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In a surprising move, the Senators have hired their next head coach this morning: former Maple Leafs assistant DJ Smith:
Here is what both Pierre Dorion and Smith had to say about this hiring:
Smith had been an assistant in Toronto for four years under Mike Babcock and was previously a head coach for the Oshawa Generals for three years where he won a Memorial Cup in 2015. Prior to that, he had been an assistant coach for the Windsor Spitfires, meaning this will be Smith's first NHL head coaching position.
He is quite young for a coach at just the age of 42, and I think I have to state the obvious that his lack of experience means that the three-year contract he signed is probably quite cheap in comparison to other coaches around the league. That doesn't necessarily mean he is going to be a bad coach, but we also knew that Ottawa wasn't going to be spending top-dollar on a new hiring.
I honestly thought Smith was the least likely candidate to get hired by the Senators, as there was simply not much talk about him at all. He must have had a hell of an interview with Dorion in order to convince him that he was the right man for the job at this time in the rebuild. I will say that while I'm not excited with Smith coming in, I'm happy that they at least did not bring in a retread head coach who has been around the league and has failed multiple times. Marc Crawford would have been a lazy pick because he had been in the NHL for years, but there didn't seem to be much upside with him.
Smith is far from one of my top choices, with a joke such as this rubbing me the wrong way:
To be fair, I have no idea how many coaches around the league are invested in shot metrics, and this joke doesn't mean he can't coach young players well. But it's a comment that
might be indicative of how he thinks on a larger scale, as I'm sure he loved having Roman Polak in the lineup---so be prepared for lots of Mark Borowiecki. Furthermore, it's not as if corsi is some complicated stat, it is literally just shots, so it's funny how a coach who embraces that would be seen as "progressive" in this age.
Nevertheless, after having some time to digest this news, that comment about Polak didn't bother me quite as much just because small things such as shot metrics probably won't matter for at least a few more seasons. Lineup construction will be interesting to follow, but besides that, the main thing I will be watching out for is seeing how the young players are improving. That's essentially the only job Smith has right now, and I'm hoping that he can at least do that well.
As for what this means for the rest of the coaching staff, it appears that only goaltending coach Pierre Groulx will be staying on:
I'm not sure if that means Chris Kelly will be staying, but I'm sure he will at least keep a job within the organization in some capacity even if he isn't behind the bench.
Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly gave a great quote about Smith and how he communicates well, especially with the younger players:
If Smith is able to connect with the young players on the team (which is almost everyone), then this hiring will be a good one. He said in the video at the beginning of the article that he is a good communicator who talks to all his players every day, and that he thinks of himself as a person first and a coach second. The next few seasons won't matter how well the powerplay or penalty kill does because Ottawa will most likely be quite bad anyway.
But what Smith
will be evaluated on is his ability to push these players to the next step and make them better all-around players in the NHL. Even if he never gets the Senators to the playoffs over the next three seasons but he makes most of this core of young players progressively better every season, hiring him will be worth it. Having said that, I'm not confident either way in his ability to do that. I think whenever a new coach comes in, fans will try to talk themselves into this person being the right fit and they can see a scenario where it all works out.
Considering Smith's history with junior players, there certainly is a scenario where it works out, but it's hard to tell until we actually get into some games in the fall. As with any head coaching coming into Ottawa, I have to at least give him a chance to see how he is different than previous coaches and see what his impact is on the team. I certainly do not think that he is the best option out there (or even within the Maple Leafs organization for that matter), but there's a chance that he is finally the right man for the job.
At the very least, I'm interested to see how it all plays out.
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