I'm not really concerned about a 3-2 road loss to the Leafs. I actually think they played a pretty decent game overall, but the game management needs to improve. The team's long-standing problems in the 2nd period on the road should have been front-of-mind when they still had a 1-0 lead with <2min to play. Instead, they give up a breakaway shot that goes off the post, followed by a junk goal by a checking line that changes the entire complexion of the 3rd period.

One thing I really don't get is the scrambling of the scoring lines... why on Earth is Norris playing with DeBrincat? For one thing, it takes away the chemistry of the Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson line, and it also puts the two biggest goal scorers beside each other, instead of letting them both play that role on their respective lines. Plus, Giroux is taking faceoffs away from Norris, who's the best faceoff C on the team... while Stutzle was supposed to be the one needing Giroux's faceoff support. Plus, they've now got all of 3G in 2GP they easily could have won with a bit of extra goal support, so maybe it's time to revert back to some established lines?

Glass half full... I guess we're potentially 2 games closer to seeing DJ Smith fired. Forsberg is still a 0.924sv% despite the two losses, and has looked pretty solid. Plus, major kudos to Sanderson for a nice pass to get his first NHL point. He looked really good all night, and is definitely proving how valuable he's going to be to the future of this team.
- khawk

We've seen this coach manage to screw up real talent now with this team at the forward position. I've had a few tell me that are close to the org, that a few on the team arent happy with the jerking around of Norris and Stutzle.......when I rewatched the third period from last night why on earth did DJ not have Zub on the ice for the last 5 min? Why was Branny out there with Chabot with 2 min to go when they arent normally paired together? But true on DJ being 2 games closer to being fired, if this 5 game homestand doesn't go well, then he is in huge trouble!

As for the stuff about the flu, it went through the team on the East Coast, there is nothing going through the team now, either in Buffalo or Toronto on the roadie.

Sanderson has been terrific, same with Forsberg, agreed!

After all the off season hype. 2 games. 2 losses. 3 goals. While there is room for some benefit of the doubt, it's concerning to see a losses come against a team you are essentially battling with in rebuilding (Buffalo) and a team that has obvious defensive and goaltending issues (Toronto). Two games that really should have been offensive showcases.

I'm just going to say this. The Avalanche won the Cup under Jared Bednar, who took over in head coaching duties in 2016. McKinnon was drafted in 2013, Landescog was drafted in 2011. Rantanen was drafted in 2015. These are arguably the top 3 players in the Avalanche system.

My point? Bednar was brought in after these players were brought into the system. No bias and a goal to make the team better. The team steadily progressed, traded well, and drafted well to ultimately win the Cup.

Smith has seen most of the current players drafted and developed. More often then not, a rebuilding team needs to alter coaches to take the next step. While there is sometimes some overlap with players brought into the system, systems can get stale and outdated. It might be too early to call for immediate changes. However, it has always been my opinion that DJ Smith is a place holder coach. Work with young players and the rebuild but won't have the stuff to move the team and players to the next level. Another coach could be brought in to take the next step. The first two games of the season kind of show the players begging for a change in game plan. There are stretches where they look like chickens with their heads cut off.

If there is actually a flu bug going around the team, first, there should be some more scratches and call ups if that was the case. Second, Tuesday's game should be a huge effort and statement win by the Sens as there is reasonable assumption that they can get healthy if it affected both games thus far.

I will not hit any kind of panic button until after the Wild game in Ottawa, but the quad is not making things easy on themselves in the first two games.

I am still pumped for the home opener. Most of these players will never have seen the NHL support that they will receive Tuesday. DJ Smith and the team should be able to get up for that game with ease.
- Gord_Wilson_2.0

Great analogy on Bednar, love that and so true! Great points as always my friend!

Jake Sanderson looks like the real deal. It is easy to see him being a top 2 defenceman. Shane Pinto has been impressive and Forsberg has been solid, easily justifying his 3 year deal.

