Proposal: Fire DJ Smith

[DaveMatthew]

Pens are two points up on us and we have a game in hand, they are pretty much playing at a similar clip as us. Their generational talent means they end up struggling to fill depth roles and stay cap compliant.

I think like us, they are playing better than their record, but they also have issues.

The Pens' generational talent is on bargain contracts. Crosby makes slightly more than Tkachuk. Malkin makes less than Norris. Guentzel makes less than DeBrincat and Giroux. Letang makes less than Chabot. It's allowed them to keep guys like Rust and Rakell and acquire Petry and Rutta.

They have solid depth (a 3rd pairing of Joseph - Rutta is pretty good), their underlying metrics so far this year are stronger than ours, and their top players know how to win.

I wouldn't bet against them.

 

[Micklebot]

The Pens' generational talent is on bargain contracts. Crosby makes slightly more than Tkachuk. Malkin makes less than Norris. Guentzel makes less than DeBrincat and Giroux. Letang makes less than Chabot. It's allowed them to keep guys like Rust and Rakell and acquire Petry and Rutta.

They have solid depth (a 3rd pairing of Joseph - Rutta is pretty good), their underlying metrics so far this year are stronger than ours, and their top players know how to win.

I wouldn't bet against them.

The struggling to fill depth was more of an issue in prior years, the new Malkin deal is good and Crosby's deal certainly has become more and more of a bargain as time goes on, but neither Crosby or Malkin dominate the league as generational talents anymore.

I agree they are still a better team than us thanks in part to more experience, and yet their record is similar to ours. There's a ton of parity in the east, teams can lose games even if they play well, hockey is like that in general but it's even more apparent this year imo.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

Let’s make it 0-7

 

[DaveMatthew]

The struggling to fill depth was more of an issue in prior years, the new Malkin deal is good and Crosby's deal certainly has become more and more of a bargain as time goes on, but neither Crosby or Malkin dominate the league as generational talents anymore.

I agree they are still a better team than us thanks in part to more experience, and yet their record is similar to ours. There's a ton of parity in the east, teams can lose games even if they play well, hockey is like that in general but it's even more apparent this year imo.

Crosby had 84 points in 69 games last year. He's still a top tier player. Letang had 68 points in 78 games. I'd also put him in that category. Malkin has slowed down with injuries, but he's till a point per game guy.

There certainly is tons of parity in the East, which makes it even more important for the Senators to not give away points.

We can't go from, "we're at the bottom of the standings because we're rebuilding" to "we're at the bottom of the standings because there's a lot of parity". The die hards may care about underlying numbers, but the majority of the fanbase doesn't. They just want to see wins. And if there aren't wins, DJ and Dorion won't be around when the new owners come in.

Optically, it's even worse for Ottawa because NJ, Detroit and Buffalo are picking up points.

 

[Micklebot]

Crosby had 84 points in 69 games last year. He's still a top tier player. Letang had 68 points in 78 games. I'd also put him in that category. Malkin has slowed down with injuries, but he's till a point per game guy.

There certainly is tons of parity in the East, which makes it even more important for the Senators to not give away points.

We can't go from, "we're at the bottom of the standings because we're rebuilding" to "we're at the bottom of the standings because there's a lot of parity". The die hards may care about underlying numbers, but the majority of the fanbase doesn't. They just want to see wins. And if there aren't wins, DJ and Dorion won't be around when the new owners come in.

Optically, it's even worse for Ottawa because NJ, Detroit and Buffalo are picking up points.

Okay, but we're on a board of die hards discussing why the team is where it is, so while we can all recognize the standings don't look good, the play itself matters more long term. I don't think we've played like a 4-7-0 team, that's backed up by the underlying metrics, just like the pens haven't played like a 4-6-2 team.

 

[DaveMatthew]

Okay, but we're on a board of die hards discussing why the team is where it is, so while we can all recognize the standings don't look good, the play itself matters more long term. I don't think we've played like a 4-7-0 team, that's backed up by the underlying metrics, just like the pens haven't played like a 4-6-2 team.

We're discussing whether DJ Smith should be this team's coach.

I don't think we've played like a 4-7-0 team. I also don't think we've played like a team that shouldn't be looking to upgrade its coaching staff.

