Management UPDATE: Steve Staios GM and POHO, Dave Poulin Senior VP of Hockey Operations

[GCK]

No to Keefe for me.
Didn’t like when he called out his stars, then had to hold a press conference, to explain it, so stars didn’t get as upset.
Then had to call a second press conference a couple of days later, to explain what he was trying to say in the first press conference.

He has done really well in Toronto. His stars play a very solid two way game.

 

[Golden_Jet]

He has done really well in Toronto. His stars play a very solid two way game.

And one of the worst playoff record, for playoff series wins.
Pass on Keefe.

 

[GCK]

And one of the worst playoff record, for playoff series wins.
Pass on Keefe.

What are playoffs ?

 

[JD1]

Shoot, that's my bad. Definitely forgot to factor in their actual record vs. what a mediocre record could have achieved.

The point I'm making is this team looked defeated mentally at the beginning of the year. You could see the body language of the team in the early part of the season already needed a reset. A lot of frustration, a lot of disbelief, a lot of bad puck luck (for lack of a better term). A change was needed early on to prevent this from compounding. That's the key to the whole dilemma. The longer it continued, the worse it got. The goalies didn't play well which changed the way the skaters played in front of them which resulted in worse play which resulted in more goals and on and on.

Between Nov. 12 and Nov. 30, they played 4 games in total. I can't help but think a coaching change with a light schedule over those 18 days could have been a recipe for better longterm results. Whatever DJ was saying to them clearly wasn't working anymore. A new voice, earlier in the season, could have had a real, tangible effect on their belief in themselves.

The 82 game season is about performance over multiple 10 game samples. This team has gotten about 9/20 points over each 10 game segment under Martin. Maybe if he (or another coach) took over before things spiralled out of control, we'd be talking about 12/20 points in each of those 10 games segments. Hardly a remarkable record but we'd be about 10 points ahead of where we are now. I get that it sounds kind of revisionist but it's an estimation of where things could be that actually feels kinda realistic.

That's not to say we'd be guaranteed to make the playoffs or to do anything if we got there but at least we'd be talking about a team that's in the conversation for a wild card, as opposed to firmly in the draft lottery.

That's what I truly believe. This team had the talent to at least be in the wild card conversation. They got destroyed mentally early on and the opportunity to try to undo that came too late.

And that's a reasonable belief. I'm certainly not going to try to tell you otherwise.

Personally I think the look of mental defeat traces to goaltending and coaching wasn't going to alter this season with goaltending being what it's been. The caveat to that might be a different goalie coach might have got better goalie results.

Seems this year the league average is.904. a few guys have posted stats on our winning percentage when a goalie posts a > .900 game. It's crazy good.

I think the talent is there. A bit of depth and some goaltending

 

[BankStreetParade]

And that's a reasonable belief. I'm certainly not going to try to tell you otherwise.

Personally I think the look of mental defeat traces to goaltending and coaching wasn't going to alter this season with goaltending being what it's been. The caveat to that might be a different goalie coach might have got better goalie results.

Seems this year the league average is.904. a few guys have posted stats on our winning percentage when a goalie posts a > .900 game. It's crazy good.

I think the talent is there. A bit of depth and some goaltending

Believe me, I've been very critical of goaltending since the beginning of the year. The level we've seen is simply inexcusable for a team with playoff aspirations. It's not just the weak goals either, it's the timing too. This team, with .908 goaltending, is a playoff team or, at least, mostly in control of their destiny.

The problem is the confidence of the goalies also closely aligns with the confidence of the team. The goalies are not detached from the mental challenges this team has faced, they are just as susceptible. It's one of those loops that keeps feeding itself. A few bad goals leads to the players changing the way they play in front of the goalies. Suddenly, the players are second-guessing themselves or looking for the perfect play, which exacerbates the problem in front of the goalies. The mental defeat is now going in a loop. The players were deflated from the bad goaltending and now their play is deflating the goalies and the goalies are letting in more bad goals and on and on it goes.

You break out of that cycle by resetting mentally, which is what a coaching change signifies. A new voice comes in, helps everyone get some perspective, loosen up a little, hear something different and start working towards building their confidence. At game 13, the team had 69 more games ahead of them to let that effect compound. At game 26, when DJ was fired, they were already a third of the way through the season. It was simply too little, too late at that point.

Maybe the coaching change doesn't result in a significantly higher calibre of goaltending but maybe it results in just enough of an increase to get us up from 9/20 points in each 10 game segment to 12/20 points. I don't think that's such a crazy leap to think there was just no way fathomable to do it.

Anyway, it doesn't really matter. The season was over after 10 games again and there's no way to go back and change things after the fact. I can't help but think an experienced GM/POHO wouldn't have second-guessed the decision, given the established history.

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

No to Keefe for me.
Didn’t like when he called out his stars, then had to hold a press conference, to explain it, so stars didn’t get as upset.
Then had to call a second press conference a couple of days later, to explain what he was trying to say in the first press conference.

Don’t know how you look at that situation and don’t think that he was ordered by his manager and Shannahan to walk that comment back the next day, as they have developed a culture of babying their star players since they got there.

 

[Cosmix]

I agree with your point about confidence, I just don't think the difference in coaching is enough to overcome the goaltending, which imo, is the biggest reason why our confidence is shot.

