Proposal: Fire DJ Smith

[Micklebot]

Well the players are what they are. The team was constructed by the GM and the GM chose DJ to captain that ship.

Blaming a whole a collection of players isn't going to change results. The only coaches in the league right now who are longer tenured than DJ have all recently won Cups and Rod Brind'Amour, who coaches a perennial contender. Short shelf lives are the norm.

The tenure argument is a bit misleading imo.

DJ was brought in to develop, and we've developed. This was the first year with any expectations, so this offseason is probably the first with much of a push to fire him.

I suspect we keep him around another year, just based on timing of the sale, what happens next season will determine his fate.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

Yeah if I had to make a prediction. I am assuming both Dorion and DJ are staying for next season.

We will see if that changes when new ownership arrives but timing alone is gonna make it difficult to make new hires

I can see what happened in Pittsburgh, happening here is Ottawa.

 

[Agent Zuuuub]

DJ and Dorion run the team like a country club. Low expectations and low standards.

You look around the league and see how hyper competitive and results driven everyone else is.

And people wonder why this team plays so loose, crumble under pressure and have sucked despite so much talent.

Dorion definitely more to blame than DJ but there is only something to gain in getting more established voices and leaders.

The players need a kick in the ass and DJ seems too nice to do it.

 

[Ice-Tray]

Well the players are what they are. The team was constructed by the GM and the GM chose DJ to captain that ship.

Blaming a whole a collection of players isn't going to change results. The only coaches in the league right now who are longer tenured than DJ have all recently won Cups and Rod Brind'Amour, who coaches a perennial contender. Short shelf lives are the norm.

Who cares though? That coaching stat lacks context.

As for the fan ire, coaches routinely focus the blame into themselves to insulate players. It’s what DJ has been doing as well.

I don’t agree with the change comment. I believe that we have been changing for the better each year. I suspect that next year we will do the same again.

 

[Bileur]

The tenure argument is a bit misleading imo.

DJ was brought in to develop, and we've developed. This was the first year with any expectations, so this offseason is probably the first with much of a push to fire him.

I suspect we keep him around another year, just based on timing of the sale, what happens next season will determine his fate.

It’s definitely starting to look like he’s going to stick around, for lack of time and direction from ownership if nothing else. It would be weird for Dorion to fire him at this point with an imminent sale.

I don’t think it’s misleading to compare his tenure to his peers though. Other coaches have also been tasked with developing young teams and have been fired for a variety of reasons. Coaching a rebuilding/young team isn’t a particularly unique circumstance. Coaches just tend to have a short shelf life in the NHL and in pro sports in general barring sustained success.

 

[Micklebot]

It’s definitely starting to look like he’s going to stick around, for lack of time and direction from ownership if nothing else. It would be weird for Dorion to fire him at this point with an imminent sale.

I don’t think it’s misleading to compare his tenure to his peers though. Other coaches have also been tasked with developing young teams and have been fired for a variety of reasons. Coaching a rebuilding/young team isn’t a particularly unique circumstance. Coaches just tend to have a short shelf life in the NHL and in pro sports in general barring sustained success.

I think it omits context.

You don't fire guys for doing what you expect them to.

DJ was asked to develop a young core, he's done that. The team and it's core players, despite what some seem to think, has mostly been taking steps forward under his tenure.

Brady is developing into a leader on the ice, has greatly surpassed most people's expectations offensively

Stützle is becoming a premier #1 center

Norris has developed into a two way goal scoring 1b

Sanderson has quickly proven to be a stud

That's what his job was, getting these kids ready for the teams competitive window. This season we would have liked to be a little closer or maybe make the playoffs, but there are some significant mitigating factors that made that a tough ask no matter who your coach was.

You look at Detroit with Blashill, he went 7 years of decline before they finally made a change, 4 years isn't that odd in the context of a rebuild, Eakins is going into year 5 if he survives with worse results. Arz went 5 years of missing with Tippett before firing him,

 

[Bileur]

I think it omits context.

You don't fire guys for doing what you expect them to.

DJ was asked to develop a young core, he's done that. The team and it's core players, despite what some seem to think, has mostly been taking steps forward under his tenure.

Brady is developing into a leader on the ice, has greatly surpassed most people's expectations offensively

Stützle is becoming a premier #1 center

Norris has developed into a two way goal scoring 1b

Sanderson has quickly proven to be a stud

That's what his job was, getting these kids ready for the teams competitive window. This season we would have liked to be a little closer or maybe make the playoffs, but there are some significant mitigating factors that made that a tough ask no matter who your coach was.

You look at Detroit with Blashill, he went 7 years of decline before they finally made a change, 4 years isn't that odd in the context of a rebuild, Eakins is going into year 5 if he survives with worse results. Arz went 5 years of missing with Tippett before firing him,

Interesting perspective, I guess I just disagree with using the term misleading which has a negative connotation and seems overly harsh.

