After last night’s ugly loss against the defending Stanley Cup Champions and the general sense of the roof caving in the last couple weeks, it felt like the organization was backed into a corner of sorts.
And today, they did the inevitable. The Ottawa Senators have fired DJ Smith.
Jacques Martin will take over as the team’s interim Head Coach and Daniel Alfredsson will assume the spot of Davis Payne, who was also let go earlier today.
According to the news release, “the remaining members of the coaching staff have been retained.”
It’s not a shocking move necessarily but one that should send a pretty strong message to the core of this team, as in the guys that play the games and get paid the big bucks, that their play up until this point of the season has been unacceptable. DJ Smith is ultimately the guy that pays the price for his inability to get the most out of this group but every player in that locker room should use this as an opportunity to take a long look in the mirror.
A lot is going to be said and written about DJ Smith’s tenure behind the Ottawa bench and that’s fair. It’s a result driven business and ultimately, his team wasn’t getting those results. But the fact is, his time here in Ottawa is…complicated. As the bench boss for those low points of the rebuild, his real contributions will be determined years from now when we really know what the core here in Ottawa is capable of. Ultimately, he wasn’t able to help this group take that next step and now we all have to hope and pray that somebody else can.
At the same time, there are actual people losing their jobs today. And in this case, that includes DJ Smith – a guy that cared deeply about this team and about seeing this group of young players reach their potential.
Also um, Jacques Martin is the Head Coach of the Ottawa Senators again. And he’s being joined on the bench by Daniel Alfredsson.
Never a dull moment around these parts, I suppose.
Steve Staios is expected to meet with the media in Arizona later today.
