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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