If not listing every counter argument and mitigating factor is omitting context then couldn’t one also say that omitting Batherson’s regression, Chabot’s lack of improvement over multiple seasons, and DeBrincat’s disappointing production is misleading? These are also core players that DJ was asked to develop.

I don’t think either are misleading, you just can’t include every single argument for and against in every post. Maybe « incomplete » is a better word.

Those are indeed good examples of coaches who lasted long in rebuilds. There are others for coaches who didn’t last as long during rebuilds like McLellan in Edmonton or Krueger in Buffalo or Savard in Chicago or a few guys in Florida.

I think like Mendes said it’s a fair topic for discussion and it’s only a part of the picture.

 

[Ice-Tray]

Interesting perspective, I guess I just disagree with using the term misleading which has a negative connotation and seems overly harsh.

If not listing every counter argument and mitigating factor is omitting context then couldn’t one also say that omitting Batherson’s regression, Chabot’s lack of improvement over multiple seasons, and DeBrincat’s disappointing production is misleading? These are also core players that DJ was asked to develop.

I don’t think either are misleading, you just can’t include every single argument for and against in every post. Maybe « incomplete » is a better word.

Those are indeed good examples of coaches who lasted long in rebuilds. There are others for coaches who didn’t last as long during rebuilds like McLellan in Edmonton or Krueger in Buffalo or Savard in Chicago or a few guys in Florida.

I think like Mendes said it’s a fair topic for discussion and it’s only a part of the picture.

I think most people would agree that Edmonton and Buffalo endured botched or at best stalled rebuilds, which lead to firings. Both of those teams are pretty much the standard of how to get lots of great picks and screw the whole thing up.

The Sens on the other hand haven’t stalled yet, so there isn’t really any urgency to replace the coach who has been meeting expectations set by the organization.

His time will come eventually, but in my opinion its should be as a result of failing to meet expectations. Job expectations, not rando internet fan expectations.

 

[Micklebot]

Interesting perspective, I guess I just disagree with using the term misleading which has a negative connotation and seems overly harsh.

If not listing every counter argument and mitigating factor is omitting context then couldn’t one also say that omitting Batherson’s regression, Chabot’s lack of improvement over multiple seasons, and DeBrincat’s disappointing production is misleading? These are also core players that DJ was asked to develop.

I don’t think either are misleading, you just can’t include every single argument for and against in every post. Maybe « incomplete » is a better word.

Those are indeed good examples of coaches who lasted long in rebuilds. There are others for coaches who didn’t last as long during rebuilds like McLellan in Edmonton or Krueger in Buffalo or Savard in Chicago or a few guys in Florida.

I think like Mendes said it’s a fair topic for discussion and it’s only a part of the picture.

I think it's misleading, not intentionally so, but it paints a picture that isn't imo a good representation of the situation imo.

Batherson played recovering from his ankle with a rookie center over his head in a second line role, not sure you can place that on DJ.

DeBrincat hit a career high in assists, sh% was way down to the point that it's highly likely an aberration and will bounce back. Again, does that fall on DJ, I don't think so.

Chabot perhaps could have been handled better, I don't know that we have the full picture there, there's been vague chatter of him playing through some stuff but idk.

Coaches are easily replaceable, so firing him is definitely an option, i just don't think his tenure is particularly unusual, and I think he's had a lot of things outside of his control that have played into the results we've seen

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

So, for all of those expect Sheldon Keene to be named coach of the Senators tomorrow morning, will it be PD making the announcement or Kyle Dubas?

 

[Gil Gunderson]

So, for all of those expect Sheldon Keene to be named coach of the Senators tomorrow morning, will it be PD making the announcement or Kyle Dubas?

?

 

[Adele Dazeem]

So, for all of those expect Sheldon Keene to be named coach of the Senators tomorrow morning, will it be PD making the announcement or Kyle Dubas?

Gross. Keefe is a terrible coach.

 

[Bileur]

I think most people would agree that Edmonton and Buffalo endured botched or at best stalled rebuilds, which lead to firings. Both of those teams are pretty much the standard of how to get lots of great picks and screw the whole thing up.

The Sens on the other hand haven’t stalled yet, so there isn’t really any urgency to replace the coach who has been meeting expectations set by the organization.

His time will come eventually, but in my opinion its should be as a result of failing to meet expectations. Job expectations, not rando internet fan expectations.

Buffalo definitely hit a speed bump despite some young players showing good progression. There are mitigating factors there too like Eichel having a career threatening injury. The room there was definitely a problem (unlike here).

McLellan helped Edmonton take the next step before falling back. He definitely helped develop key players but it seemed they needed a new message.

