Articles in Ottawa Senators

from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

Brady Tkachuk is as sick of this same old song and dance every spring as you are hearing him talk about another early summer.

As the Ottawa Senators gathered at the Canadian Tire Centre to hold exit meetings with Steve Staios, the president of hockey operations and general manager, the club’s captain was trying to come to grips with another spring of missing the playoffs.

This departure day was the most difficult to swallow because this season started with promise and hope, but ended in a disastrous fashion.

“We took a couple of steps back, it’s frustrating and it’s difficult,” Tkachuk said Wednesday. “I’m not going to lie to you, I had high hopes coming into this year and, for it not to happen, it’s pretty disappointing. I’m sad, frustrated and all the words you can use here.”

“Whether you want to be vocal or not, everybody knows I just finished year six and I haven’t done a thing,” Tkachuk said. “I haven’t played in those meaningful that I’ve imagined and the rest of the group has imagined.

“But in saying that, I have full faith and trust in Steve, the rest of management and (owner Michael) Andlauer.”

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from Ian Mendes of The Athletic,

The previous regime constantly made bold moves to try and push this team into the playoffs. Pierre Dorion routinely traded away first-round picks, making splashy, aggressive win-now moves. In many ways, he was reactionary, impulsive and emotional in the general manager’s seat.

This current iteration of management has the luxury of behaving in the opposite manner heading into the trade deadline.

They have the benefit of being cold, calculated and deliberate in their actions.

But when they look through that lens, they should see the same picture that angry, emotional Ottawa fans see.

Because no matter what perspective you’re looking at — big picture or small — this team has been utterly disappointing.

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original post was on 2/10/24 at 9:48pm,

from Wayne Scanlan of Sportsnet,

...in Vancouver, the Senators were playing out a familiar scene. An ugly, ugly loss by falling behind 5-0 in the first period before salvaging a bit of pride in a 6-3 defeat at the hands of the surging Canucks.

When you have lost 19 of 33 games, the losses are bound to come in a variety of ways.

And so their fans have seen the Senators blow leads with second period meltdowns, start slowly and then wake up; lose by goaltenders letting in beach balls at critical times. Pretty much every possible way.

This one was kind of classic – falling apart after allowing a quick early goal on a long shot by the Canucks’ Ian Cole that goaltender Anton Forsberg could not pick up.

Oh, and this. The rapid-fire goals allowed. In a stretch of one minute, 19 seconds, from 16:34 to 17:53 of the first period, Ottawa gave up three goals, two of them to Elias Pettersson.

Say goodnight. In fact, a lot of fans in the Eastern Time Zone did just that. Said goodnight and shut off their TVs.

Forsberg allowed four goals on 13 shots before getting hooked.

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Game highlights are below.

OTTAWA – Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer announced today the appointment of Steve Staios to the role of General Manager and President of Hockey Operations, the appointment of Dave Poulin to the role of Senior Vice-President, Hockey Operations and the appointment of Ryan Bowness to the role of Associate General Manager. Both Poulin and Bowness will report to Staios.

from Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun,

Jacques Martin was back behind the bench in his first game as the interim head coach of the Ottawa Senators, but this time with his former captain and Hockey Hall of Famer Daniel Alfredsson standing beside him, instead of sitting in the front row as a player.

Making their debut with the Senators after D.J. Smith and assistant Davis Payne were fired on Monday, the club’s new coaching duo found out quickly that Rome certainly wasn’t built in a day as the club blew a three-goal lead and dropped a 4-3 decision to the Arizona Coyotes.

While goalie Joonas Korpisalo was the club’s best player most of the night, he couldn’t do it all by himself as the Senators collapsed in the third. The Coyotes’ Michael Kesselring scored the winner with 3:33 remaining on a fortunate bounce off defenceman Travis Hamonic’s skate.

Two goals in 33 seconds erased a two-goal lead for the Senators in the third. They were on their heels for most of the period, then paid a price. First, it was J.J. Moser to pull the Coyotes to within a goal, then Clayton Keller tied it up at 9:47....

“We had a good effort and we did some good things. I thought our puck possession, especially in the offensive zone, was excellent,” Martin told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson after the game. “There’s a couple of areas where we need to be better.

“I addressed the team after the game, the effort was there, but we need to understand our puck management has to be better and there’s a couple of other areas we have to address. I’ll break down the video that we have three or four areas that we have to be better Thursday night.”

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Below are the game highlights

from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

Something had to give for the Ottawa Senators.

That’s why Jacques Martin will be behind the bench Tuesday night for the first time since 2004 and former captain Daniel Alfredsson will be beside him as an assistant when the Senators try to halt their four-game losing skid against the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena.

But, Martin, 71, is likely here for a good time as the interim replacement for head coach D.J. Smith, and not a long time.

Though Steve Staios, the club’s president of hockey operations and interim general manager, noted the search for a coach will be far and wide, the belief in league circles is the Senators have their eye on a permanent replacement, and that person may not be available at the moment.