In fact, I think part of why the confidence is so shot is because the coach got them to believe everything would work out if they played the right way and when they did it, goaltending continued to drag them down making it feel like losing is/was inevitable.

I think the issue cannot be fixed just by upgrading the goaltending.

We also need a coaching staff that focuses on defensive play without the puck in all 3 zones, plus a competent top 4 big physical RD.

And with Norris being injured again and possibly being injury prone, we need another offensive center.

There are quite a few things that need to be fixed to become a playoff team that can win a few playoff rounds.

 

[Silencio]

Steve Staios contemplating how to blow up the Sens roster as the music from Oppenheimer intensifies

 

[Senovision]

delete

 

[Byron Bitz]

Don’t know how you look at that situation and don’t think that he was ordered by his manager and Shannahan to walk that comment back the next day, as they have developed a culture of babying their star players since they got there.

He could have had the balls to say no to Shanahan, I’d like to see Shanahan try to tell Torts to walk that comment back. It’s a no to Keefe for me because I don’t think he deserves as much of the credit as many people give him, that core makes the playoffs in their sleep no matter who their coach is, they even made the playoffs as rookies.

 

[operasen]

Curious as to the process Staios will need to follow with the draft so close to the end of June. Cup could go as long at June 19. Coaches may be let loose by other teams before that, but if the one Staios wants is a finalist, then time needs to pass.

The Obvious

1. Hire a Head Scout and a Scouting Department. Does a new coach have any say in this? At least from the type of players he'd like to see researched or drafted. Or traded.
2. Hire a Coach. This should be accomplished before the draft so the new coach gets input into the draft selections and possibly any roster players up to be dealt.
3. Nail the Draft. We do not have a lot of later round picks because they were traded away. The two 1sts and 2nd have to be high quality choices.
4. Hire Assistant Coaches. We need a clean slate, especially Goaltending and Defence. Does Alfie want to remain? Does he? Does Jacques get a role somewhere?
5. Let new Coach(es) install their system early with prospects and draftees so returning players get the message. Get the PR machine moving so we the fans know something new (and good) is happening.
6. Make the roster moves as possible to buy-out, trade, waive or just walk away from the players not deemed acceptable moving forward. Create the roster that works for the system to be set in place. Pain for Gain possibilities here.

What Else is in the Timeline?

 

[Tuna99]

Interesting that Dr Chow is going into the ring of honour - 30 years of service so well deserved.

Interesting because when Montreal
Made the change from Bergevin to Gordon the one big thing that Molson stressed was the welfare and wellbeing of the players from physical, psycho logical, emotional, support and increasing resources on this area -

So for a team like the Sens who have had disputes with Nillson and others over their injuries - the honouring of Dr Chow is deserved but also a message about the culture of new ownership and the focus and resources of care for the players and staff that’s a focus of Andlauer

 

[Micklebot]

Interesting that Dr Chow is going into the ring of honour - 30 years of service so well deserved.

Interesting because when Montreal
Made the change from Bergevin to Gordon the one big thing that Molson stressed was the welfare and wellbeing of the players from physical, psycho logical, emotional, support and increasing resources on this area -

So for a team like the Sens who have had disputes with Nillson and others over their injuries - the honouring of Dr Chow is deserved but also a message about the culture of new ownership and the focus and resources of care for the players and staff that’s a focus of Andlauer

So, Bobby Ryan and York talked a bit about dr Chow on the last episode of coming in hot, it's worth a listen but they were both very complimentary of the Sens med and training staff, Ryan mentioned the quality was night and day compared to where he came from and where he went after.

Both talked about how in Anaheim they were extremely loose with handing out prescription type treatments, where as in Ottawa it's all very tightly controlled and only used when needed.

 

[Emerica]

Exciting times

 

[Senscore]

A little spring cleaning

 

[Dionysus]

Exciting times

Pro scouting has been objectively bad for years. Will be good to get some new people in to change the dynamic. New eyes and ideas.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Which of you liked Derek stepan and gudbrannson?

Okay you’re fired

 

[Micklebot]

Pro scouting has been objectively bad for years. Will be good to get some new people in to change the dynamic. New eyes and ideas.

Which best in class pro scouts are we snatching up on time for UFA day?

 

[Emerica]

Which best in class pro scouts are we snatching up on time for UFA day?

Bowness will probably be running the show on the pro scout side until then. They still have a few pro scouts left too

 

[DrEasy]

I always said Jim Clark should have stuck to Formula One racing.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Fantastic news.

Our pro scouting was the worst in the league under Dorion, with zero turnover despite it being obvious for years.

 

[Senovision]

Fire Capuano April 17th. Put him out of his misery. Time for a new voice. The new head coach will want his own crew anyways.
He wasn't fired in December because they fired DJ and Payne. They had to keep some coaches around.

 

[Dionysus]

Which best in class pro scouts are we snatching up on time for UFA day?

No idea. They added one I recall, McTavish. Have to get rid of the old to make room for potential new hires.

 

[Ouroboros]

Hard to believe the Jim Clark reign of terror has finally ended.

 

[Tuna99]

Staois is cleaning house - GM, coach, goalie coach, assistant coaches, scouts - obviously not impressed with what he saw under the hood