Proposal: Fire DJ Smith

[Micklebot]

Today's game will be an interesting test, Home ice will help particularly with the injury situation,

I suspect our road trip has humbled the team a bit, hoping they can get back to what makes them successful. Also, I wonder if we call up JBD, I think we sent Heatherington back down.

 

[LevelingSolo]

I’m iffy on Julien. I worry about how much he might stiffle this team’s offence. I don’t think his coaching fits the modern NHL.

The best coaches adapt though, Sutter in Calgary is a good example

 

[Alex1234]

Dj is a very good systems coach, that gets players engaged in the playoffs. Atleast give him the opportunity to shine there, before sending him away.

DJ : I"ll be a good Playoffs coach

DJ: proceeds to never make the PO and keep his job until he makes the PO


Wise guy

 

[maclean]

i just read the thread title as

FREE DJ Smith

 

[TheGroceryStick]

DJ : I"ll be a good Playoffs coach

DJ: proceeds to never make the PO and keep his job until he makes the PO


Wise guy

Im biased. I really like DJ and what he can do with an underdog , that has fight in them. (Gennies run to mem cup)

Trust me, if he plays McDavid/Draisaitl in a finals.... I'm betting on Mr.Smith to find a crafty solution, like he's done before.

I get it, Jrs. mean f-all. But I'll still back take him, to find success with an NHL team

 

[Beech]

Claude Julien live in the Ottawa area and he started coaching because of Pierre Dorion father, they know each other since a long time

Ailleurs dans la LNH | Claude Julien derrière le banc des Sénateurs d’Ottawa?

Au micro de Mario Langlois, écoutez Sylvain St Laurent du journal Le Droit, parler de l avenir de l entraîneur chef des Sénateurs, D.J. Smith.

www.985fm.ca

yes..I am sure he would jump.

job 1 in MTL... worked so-so
job 2 in Boston..fantastic first 2-3 years, fired a few years latter. His replacement, Cassidy, does pretty well and even though Cassidy got fired, he seems to have rebounded well in Vegas
job 3 a return to Montreal..really did not work out well

Claude Julien is a nice guy. But have things passed him by!!! Is there a risk of coach recycling, all the while shelling out 2-5 million in salary and 1-2 million for assistants.

you can do a similar analysis of Allain Vigneault.. Remember when Robert Hartley was the "petit gas de chez nous" flavor of the month.

this team has to be careful and take the; Jared Bednar, John Cooper, Mike Sullivan approach. A successful minor league coach/assistant coach who comes in and deals with young players. I do not believe that some coach who has been around 10-20 years and working on job 3, 4 or 5 will work.. Yes, I know Sutter in Calgary. He will be fired in a year and will have nothing to show for his stop in Calgary.

One person posted on here yesterday. "Seek out a staffer on some recently successful team".

 

[BoardsofCanada]

Take Vancouver last year. They fire Green and bring in Boudreau. Yes, there is an initial surge but not enough to make the playoffs.

Look at them this year; one of the worst teams. Coaching only does so much. Firing DJ is not the answer. The answer is patience and hope. Hope that this team comes together and starts playing like it's capable.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Take Vancouver last year. They fire Green and bring in Boudreau. Yes, there is an initial surge but not enough to make the playoffs.

Look at them this year; one of the worst teams. Coaching only does so much. Firing DJ is not the answer. The answer is patience and hope. Hope that this team comes together and starts playing like it's capable.

Patience can just as easily lead them nowhere as well. There is no easy answer to these situations and they need to be evaluated on an individual basis. Vancouver's situation has no bearing on what happens elsewhere.

The biggest variable here imo is that Melnyk is gone. Dorion should have more freedom and financial flexibility for the next hire, which could make it more appealing.

 

[Union2017]

Edit: I just saw Liver King already posted this in the trade rumors/proposals thread. I am late to the party

 

[Micklebot]

We have one of the younger and more inexperienced teams in the league,

For some perspective

Our Centers combine for 1425 games of experience with Brassard and Gambrell our 13th and 14th forwards representing 1128 of that. Many teams have a top 3 centers with more games experience each than our top 4 have combined.

Our forwards only combine for 4280 total, remove Brassard and Gambrell and a healthy group has an average of 263 games experience a piece

On D, we have 2316 man games of experience with Zaitsev and Holden our 6/7th D representing 998 of those, Hamonic who's our 4th represents 727.

We are really green, especially the guys in prominent roles. We will have some ups and downs and it needs to be built into expectations.

 

[KingAlfie11]

We are really green, especially the guys in prominent roles. We will have some ups and downs and it needs to be built into expectations.

You're right we need too temper our expectation a little bit here, we're still a very young team and we are still a work in progress but with the recent success of the Sabres and Devils it just gonna put more pressure on this team to start winning games.

 

[OD99]

We have one of the younger and more inexperienced teams in the league,

For some perspective

Our Centers combine for 1425 games of experience with Brassard and Gambrell our 13th and 14th forwards representing 1128 of that. Many teams have a top 3 centers with more games experience each than our top 4 have combined.

Our forwards only combine for 4280 total, remove Brassard and Gambrell and a healthy group has an average of 263 games experience a piece

On D, we have 2316 man games of experience with Zaitsev and Holden our 6/7th D representing 998 of those, Hamonic who's our 4th represents 727.

We are really green, especially the guys in prominent roles. We will have some ups and downs and it needs to be built into expectations.

It's a young man's league more than ever at this point and while I agree with you we need patience and understand the realities the team should be expected to play better than their last few.

