

I agree on the other parts, except, for the injuries part, seemed to never have a healthy team. Wasn’t he missing both goalies, Chychurn, Chabot, Greig for a while post TDL as well as Norris.