As for the 2 losses, the top 2 lines need to score at 5 on 5 and the defensive zone structure needs to be fixed. The team has looked OK but OK doesn't cut it anymore. We need wins and the team lineup has enough talent to make the playoffs.

Replace Parker Kelly with Brassard for the home opener.
- SensFan25

Kelly has been underwhelming in the first 2 games but it was the same thing in the pre-season too.....DJ needs to do something for sure and get Brassard in there.

I had no idea that Parker Kelly is statistically one of the worst penalty takers in the league on a per capita basis. We are talking worse than Evander Kane, both Tkachuks. The only worse player in the league for bad penalties is Mark Borowiecki, who by all accounts at this stage shouldn't be in the NHL. Kelly is on par with penalties with Nicolas Deslauriers, who is a prototypical 'modern enforcer'. But Kelly is not an enforcer. He plays animated, but not really tough. I'm not sure why he's on the ice so often.
- Bartacus

His after the whistle antics are catching the refs eyes more too....a few times you could read the refs lips...saying I'll take one of you to the box if you keep it up!

Mismanaged defense.
Zaitsev needs to be waived.
We've said it time and again - take the coach's ability to screw this up away from him, if you're NOT going to fire him.

Ott could very well be 0-4 by the to.e they play ARI. If the lose against ARI Smith better be fire immediately.

The monkeys at TSN are going on about Chabot and praising Brannstrom. Go look at the replay of the Holl goal. Brannstrom stays in front of the net which is fine. The forwards are up in the press box eating pizza and fries leaving Chabot to defend against Bunting coming out of the corner and Holl coming down from his point position. Chabot did exactly the right thing taking away the pass to Holl because Brannstrom was in front of the net supposedly covering there. The shot comes from Bunting and there's a little rebound. Brannstrom turns to Forsberg's left side in order to block out Tkachuk who is coming in because Matthews is moving in and Brannstrom seems to want to make sure that Tkachuk can't interfere with any Leaf player looking for the loose puck and who gets blamed for this? Obviously it's Chabot's fault in their little TSN monkey brains.

Maybe Chabot should have taken a penalty and hooked Holl to the ice but maybe he was expecting that Brannstrom would do his job and not leave Holl a clear path to the net.

Mismanaged defense.
Zaitsev needs to be waived.
We've said it time and again - take the coach's ability to screw this up away from him, if you're NOT going to fire him.
- Octavarium

Not sure it's that simple anymore. Smith has now scrambled the chemistry on the top line, has the wrong person centering the 2nd line, refused to bench Zaitsev, played AHL forwards ahead of Brassard, and seems determined to have Brannstrom on the 2nd PK unit instead of the 2nd PP unit... so that Motte can play on the #2 PP unit? I have nothing against Motte, but wtf kind of player deployment is that? Brassard would be infinitely more productive than Motte in that role (and had multiple pre-season PP pts to prove it), and playing him at #4LW would also remove Kelly from his utterly redundant role on a line where Kastelic/Watson provide more than enough big-body caveman stuff.

Even just keeping the top line together... I mean Jesus, if you're going to cite the 2nd half of last year as evidence of the team coming together, why on Earth would you screw around with the one thing that actually worked pretty well last year... which was the top line of Tkachuk-Norris-Batherson? Seriously, Tkachuk led the team in points, Norris led the team in goals, and Batherson led the team in points-per-game scoring pace... how F-ing hard is it to just leave that line alone? Jesus Christ.

sigh.
And yet khak here we are.
Two games, waiting for the buffoon to lose enough games to lose his job.

Promote Mann. Get it over with already. Capuano can go too. Bring back Jacques Martin. Teach the defense to play defense and let the forwards play forward. It really isn't that hard to coach forwards at this level. It's mostly managing egos. Defense is a different animal. If JM can turn Zdeno Chara into a Norris trophy winning defenseman he can do it to Chabbot, Brannstrom and the rest of this lot.

sigh.
And yet khak here we are.
Two games, waiting for the buffoon to lose enough games to lose his job.