If you’re looking for a front­runner, league executives have told Postmedia in the last couple of weeks that the top candidate may be John Gruden, who was named the head coach of the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies (the top farm team of the Toronto Maple Leafs) before the start of the season.

A former Senators defenceman, Gruden, 53, worked for Ottawa owner Michael Andlauer and Staios for two seasons with the Ontario Hockey League’s Hamilton Bulldogs. The club won the J. Ross Robertson Cup (league playoff champions) in 2017-18 after going 43-18-7 in the regular season.

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OTTAWA – Ottawa Senators president of hockey operations and interim general manager Steve Staios announced today that the team has relieved D.J. Smith of his head coaching duties. In addition to Smith, assistant coach Davis Payne has also been relieved of his role. The remaining members of the coaching staff have been retained. Jacques Martin will serve as the team’s interim head coach.

The team also announced that former longtime captain and the franchise’s all-time points’ leader, Daniel Alfredsson, is joining Martin’s staff as an assistant coach. Martin will make his return to the Ottawa bench when te team visits the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday. Alfredsson will also assume an on-bench role.

Originally hired as the team’s third head coach on Jan. 24, 1996, Martin spent nine seasons with the Senators and posted a 341-255-96 (.562) regular-season record with the franchise ahead of his return to the organization earlier this month. Set to become the second head coach to make a return to the Senators bench after Bryan Murray did so during the 2007-08 campaign, Martin remains the team’s all-time leader in games coached (692), regular-season wins (341), playoff wins (31) and playoff games coached (69).

Two ways to look at the Ottawa Senators. One, they’re just going to have to be patient as their young players learn to understand what it takes to win. Two, they are under- performing and need either a coaching change, or a significant lineup change.

It’s also possible that Ottawa and those around the team have vastly overrated the young talent the team has.

-Damien Cox via X.

from Ian Mendes of The Athletic,

On Nov. 28, the Ottawa Senators gathered at Canadian Tire Centre with their season teetering on the brink of collapse.

The previous evening, the club had been served with an embarrassing 5-0 beatdown at the hands of the Florida Panthers, the worst home shutout loss in D.J. Smith’s tenure behind the bench in Ottawa. The calls for Smith’s job reached a feverish pitch in the marketplace. The currency from winning two overseas games in Stockholm had quickly expired.

As the players gathered inside the arena on that Tuesday morning, they weren’t exactly sure what tone was going to greet them. Lopsided losses can sometimes lead to a coaching staff delivering blunt and blistering criticism to the players, complete with video evidence to support their case.

But instead, Ottawa players found a calm and communicative coaching staff waiting for them.

“It wasn’t a meeting where you come in and the coach kind of gives it to you,” Drake Batherson told The Athletic. “It was more of a meeting saying, ‘Let’s change a few things up.'”

Smith and his staff identified two key areas where they wanted the club to improve. They wanted Senators players to hang onto more pucks in the offensive zone and felt too many turnovers were occurring beyond the other team’s blue line. And they wanted to be sharper, crisper and more organized when breaking the puck out of their own zone.

In that Nov. 28 practice, Smith called his players over to the dry-erase board next to the home bench on four separate occasions. The practice had a classroom feel to it, which was an extension of the earlier meeting.

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OTTAWA – Ottawa Senators president of hockey operations and interim general manager Steve Staios announced today the appointment of former Senators head coach Jacques Martin as Senior Advisor to the Coaching Staff.

A native of Saint-Pascal, Ont., and the longest tenured head coach in Senators’ history, Martin will serve as a day-to-day resource to Senators’ head coach D.J. Smith and his staff.

“We’re very pleased to welcome Jacques back to the Senators,” said Staios. “Not only will his extensive expertise provide invaluable guidance, but his strategic vision and leadership are qualities that are certain to amplify our group. Jacques’ proven track record, the foundation of which was built here in Ottawa, will be of significant benefit to D.J. and our entire coaching staff.”

from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

Michael Andlauer is “making notes” and wants to practice patience.

The Ottawa Senators’ new owner told reporters at the NHL’s board of governors’ meetings in Seattle on Monday night he’s heard the fans calling for D.J. Smith to be fired, but Andlauer is trying to support the club’s embattled head coach with interim general manager Steve Staios....

Andlauer stopped short of giving Smith and his staff, who are in their fifth season behind the bench, a vote of confidence, however, it doesn’t sound like the Senators are in any hurry to make a move either.

Told by TSN’s Gino Reda “you mentioned what the fans want and they don’t want D.J. Smith behind the bench anymore”, Andlauer smiled and said: “Section 323 and maybe thirty fans there … I don’t know.”

Andlauer wasn’t being dismissive of the unrest of the fanbase but he’s also going to take his time with Staios before making a decision.

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from Wayne Scanlan of Sportsnet,

When the Senators got booed off the ice following the 5-0 pasting on Monday, it marked a new low on an already difficult season. At 8-9 despite having 13 home games, Ottawa fell to dead last in the Eastern Conference, with 16 points in 17 games.

