Management Travis Green [Head Coach]

[Agent Zuuuub]

It's Christmas and the Senators are in a playoff position!

 

[Loach]

It's Christmas and the Senators are in a playoff position!

Happy Holidays

 

[JD1]

When Green was hired, the media basically suggested that the Vancouver stars were really young at the time of his tenure and weren’t ready to buy in and that the Sens core was more ready so he’d have a better time here. That’s probably at least in part what happened with DJ, Pinto kind of alluded to it when Jacques came in. They asked him what the difference was and he said they’re maturing and committing more and something about how young players don’t always listen.

It’s hard to compare them honestly. DJ basically had a chaotic franchise with a bunch of 21 year olds that thought the Stanley Cup was knocking on their door. Green got a group that was humbled over and over again and flat out told by respected people in charge they would never win unless they changed their ways.

I remember reading something saying there's not much difference between Green and Tocchet in terms of systems. The difference is young kids not listening to Green and being humbled by losing creating a willingness to listen to Tocchet

 

[Alex1234]

Again
Bar was low
But night and day compared to the last guy

 

[swiftwin]

Again
Bar was low
But night and day compared to the last guy

We were due for a new coach and a new voice.

But it is fascinating to see that the last guy immediately got scooped up by the Kings, and now the Kings are the #1 defensive team in the league.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

We were due for a new coach and a new voice.

But it is fascinating to see that the last guy immediately got scooped up by the Kings, and now the Kings are the #1 defensive team in the league.

DJ SMith is fine as an assistant coach because players love him and that helps with the delivery of the head coach's message. He seems like a good person so I'm glad he's found a steady role, but he did next to nothing as a head coach here. There were no details to the teams game other than trying stretch passes on an ungodly percentage of the team's breakouts and to be "hard on pucks".

As soon as DJ was relieved of his duties you saw the impact of a new coach last year. Our breakouts were much more structured, putting our players in a position to succeed. Defensive positioning, and effort, were greatly improved. There was also more accountability with Martin (and now Green) being very clear that they expect defensive responsibility from the players.

DJ seems like a great guy but he was more of a buddy to the players and he did not do a good job here.

 

[bicboi64]

We were due for a new coach and a new voice.

But it is fascinating to see that the last guy immediately got scooped up by the Kings, and now the Kings are the #1 defensive team in the league.

When you've had someone like Kopitar, one of the best defensive forwards of his generation, and a guy like Danault who is a very good shut down guy, your roster is more suited to play better D. Having two selke calibre centres on any of the rosters we iced in front of Smith would've changed so much. Not to mention, even without Doughty, their D core is far superior to anything we had during our rebuild. Of all the variables that contribute towards LA being a top defensive team, Smith is probably one of the least influential.

 

[Alex1234]

We were due for a new coach and a new voice.

But it is fascinating to see that the last guy immediately got scooped up by the Kings, and now the Kings are the #1 defensive team in the league.

They were already 3rd best in GA and the addition of Kuemper seems to have boosted it even more

Your lover had 4 years to do the same here if he's the genius you think he is

 

[Golden_Jet]

They were already 3rd best in GA and the addition of Kuemper seems to have boosted it even more

Your lover had 4 years to do the same here if he's the genius you think he is

Biggest difference, is likely players didn’t want to buy in then, as Martin told the team after a few weeks, you’ll never win anything playing like that.

Now the players generally are committed to playing a 2-way game.

 

[Micklebot]

W

We were due for a new coach and a new voice.

But it is fascinating to see that the last guy immediately got scooped up by the Kings, and now the Kings are the #1 defensive team in the league.

When the kings hired DJ, the kings already had the 6th best GA/60 and xGA/60 all situation, they were already a very good defensive team. They also made a HC change that year replacing McLellan with Hillier, not sure how much you can really attribute any change to DJ.

 

[Micklebot]

I've liked what Green has done, in particular how he's managed to reduce the number of catastrophic breakdowns, but I'll admit, he has one giant advantage DJ never had, and that's goaltending.

We are definitely more stingy in terms of chances given up, but it's come at the cost of some of the offense. It would be nice to see them start turning defense into offensive opportunities.

edit: This upgrade seems to have broken tables...

 

[Senovision]

No Jack Capuano on the coaching staff is a benefit. The defensemen really struggled under his coaching. The defensemen looked lost last year and there were always opposing players left unchecked in front of our net. Maybe Jack Capuano was burnt out? Or he wasn't the right fit.

The new coaching team of Baumgartner and Yeo have to be working extra hard at showing the players and instilling defensive mindset and what their assignments are, as well as the head coach Travis Green. This year the message is getting through to the players.

 

[Micklebot]

Not a perfect comparison, but...

DJ was more like MacLean, hard work and leaning towards creating offense rather than shutting down the opposition

While

Green is more like Boucher. Structure and focus on Defense,

I think DJ was a better coach than his record suggest (just like Green was better than his record in Van suggests) but it was time for a change.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

No Jack Capuano on the coaching staff is a benefit. The defensemen really struggled under his coaching. The defensemen looked lost last year and there were always opposing players left unchecked in front of our net. Maybe Jack Capuano was burnt out? Or he wasn't the right fit.

The new coaching team of Baumgartner and Yeo have to be working extra hard at showing the players and instilling defensive mindset and what their assignments are, as well as the head coach Travis Green. This year the message is getting through to the players.

They need to fix their PK formation. Being above the opposition near the goalie is not a recipe for success.

 

[Micklebot]

They need to fix their PK formation. Being above the opposition near the goalie is not a recipe for success.

Pk has been getting much better, we're running at 81% since the start of Dec. (20 games, 14th best in the league during that stretch). That's up from around 76%

 

[Senovision]

DJ is doing great in LA.
He is the defense coach and L A has allowed the least goals against in the NHL this year. They also lead the league in lowest shots against at 24.88 per game.
All of this without Drew Doughty.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

No Jack Capuano on the coaching staff is a benefit. The defensemen really struggled under his coaching. The defensemen looked lost last year and there were always opposing players left unchecked in front of our net. Maybe Jack Capuano was burnt out? Or he wasn't the right fit.

The new coaching team of Baumgartner and Yeo have to be working extra hard at showing the players and instilling defensive mindset and what their assignments are, as well as the head coach Travis Green. This year the message is getting through to the players.

Man I keep forgetting we have Yeo. What an absolutely terrific grab for AC.

 

[Micklebot]

DJ is doing great in LA.
He is the defense coach and L A has allowed the least goals against in the NHL this year.
All of this without Drew Doughty.

While that's a fair point, LA have always been a very good defensive team, and having Kopitar and Danault shutting down the other teams top lines is a luxury most teams don't have

It will be interesting to see if they can take it to another level defensively when Doughty is back though.