Promote Mann. Get it over with already. Capuano can go too. Bring back Jacques Martin. Teach the defense to play defense and let the forwards play forward. It really isn't that hard to coach forwards at this level. It's mostly managing egos. Defense is a different animal. If JM can turn Zdeno Chara into a Norris trophy winning defenseman he can do it to Chabbot, Brannstrom and the rest of this lot.
- Octavarium

Barry freakin Trotz

Barry freakin Trotz
- GrimmdaGoalie

Trotz has already said he's not going to coach this year - plus, I'd be inclined to take one of Julien or Vigneault ahead of him. Having a defensive system is one thing, and God knows there are improvements needed on that front. But having an excessively defensive approach that could effectively negate the team's biggest roster strength is not necessarily a great direction.

Bring back Jacques Martin. Teach the defense to play defense and let the forwards play forward.
- Octavarium

YES!!

Promote Mann. Get it over with already. Capuano can go too. Bring back Jacques Martin. Teach the defense to play defense and let the forwards play forward. It really isn't that hard to coach forwards at this level. It's mostly managing egos. Defense is a different animal. If JM can turn Zdeno Chara into a Norris trophy winning defenseman he can do it to Chabbot, Brannstrom and the rest of this lot.
- Octavarium

This would be my preferred option as well. Mann as interim coach for the year and have JM consult on building a sound defensive structure. A new full time coach can be determined next off season, hopefully after new owners come on board.

The team has underachieved relative to talent levels with DJ Smith as coach and prospect development has been poorly done at the NHL level (PD also deserves blame here by having marginal NHL talent block prospects). I see a DJ exit as a matter of when, not IF. It is unfortunate that Ottawa couldn't snag Bruce Cassidy when he was available.

Folks need to think long and hard about removing Smith. Players love him. He and Tkachuk are very close which means all the young guys are on side with him. Surprised folks are not more sensitive to the possibility of blowing up the really strong bonds that exist in dressing room.

I don't think an NHL coach makes all that much difference and it is better to be patient than run the risk of blowing everything up after 2 games.

Folks need to think long and hard about removing Smith. Players love him. He and Tkachuk are very close which means all the young guys are on side with him. Surprised folks are not more sensitive to the possibility of blowing up the really strong bonds that exist in dressing room.

I don't think an NHL coach makes all that much difference and it is better to be patient than run the risk of blowing everything up after 2 games.
- spatso

I have zero concerns with how a coaching change would affect the dressing room. I think it would be a huge positive. Players want to win.

DJ Smith has generated very poor results over three years and 2 games. The time to do a coaching change was the summer when better options were available. It didn't happen. Give him a few games but if the results aren't there, a change behind the bench must happen.

And coaching matters big time to results. Good coaches get the most out of the players they have and exploit the other teams' weaknesses.

An article in The Athletic on NHL coaching...
https://theathletic.com/3...17/nhl-coaching-hot-seat/

Folks need to think long and hard about removing Smith. Players love him. He and Tkachuk are very close which means all the young guys are on side with him. Surprised folks are not more sensitive to the possibility of blowing up the really strong bonds that exist in dressing room.

I don't think an NHL coach makes all that much difference and it is better to be patient than run the risk of blowing everything up after 2 games.
- spatso

This isn't a country club. An NHL coach has to prepare his team for the challenge of winning games at the NHL level, and translate raw individual talent into team results on the ice. DJ was undeniably successful at establishing a more cohesive locker room and culture of work ethic, but he also had the benefit of low expectations. But now there are clear expectations for this roster, and the team can only tolerate a coach that's the weak link in the chain for so long. Players are here to win, and it's really the only benchmark that matters.

Put it another way, how close to another 4-15-1 start are you comfortable with before action becomes necessary? Can they really afford to torch another entire NHL season because of another terrible start, or because of how easily other teams exploit his lack of game strategy? Personally, I think DJ has maybe 10 games to prove he can get the team moving in the right direction, and that anything less than 4 wins in that timeframe will cost him his job.