Inconsistency will be the name of the game for a bit but a coach has to adjust to make sure things don't go completely off the rails and despite the past few scores flattering us, the defensive zone remains a significant issue.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Barry Trotz pls

Good luck with that, he was making 5 million on his last deal.

 

[BUCKLE UP]

Good luck with that, he was making 5 million on his last deal.

Ryan Reynolds has deep pockets

 

[Golden_Jet]

Ryan Reynolds has deep pockets

He has the least deep pockets of any of the names thrown around.

 

[BonHoonLayneCornell]

Good luck with that, he was making 5 million on his last deal.

While still highly unlikely, we are in uncharted waters without Melnyk. This current regime seems to value investment, and Trotz could end up being a better one than any other they've made since taking over.

 

[BUCKLE UP]

He has the least deep pockets of any of the names thrown around.

It wouldn’t be just him. Come on now lol

 

[SpezDispenser]

Win tonight or you're fired. I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sick of losing. So sick of it.

 

[Cosmix]

Two solutions

Acquire a solid RD who can move the puck a little

Be patient with our core. I called 4-5-1 in the first 10 prior to the start of the season. Expectations were far too high. It’s a process and it takes a while for the young players to learn.

An RD who can play physical in front of the net, get to the puck fast, make accurate smart passes and skate with the puck would help immensely.

I hear Don Cherry isn't doing much these days.

Good. Keep it that way!

 

[Cosmix]

I want him gone.

Why Holden and Zaitsev both played 10 minutes of short handed time is beyond me. He's not the type of coach to put any player in a position to succeed.

Having Holden and Zaitsev on an NHL roster PK is not putting those two players in a position to succeed.

 

[GCK]

You're right we need too temper our expectation a little bit here, we're still a very young team and we are still a work in progress but with the recent success of the Sabres and Devils it just gonna put more pressure on this team to start winning games.

I love the Buffalo reference. They have drafted 8, 2, 2, 8, 8, 1, 7, 8, 1, 9 in the last 10 drafts. In that time frame we have drafted Brady, Stu, Sanderson and Boucher in the top 10. Even Detroit who has had terrible lottery luck has 6 straight top 10 picks.

A 9 game sample where we played well for 6 games, not great 1 game and poorly in 2 games should not lead to this level of panic.

 

[Cosmix]

The franchise is now for sale, officially….. the GM or coach will not be replaced. They will not pay DJ to sit at home, and not coach and pay possibly millions for any of the big name coaching canidates being tossed around in this thread.

you don’t detail your car, place it for sale and then do major repairs before it’s sold….. the new owner(s) are buying “as is” and will decide if the car needs a new battery, paint job or have a supercharger installed.

I think the Coach & GM could be changed by bringing in temps and allowing new ownership to make the choices for longer term commitments.

However, I also think it is too soon to replace the coaches.

It is well past the time to replace the GM; however, I would not allow the current GM free reign in making trades at this time.

 

[GCK]

So we need to credit DJ Smith for Forsberg standing on his head and Florida missing open nets? I have no idea what this post means.

Lol at Forsberg standing on his head. He’s been good but the myth of him playing outstanding has grown to epic proportions. We’ve won 4 games we deserved to win, lost 3 we deserved to lose. We lost the game against Buffalo because we got out goaltendtended, we deserved the win. Toronto was a tossup but Samsonov played better than Forsberg.

 

[bashbros32]

I love the Buffalo reference. They have drafted 8, 2, 2, 8, 8, 1, 7, 8, 1, 9 in the last 10 drafts. In that time frame we have drafted Brady, Stu, Sanderson and Boucher in the top 10. Even Detroit who has had terrible lottery luck has 6 straight top 10 picks.

A 9 game sample where we played well for 6 games, not great 1 game and poorly in 2 games should not lead to this level of panic.

you say "even Detroit has 6 straight top 10 picks"

We have 5 straight, we just didn't use 2 of them.

2018 - 4th
2019 - 4th
2020 - 5th
2021 - 10th
2022 - 7th

 

[Cosmix]

Look I can't imagine that there is NO defensive system. Like how could that ever be possible at the NHL level? Would the coach just say "play defense and take your man" or something? It's like a defensive coordinator telling his guys "don't let the QB complete a pass".

I think we have a system. I'm not sure if the system is any good - seems like we collapse towards the net a lot and don't pressure the points much, if at all. We also somehow frequently end up with guys stuck behind the net leaving prime space open for attackers. It looks like a really passive defensive system which is why other teams are able to maintain offensive zone possession so easily. We are basically waiting for a rebound, blocked shot or missed shot in order to regain possession and clear the zone.

I know jack shit about hockey. Never played it at any sort of competitive level. But for a long time we've been a team that gives up oodles of shots with the thinking that it's better to give up a lot of low-danger scoring chances from the point than a lesser amount of high-danger scoring changes from in close.

Which brings me to my second point. The aforementioned defensive system might work in theory if every player executes their role perfectly. But during the last 2 games our guys have not been executing their roles perfectly. They are panicking, getting lost and just generally failing to implement the system. The result is that not only are we giving up a shit ton of shots generally, we are also giving up a good amount of high-danger scoring chances.

So yeah. The coach should be blamed for not getting the players to buy in and execute the game-plan properly. Dudes need to be benched and/or scratched until they stop f***ing up their assignments. But it's not really fair to say that DJ isn't asking them to employ a defensive system.

I agree that DJ has a system.
I agree that the Fs collapse to the front of the net and leave the D at the points open for passes and shots.
I agree that the Fs are puck-watching too much and not covering a man.
I agree the Ds need to play better.
I agree that we need better Ds.
I agree we need a coaching staff that holds the players more accountable and makes them play a tighter D system.