Last year through 11 games:
3-7-1
28 GF, 39 GA
328 SF (8.5% S%), 377 SA (0.896 SV%)

This year through 11 games:
4-7
38 GF, 38 GA
353 SF (10.7 S%), 371 SA (0.897 SV%)

We're better offensively but still can't defend or stop pucks. Based on the amount of money spent and the acquisitions made, this has been a bad start. I'm still of the mind that the part of the game that coaching can impact the most is defense. DJ and his staff haven done a bad job over 3 seasons. We play way too loose. I'm sure some of the offensive players love it, but it's not winning hockey.

I know it's ages ago, but look back at the progression of the early Jacques Martin teams, filled with young, highly drafted players who didn't know how to play in their own end:

94/95 - 3.63 GA/game
95/96 - 3.55 GA/game - JM takes over at mid-season
96/97 - 2.85 GA/game
97/98 - 2.44 GA/game
98/99 - 2.18 GA/game

What's amazing is that it was almost instant. In the first 44 games of 95/96, Sens were giving up 4.1 goals/game. In the last 38 under JM? It went down to 2.9 goals/game.

Compare that to DJ:

19/20 - 3.35 GA/game
20/21 - 3.38 GA/game
21/22 - 3.22 GA/game
22/23 - 3.45 GA/game

Where's the progression?

IMO, Claude Julien seems like an obvious fit. In 19 NHL seasons, only twice have his teams averaged more than 3 GA/game.

 

[Xspyrit]

What are the projected lines tonight? I have read somewhere they will go with Tkachuk - Stützle - Batherson again? Is this for real?

You can't make this shit up. I almost wish it will fail so DJ doesn't ever try it again. If they score several goals and end up with + while the team wins, he'll just continue.

 

[Loach]

Found this in a Nichols article. Why are home and away so different?

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

What are the projected lines tonight? I have read somewhere they will go with Tkachuk - Stützle - Batherson again? Is this for real?

You can't make this shit up. I almost wish it will fail so DJ doesn't ever try it again. If they score several goals and end up with + while the team wins, he'll just continue.

Chill dude.

It's Motte - Stuetzle - Kelly

 

[DaveMatthew]

Found this in a Nichols article. Why are home and away so different?

The Tampa and Florida games likely affect that pretty significantly. We got absolutely caved in in both of them. Florida, especially, made us look like a beer league team.

 

[Loach]

The Tampa and Florida games likely affect that pretty significantly. We got absolutely caved in in both of them. Florida, especially, made us look like a beer league team.

True. I thought it might be the line matching or how the draws are taken or something like that. Home ice advantage things.

 

[YouGotAStuGoing]

Chill dude.

It's Motte - Stuetzle - Kelly

MSK is the new GSN pass it on

 

[Mark Stones Spleen]

What are the projected lines tonight? I have read somewhere they will go with Tkachuk - Stützle - Batherson again? Is this for real?

You can't make this shit up. I almost wish it will fail so DJ doesn't ever try it again. If they score several goals and end up with + while the team wins, he'll just continue.

DJ doesn't change things when we lose guy, why do you think Zaitsev played that many games? He only makes adjustments when we're playing well (takes Holden out).

 

[Xspyrit]

DJ doesn't change things when we lose guy, why do you think Zaitsev played that many games? He only makes adjustments when we're playing well (takes Holden out).

Yeah but forgot to say that this line doesn't work outside of the offensive zone. They can't be together, as good as they look offensively

Chill dude.

It's Motte - Stuetzle - Kelly

Oh ok, I'm relieved. Guaranteed win!

 

[DJB]

One day closer to DJ being fired

 

[jg729]

Should be fired, how many 1-goal games are we going to lose?

 

[Senator Stanley]

He continues to play Zaitsev. I'm finally coming around to firing the guy.

 

[jg729]

This team is mentally weak, coach should be fired!

 

[Gil Gunderson]

This loser can't even salvage OT points from these bottom feeders in a must-win game. Enough is enough. Fourth season in a row that that's been wasted.

#22 is still on ice for whatever reason (he's 0-7).

 

[Senscore]

Same shit every f***ing game

 

[NyQuil]

Yes.

(again)

 

[dpw]

Fire Dorian.

 

[DaveMatthew]

It doesn’t really matter now. Season is down, new ownership on the horizon. There will soon be a retool of the rebuild, sans Dorion and DJ.

 

[RealSpartan]

I’m out until DJ is. Peace.

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

Yikes.

It's certainly time. I won't pretend I know the intricacies of systems, but this does not look like a hockey team that are all on the same page and pulling in one direction out there.