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News Article: Sens hire DJ Smith as head coach

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aragorn said:
Some pretty negative comments about a guy who nobody really knows how he will do as coach of this team. Shouldn't we at least give him a chance before we tar & feather him & run him out of town? Where is our sense of fairness? Let's see how he does before we tear him to shreds.
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With all the negative going around the team. It's kinda difficult to believe they could take a good decision. Hence the negative.

But i agree with you.
 
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aragorn said:
Some pretty negative comments about a guy who nobody really knows how he will do as coach of this team. Shouldn't we at least give him a chance before we tar & feather him & run him out of town? Where is our sense of fairness? Let's see how he does before we tear him to shreds.
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Dont think anybody is tar and feathering anyone,its the mood of the fanbase...
 
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Cor said:
So, DJ's coaching, at least as an assistant, left a lot to be desired, but we don't see behind the scenes. We don't see exactly what DJ controls versus what Babcock controls. Was it DJ Smith was running Zach Hyman to the faceoff dot against Patrice Bergeron on the PK instead of putting out a natural center? Was it DJ Smith who failed to adjust the Leafs PK to actually put pressure on McAvoy, or Chara, or Krug, or was it Babcock?

The one thing we can speak of, is that DJ Smith is incredibly liked by his players.

For a rebuilding team like the Senators, where the players likely often feel that their ownership and management group often work against them, it's not a bad thing to have a guy like DJ that connects well with players.

Also, assistant coaching is very different than being the head of a bench. DJ had good success in Oshawa as a head coach.
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My brother is a Leafs fan, he is happy to be rid of him, his main complaint being the inability to adjust, he mentioned the Leafs having one of the hottest PPs in the first half of the season, followed by one of the worse in the 2nd half, due to lack of adjustments when teams got familiar with their special teams lines/set plays.

Now, Babcock is known as being stubborn and refusing to change game plan and lines, is that a trait of DJ as well?
 
Can't wait for the Press Conference!

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From what I've read about him, he sounds like more of a HC guy and a players coach (Oshawa's guys loved him). He seems like he has a CEO approach and is a motivator, rather than a tactician. In contrast, I feel Boucher was the opposite. He had his system that he implements wherever he goes, but he didn't seem to connect well with the younger guys.

Under normal circumstances I would actually be happy about this because I think that's what the team needs in their HC with a young core, BUT I don't trust Melnyk to invest in the assistants he would need ot implement the X's and O's. So, I feel he'll fall short because of that.

Trying to be levelheaded and give the guy a chance. Some of the reactions I just don't understnad. A lot of assumptions are being made.
 
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Vprime said:
Just wondering. Who truly know D.J. Smith has a coach here?

Like who can talk about his strength and weakeness as a coach?
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All his HC experience is from junior: he coached Oshawa from 12-13 to 14-15, he won the Memorial Cup and then was hire as the Leaf's D coach from 2015 to, unfortunately, today.

He could be good but everything says we have every right to be skeptical: cheapest option and the least HC experience from all the candidates.

For what it is worth, Shawn Simpson who worked for the Leafs, absolutely hates DJ Smith.
 
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aragorn said:
Some pretty negative comments about a guy who nobody really knows how he will do as coach of this team. Shouldn't we at least give him a chance before we tar & feather him & run him out of town? Where is our sense of fairness? Let's see how he does before we tear him to shreds & no one hates the Leafs, Babcock & everything Toronto more than I do.
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It’s like the Tkachuk draft pick last year. Who knows if this will turn out the same way (positively) only time will tell.
 
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I don't know anything about DJ Smith's coaching abilities or whether it will be a good fit for the team. HOWEVER, the idea that we are going to take another first time HC is just ridiculous. The organization is supposed to be improving stability. Hiring a person who has never been a head coach in the NHL before is basically the opposite of stability.
 
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Considering our budgetary constraints, I wasn't fooling myself into thinking we'd hire a known quantity of any real distinction. At least we can see what a good OHL coach can do when given a head job at this level.

On the one hand, I'm happy it wasn't Crawford or Roy. On the other hand, I'm sad that life as a Sens fan is making me seek out sad silver lining positives like "at least it wasn't Crawford or Roy".
 
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Do Make Say Think said:
All his HC experience is from junior: he coached Oshawa from 12-13 to 14-15, he won the Memorial Cup and then was hire as the Leaf's D coach from 2015 to, unfortunately, today.

He could be good but everything says we have every right to be skeptical: cheapest option and the least HC experience from all the candidates.

For what it is worth, Shawn Simpson who worked for the Leafs, absolutely hates DJ Smith.
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I'm skeptical too. I just feel a lot of people are reacting with near 0 knowledge about the coach.

Which is why i don't comment on if it is good or bad. I don't know.

But you seems to know about him and some other too

From what i heard, he was seen as a potential good HC for the NHL. But that's it.
 
aragorn said:
I know, but we should give the guy a chance. Your comment above made me laugh.
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We don't have a choice. We all hope he's going to be a good coach and we will all be very happy if he is.

He was still, by very far, the worst of all the options in terms of experience.
 
Do Make Say Think said:
All his HC experience is from junior: he coached Oshawa from 12-13 to 14-15, he won the Memorial Cup and then was hire as the Leaf's D coach from 2015 to, unfortunately, today.

He could be good but everything says we have every right to be skeptical: cheapest option and the least HC experience from all the candidates.

For what it is worth, Shawn Simpson who worked for the Leafs, absolutely hates DJ Smith.
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Wouldn't that be Mann? It would have been very easy to name him coach and he would have been the cheapest.
 
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