Ottawa's President of Hockey Operations gave some interesting answers in his conference call with local media on Tuesday morning.
I've parsed some tweets from Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch here -- you can check out his Twitter feed here. If you're looking for a summary, it goes as follows: (1) You don't need to spend money to win; (2) The team is almost certainly trading the captain this summer, probably at ownership's request; (3) Ownership participated in exit interviews because he also moonlights as the President of Hockey Operations, apparently.
"Changes will need to happen," says Melnyk. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 15, 2014"Paul is our coach and he's going to be our coach going into next year," says Melnyk. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 15, 2014"It's very easy to increase payroll. Any idiot can do it," says Melnyk. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 15, 2014"We're going to be wise with where we spend our money," says Melnyk. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 15, 2014"That list is long and wide," says Melynk of his disappointments. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 15, 2014"Definitely not a wholesale change," says Melnyk. "We need leadership and accountability from top to bottom." #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 15, 2014Melnyk took part in exit interviews. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 15, 2014"There's a lot of blame to go around. He's accountable, GM is accountable, leadership is accountable," says Melnyk. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 15, 2014Certainly sounds like teams interested in Jason Spezza should call Bryan Murray. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 15, 2014"Jason understands what his role was and is. He's a professional. He understands you could here today, gone tomorrow," says Melnyk. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 15, 2014I'd hazard to guess Paul MacLean can't afford a second "bad year" or a bad start for that matter. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) April 15, 2014The only thing I'm left wondering is if Ottawa's strong finish to the season saved Paul MacLean's job.
I wouldn't rule it out.
Thanks for reading!