The Ottawa Senators appear to be closing in on their choice for Head Coach.
The insiders seem to be mostly guessing at the timeline but what is clear is that Pierre Dorion has completed his first round of interviews. And now he’s going through the process of narrowing the field.
It sounds like that could happen as early as the end of this week.
In all, the Senators have interviewed a total of seven candidates for the position.
In house, they talked to both Marc Crawford and Troy Mann. They looked at a handful of current NHL assistant coaches including Jacques Martin, Rick Bowness and DJ Smith. They sat down with one NCAA option in Nate Leaman and then yesterday, they wrapped up the search with a somewhat surprising interview with former-Avs bench boss and NHL legend Patrick Roy.
Brad Shaw and Sheldon Keefe are among the popular names that seemingly didn’t land interviews. Shaw interviewed for a job in Ottawa a couple years ago and in the case of Keefe, it really doesn’t seem like the Leafs had any interest in letting him go.
While a couple of the names on the final list came out of left field, Dorion certainly has done a nice job as far as variety goes. Looking at the track record of the guys included, there really is no “type” in there.
Both Martin and Bowness have strong links to the Ottawa area and reputations as teachers and strong defensive minds. DJ Smith has been at the top of the “Assistant Coach that should be a Head Coach” list for a few years now and Leaman is viewed as one of the best coaches at the NCAA level. Crawford and Mann both know the organization inside and out and have the advantage of understanding the direction the team is headed in and knowing what works with this particular group of players.
Meanwhile in Patrick Roy, the Senators would be getting a strong personality behind the bench, with a reputation for working well with young players but also, pushing them to their limits. They also may see it as a two birds with one stone scenario in that Patrick Roy could be an option for that Front Office role they’ve been trying to fill.
It won’t be an easy decision for Dorion and his staff.
Prior to this weekend, it seemed like Jacques Martin was the odds on favourite to land the job but the addition of Patrick Roy into the mix certainly threw a wrinkle into that thought process.
But before Dorion makes his final decision, it’s time for the SensChirp community to make a choice. Keep in mind, this is who you want from this list not who you expect.
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