from TSN,

When Pierre McGuire was introduced as Ottawa Senators senior vice-president of player development last month, he said he was optimistic about the organization’s direction.

McGuire reiterated those feelings of optimism on Wednesday in an interview with TSN 1200 Ottawa.

“The future is amazingly bright here. It really is. It’s really awesome to be a part of it, I’ve got to tell you,” McGuire said.

“I think it’s no secret, we needed to be more robust in goal and I think that was very apparent as [last] season went on, we got better in goal. I think we needed to be a little more stout in our own zone and that clearly got better as the season went along and so there’s a lot to like about how the season ended.”

The Senators were dreadful out of the gate in 2020-21, going 2-12-1 through their first 15 games, but finished 11-15-4 to record their highest points percentage (.455) in four seasons.

“What I really appreciated was the way the coaching staff didn’t mail it in on the team. D.J. [Smith] didn’t mail it in, Jack [Capuano] didn’t mail it in, Davis [Payne] didn’t mail it in. Those guys were really stern in terms of making the players better,” McGuire said.

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