Senators head coach D.J. Smith fell on his sword after the game, but that wasn’t enough to appease fans pleading for a change on the post-game radio show in Ottawa.

“We weren’t ready to play at the start, and that’s on me,” Smith said. “They come out and outshoot us 9-1 on the first shift. ... It took us to the nine-minute mark of the first before we got real competitive. And then five-on-five we were fine, obviously.”

Well, not really. The Panthers outshot the Sens 25-15 at even-strength and scored two even-strength goals to go with three power-play goals. The total shots were 38-20 in favour of Florida.

If this was supposed to be a bounce-back game after Friday’s loss to the Islanders, it was an abject failure.

Smith had said beforehand this was a good time to face Florida as a test for his team. The results are in. Ottawa didn't measure up in any category, other than penalties committed.

Talk about a nightmarish start — the Senators took two icing calls and then a penalty before the game was a minute and five seconds old. Just 23 seconds into that man advantage, Florida had a one-goal lead off a shot by Sam Reinhart at 1:28 of the first.

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from Roy MacGregor at the Globe and Mail,

Tuesday was trick or treat night, followed immediately by the Day of the Dead, the Aztec Dia de los Muertos, where all are to remember those who have passed.

It seemed, at times, as if Eugene Melnyk, the controversial, unpredictable owner of the Ottawa Senators who died in early 2022, might have somehow returned for a little trickery.

Certainly, Michael Andlauer seemed rather startled, if not quite spooked, when in a Wednesday news conference the exasperated new owner said, “In the last 10 days, we’ve had three losses, three injuries, a 41-game suspension, and the loss of a first-round pick.”

(Now four losses after losing 3-2 to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.)

Only last month, Andlauer, whose group paid some US$950-million for the franchise, was feeling nothing but love in Ottawa. He brought beloved former captain Daniel Alfredsson back into the organization. He brought back respected former team president Cyril Leeder. He even brought back Lyndon Slewidge, the retired police officer, to sing the anthem at the home opener, which the promising young team won.

But then came the losses, leaving the team with a 4-5-0 record, last in the Atlantic Division.

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update 2:34pm,

NEW YORK – TORONTO (Nov. 1, 2023) – The National Hockey League today announced that the Ottawa Senators will forfeit a first-round draft pick for their role in the July 2021 trade of Player Evgenii Dadonov from the Senators to the Vegas Golden Knights and the subsequent, invalidated March 2022 Dadonov trade between the Golden Knights and the Anaheim Ducks.

Ottawa will forfeit its first-round draft pick in one of the 2024, 2025 or 2026 Drafts. The determination as to which pick will be forfeited will be made by Ottawa within 24 hours of the conclusion of the Draft Lottery for that year. The League will have no further comment on the matter.

True enough, the Senators lose an important player for a half-season even if they might have lost him for weeks to a negotiating impasse, who knows? But this resolution ultimately benefits Ottawa just the way that the league’s decision to rescind Brady Tkachuk’s one-game suspension for picking up an instigator penalty within the final five minutes of the game against Buffalo on Oct. 24. Surely it is a coincidence that there is new and favored ownership in Canada’s capital city.

-Larry Brooks of the New York Post where you can reach much more on the Shane Pinto suspension.

from Tim Baines of the Ottawa Sun,

Josh Norris is frustrated

The Ottawa Senators are frustrated.

Include the fan base and you can multiply that frustration by a lot as the Senators’ second-line centre’s attempts to return to the lineup remain stalled. Norris, who “tweaked” his surgically repaired shoulder just before the start of training camp, missed all eight of his team’s NHL pre-season games. Saturday’s game against Montreal was the final exhibition contest before the start of the regular season next Wednesday in Carolina.

“Right now, the training staff and doctors are telling me he’s not going to play,” said Senators coach D.J. Smith following a morning skate Saturday. “It’s unfortunate. I know the kid wants to play hockey. You never think you’d possibly start the year without him … but it certainly looks that way.

“It’s concerning. When I’m doing my lineup in the middle of June and July, I have him in my lineup . We thought he was going to play at home against Winnipeg. He wasn’t cleared or allowed to play. Then we thought when we played against Pittsburgh, same thing. At this point, I’m being told he’s just unable to play.”

OK, so when will Norris get the green light to go?

“I don’t know,” said Smith. “I’m going to wait on (the doctors’ and training staff’s) direction. He’s a big part of this team. All we can do is have a next-man-up mentality.”

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There is a lot of optimism in Ottawa ahead of the Senators’ season opener against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday. The sale of the Senators to Michael Andlauer has energized the organization, and the lineup looks solid. Even so, the Senators have a tough hill to climb to make it back to the playoffs.

-Adam Vingan of Sportsnet where you can read more on the Senators.

NEW YORK (Sept. 21, 2023) – The National Hockey League’s Board of Governors has unanimously approved the sale of the Ottawa Senators to Michael Andlauer. The transaction closed today.