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DJ Smith and Pierre Dorion on thin ice?!

January 5, 2022, 10:19 PM ET [108 Comments]
Kevin Francis
Ottawa Senators Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
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I have so many topics to hit on in this blog so bear with me! Between family, holidays, work, and life in general, I apologize for not being on here as much lately but life is now calming down as they say. Naturally, I want to have a quick opinion on the Sens/Leafs game from Saturday night. First off, Matt Murray was one of the few players who actually brought it and fought hard compared to so many other listless efforts from players on this Sens roster. His last start was Nov. 24th and between his last NHL start, he has played in only 2 AHL games over the last 5 weeks. Murray played hard, competed, and actually showed he didn't want to be sent back to down Belleville, which is more than I can say for 3/4 of the Sens roster. He got no support from his teammates when it counted most. How many times do Sens fans need to watch this team waiting for them to register their first shot on goal in a game?! Game # 29 and it took over 15 minutes before Ottawa got their first shot on goal. This is a regular occurrence by this Sens team under the direction of DJ Smith, which has become far too common over the last two and a half years with this first-time head coach leading this team.

Dylan Gambrell and Adam Gaudette, are the first players that come to mind when talking about individuals who flat out looked like they didn't want to be on the ice. Why might you ask? Both of these fringe NHL players need to take advantage of these opportunities, especially when Ottawa is so thin at the center ice position. I truly thought both of these individuals would do everything possible to leave an impression on the coaching staff. The way I see it when looking at both of these players, playing 3rd and 4th line center minutes, the first question that came to mind while watching the debacle on Saturday night is, do either of you want to play in the NHL again? If you cant make an impact on the 30th place team in the NHL, chances are you won't get many other chances like this! But again, that's what happens when Sens GM Pierre Dorion does nothing in the off-season to bring in proper talent to play with the youth on this team. You get caught scrambling, looking for a cheap deal to bring in a player like Gambrell or go waiver shopping to bring in any player with NHL experience like Gaudette, to plug in on your 4th line. On Dec. 4th Pierre Dorion said at his morning presser that Gaudette needs to get back into playing shape(2-minute mark of the interview on youtube if anyone needs to hear it for themselves), it's pretty hard to do when you play 2 games in over a month when you're constantly a healthy scratch!

Pretty much every Sens fan talks about how this is a young team and they like how they're gaining valuable experience each game out. What bothered me most about Saturday night is that Sens head coach DJ Smith talked in his postgame presser about how the team didn't have their legs and lacked energy! I would expect that from an older, veteran team off a long break, not from a very young team that should have endless energy as younger players aren't beat up the way veteran teams are over the years. Every single team in the NHL was dealing with being off for two weeks or more and not once did I hear an NHL head coach state that this was an issue with their team off the break! I guess that only happens in Ottawa. DJ preaches how they are going to outwork their opponents, how many more times do we need this Sens team to come out flat again?! In the Sens' last game before the extended Christmas break, this team came out flat yet again in Philly, falling behind 2-0 before the midway mark of the first period. It's a bad pattern by this Ottawa team, but for almost 2.5 years the Sens have failed miserably on the road under DJ Smith. It seems every second game, this team goes almost a full period without a shot on goal which shouldn't happen at this level, over and over. How are you that disconnected with the game to pull off no shots in a period that often? This team plays far too passive at times, with the youth afraid to make a mistake(because of no confidence from DJ), when these young players should be growing their confidence at the NHL level. In sports at any level, they say you adopt the personality of your head coach and for me, it's clear they're passive far too often, like DJ! Your Senators have a whopping 20-48-9 record on the road under his guidance! If you take a deeper look, the Sens had a goal differential of -85 in his first two seasons leading this team. Only four other teams in the NHL this year have a worse goal differential than Ottawa, the Sens already are a disastrous -28! But Sens GM Pierre Dorion felt that this incredible success warranted a 2-year extension before the season began, instead of seeing how Smith fared with this team in the final year of his deal. Oh wait, I'm sure there were 31 other NHL GM's lined up, waiting for Smith's contract to end so they could scoop him up before Ottawa gave him a two-year extension.

When the opposition scores first, the Sens are 3-15 in those games this season. That's a very telling stat when it comes to the intensity level of this group. In 10 of those games this season, Ottawa has allowed the first goal within the first 4 minutes of the game! If you take it a step further, in half of those games the Sens gave up the opening goal in the first 2 minutes! How does a team come out of the gate so uninspired over and over?! It doesn't matter what starting lineup this coaching staff starts the game with because it's very clear that DJ and his staff clearly don't have this team ready to play on far too many nights. Or better yet, the one question fans should ask is, the way this roster is so inconsistent, are the players trying to tell management that they don't believe in this coaching staff?