The sens were stalled but got a decent improvement this season. We’ll see if DJ gets a chance to continue that road. I don’t read much into Dorion’s tepid comments at the end of the year, I think he was just keeping options open given the ownership situation.

I don’t know about rando internet expectations, but I do think people should be realistic about how hard it is to keep a job as a pro sports head coach.

I think it's misleading, not intentionally so, but it paints a picture that isn't imo a good representation of the situation imo.

Batherson played recovering from his ankle with a rookie center over his head in a second line role, not sure you can place that on DJ.

DeBrincat hit a career high in assists, sh% was way down to the point that it's highly likely an aberration and will bounce back. Again, does that fall on DJ, I don't think so.

Chabot perhaps could have been handled better, I don't know that we have the full picture there, there's been vague chatter of him playing through some stuff but idk.

Coaches are easily replaceable, so firing him is definitely an option, i just don't think his tenure is particularly unusual, and I think he's had a lot of things outside of his control that have played into the results we've seen

Definitely agree with this. That’s why I think it’s pretty likely he gets canned in the next weeks - 14 months. If your tenure is normal you should expect to get fired in a normal timeline.

Coaching into and beyond a 5th NHL season is rare and is usually reserved for top end coaches.

 

[Micklebot]

Definitely agree with this. That’s why I think it’s pretty likely he gets canned in the next 18 months. If your tenure is normal you should expect to get fired in a normal timeline.

Coaching into and beyond a 5th NHL season is rare and is usually reserved for top end coaches.

I think if he survives this offseason, next season will be make or break. If we make playoffs, he probably stays on until we take a step back. You don't fire a guy purely based on tenure, you fire them when they fail to meet expectations. Expectations typically get higher every year, the first 3 were varying degrees of development, yr 4 was be competing for the wild card spot, next year is make the playoffs, perhaps win a round and so on.

 

[Sun God Nika]

Honestly I have zero clue what happens with DJ and Pierre if this sale happened a month earlier they would be guaranteed gone. However there is a draft and free agency approaching now do u can Pierre right after that ?

 

[Bileur]

I think if he survives this offseason, next season will be make or break. If we make playoffs, he probably stays on until we take a step back. You don't fire a guy purely based on tenure, you fire them when they fail to meet expectations. Expectations typically get higher every year, the first 3 were varying degrees of development, yr 4 was be competing for the wild card spot, next year is make the playoffs, perhaps win a round and so on.

If they have a poor start he’s gone IMO.

I agree you don’t fire someone based purely on tenure, if that’s the impression you got from my post that’s definitely not what I meant. As I said earlier it’s a fair point for discussion and only part of the picture.

I don’t think expectations are the whole picture either, particularly in a job which is in such high demand. You can meet expectations and still not have the manager convinced you’re the right person to continue to lead the team or to take it to the next level.

Pretty similar to players actually, they might have done what was expected but based on the market there’s always someone else who could fill that role differently and potentially better.

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

Honestly I have zero clue what happens with DJ and Pierre if this sale happened a month earlier they would be guaranteed gone. However there is a draft and free agency approaching now do u can Pierre right after that ?

“I have zero clue what happens with DJ and Pierre if this sale happened a month earlier they would be guaranteed gone. “​

the second half of this sentence contradicts the first half?

 

[Sun God Nika]

“I have zero clue what happens with DJ and Pierre if this sale happened a month earlier they would be guaranteed gone. “​

the second half of this sentence contradicts the first half?

Forgot to use a comma , chill old man

 

[Ice-Tray]

Honestly I have zero clue what happens with DJ and Pierre if this sale happened a month earlier they would be guaranteed gone. However there is a draft and free agency approaching now do u can Pierre right after that ?

History would show that it would be far from a guaranteed gone.

 

[JD1]

Gross. Keefe is a terrible coach.

Probably a worse human being

 

[Flamingo]

If we need a coach with a proven track record, lean into it. Hire Guy Boucher for a 1-year contract and don't renew, even if he makes it to the SCF. Would the left-wing-lock work for a team with only one or two right-shot defensemen?

 

[Ouroboros]

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

If there's a public expert on on-ice structure Han is up there for sure

 

[Sens Vader]

Crazy that 3 of the 4 teams remaining hired their coach last summer.

And Rob, who’s never missed the playoffs

 

[bert]

Was it this thread that sens fans don't think Deboer is someone they would target? As he is 'average'. Well his teams are 7-0 in game 7's. The sens have never won one they're 0-5. I'd take him here.

DJ and Dorion run the team like a country club. Low expectations and low standards.

You look around the league and see how hyper competitive and results driven everyone else is.

And people wonder why this team plays so loose, crumble under pressure and have sucked despite so much talent.

Dorion definitely more to blame than DJ but there is only something to gain in getting more established voices and leaders.

The players need a kick in the ass and DJ seems too nice to do it.

You say things like this with such conviction but have absolutely no proof.