I hear from many fans on Twitter or in my IM box at hockeybuzz, sometimes in the comment section of the blog as well and the overwhelming thought is, DJ Smith is clearly not capable of leading this young team any further along. Over two-plus seasons now, there are far too many habits that keep happening with this young group and at some point owner Eugene Melnyk needs to pull the plug on this entire coaching staff. We all know it won't be Sens GM Pierre Dorion that does it, both DJ and PD are now held accountable by Senior VP Pierre McGuire as Eugene was tired of seeing these two mismanage many aspects of this current team.

If you look back to DJ's first season as head coach, the pattern of treating young prospects poorly and having a double standard with his veterans continues to game #29 of this season! It seemed that a different young player was always in his doghouse but never any veteran until the Matt Murray fiasco happened in November. Colin White came into camp last year in the best shape of his hockey career but was a healthy scratch to the season in favour of aging veterans. Last year there were no expectations for Ottawa as they looked to continue the rebuild. Instead, White was jerked around by DJ and even when he eventually got into the lineup, DJ put even more pressure on him saying he needs to take care of the puck and play a 200-foot game. When Smith could've said, we need to get White valuable minutes in all situations so he can gain experience for when this team is ready to compete for a playoff spot. Naturally any mistake White made, DJ nailed him to the bench when it was time to let these younger players gain the valuable experience of increased playing time so they could be better prepared when this team competed for a playoff spot. The same happened with Logan Brown, Brown wasn't even added to the taxi squad last year when the season began. He had to sit for weeks waiting for the AHL season to start when he could've been with the big club practicing at the NHL level getting those much-needed reps as DJ has stated with JBD this season! Erik Brannstrom has had a similar experience with DJ, Erik has never been given the benefit of the doubt when a mistake was made. He has been in the AHL more than the NHL during his time in Ottawa, the player that Dorion deemed one of the most important pieces to the Sens rebuild. Well, Pierre maybe convey that message to your head coach!

If you go further back, Christian Wolanin could never do anything correct under DJ. I was told he was always in Smith's doghouse and that once Smith had an opinion of him, you could never change the narrative with him. Wolanin got 40 games of NHL experience playing under Guy Boucher. Does anyone recall when a North Dakota reporter went on a podcast stating how the Sens had mismanaged Wolanin with some details about the situation? At the time, I was pretty sure Wolanin told this reporter something off the record about DJ but he went on the record about it. How many other players have stories about DJ?! I was told a few more but asked not to go on record with them. So instead, I will let you draw your own conclusions if you look at these players.

Max Lajoie got 56 games under Boucher, then 6 games under DJ the following season. Christian Jarros 61 games under Boucher, then 13 games under DJ! See a pattern?! What young defensemen with little NHL experience has he trusted or developed? Instead, players like Ron Hainsey and Nikita Zaitsev got endless TOI and games under Smith when he arrived as coach, his boys from his time in Toronto because he trusted them. I was told Eugene has little patience left with DJ these days, which is why McGuire is watching closely for the owner. Does anyone else remember Abramov and Davidsson?! Dorion told Sens fans they would be key pieces in the future as the Sens continued to rebuild the roster when they were acquired for Matt Duchene, they played only a few NHL games on the 4th line and both are now playing hockey in Europe. This team has traded too many major names with little to show for them while under the guidance of Smith. Many close to Curtis Lazar say it was Dorion who mismanaged that asset.(great blog topic for discussion in the off-season) I know many fans will say that DJ is given the players he has from Dorion and I truly believe that both DJ and Dorion should be on a very short leash. Dorion has failed just as much as GM as DJ has in his coaching position.

It scares me to think what DJ will do long term with Lassi Thomson, JBD, and Jake Sanderson when he arrives at the end of the season. Far too many young defensemen were developed properly at the AHL level, only to arrive at the NHL under DJ and they never come close to attaining the ceiling that was projected by management when they were drafted or traded for.

With 53 games left in the season, a new coaching staff wouldn't waste this valuable time for development with the youth both currently on the team and other players in the AHL that have seen some NHL action. These young players need to play in key situations without feeling that a single mistake will land them on the bench or back in the AHL. How will they be ready for next year if not given some rope by the coaching staff? There are no expectations for this team now moving forward. Management needs to build toward having a roster ready to start to compete for a playoff spot next season. Now is the time to wipe out this coaching staff so no more young assets are mismanaged any further. Better yet, relieve the GM of his duties as well and let Pierre McGuire slide into the GM's chair! More to come on that.
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