Heart breaking: Ottawa senators fired their new head coach by having an affair with….
Amidst yet another losing campaign in the country’s capital, the Ottawa Senators have let go of head coach D.J. Smith.
The Senators announced the news one day following Ottawa’s 6-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday, its fourth straight loss.
Interim head coach Jacques Martin will take over. Martin joined Smith’s staff as a senior adviser lately.
Additionally relieved of his responsibilities was assistant coach Davis Payne. He will be replaced in an on-bench position by longtime Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson, who returned to the Senators in October in a player development capacity.
Goal celebrations by men’s hockey players.
The last game of Ottawa head coach D.J. Smith’s career was played on Sunday, a 6-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. (Steve Marcus/Associated Press)
Their 11-15-0 record puts them 12 points behind the Washington Capitals for the last wild-card place in the Eastern Conference.
Fans at Canadian Tire Centre had yelled “Fire D.J.” multiple times as the squad persisted in their struggles. He was the NHL’s sixth-longest-tenured coach and the fourth to lose his job this season.
On November 1, the 46-year-old Smith follows former general manager Pierre Dorion out the door.
Since Dorion left, president of hockey operations Steve Staios and new Senators owner Michael Andlauer have emphasized the need of continuity, which seemed to indicate some short-term job security for Smith.
Staios strengthened Smith’s team in recent months by hiring Matt Nichol, the Director of Player Health and Performance, Martin, and Alfredsson.
After Dorion left the club, Ottawa, however, lost 11 of its last 18 games.
Hired in May 2019, Smith, 46, went a cumulative 121-154-32 in the country’s capital.
“It’s never great timing, but I think this was the time to make the decision to bring some hope to our players and really in search of some consistency to our game,” Staios said during a video conference with Arizona reporters. “Everyone is seeking for more structure, more detail, and consistency in our game.”
Anticipations not met
The Windsor, Ontario native took over with the Senators in full rebuild mode, but expectations skyrocketed over the following two seasons.
Built around captain Brady Tkachuk, defenceman Thomas Chabot, and rising star forward Tim Stutzle, Ottawa, which hasn’t made the playoffs since reaching double overtime in Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Conference final, anticipated being firmly in the post-season conversation this season.
The squad generated a lot of buzz last season as well, thanks to a sensational summer that saw the arrival of goalie Cam Talbot, sniper Alex DeBrincat, and veteran player Claude Giroux.
In an Atlantic Division ruled by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, and Toronto Maple Leafs in recent years, the Senators were a trendy choice to make noise.
WATCH | Alfredsson happy to rejoin Senators:
Alfie’s ‘back in the fire’ with the Sens six months ago
One minute and fifty-four seconds
Daniel Alfredsson, a longtime captain of the Ottawa Senators, expressed his excitement at witnessing the team develop and his newfound sense of belonging.
Nonetheless, Ottawa placed 21st in 2022–2023; 26th in 2021–22; 23rd in 2020–21; and 30th in 2019–20, placing it 29th overall.
“Jacques Martin’s strengths are many of our problems in our team play: detailed, structured, organized, disciplined,” Staios added. “In theory, he seems to be the ideal replacement for all we had been lacking in those areas.”
Before becoming the 15th head coach in Senators history, Smith worked as an assistant under Mike Babcock with the Maple Leafs for four seasons.
He played 45 NHL games as a journeyman defenseman with Toronto and the Colorado Avalanche.
Smith began his coaching profession in 2005 as an assistant with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League after retiring from the game.
Senators rehire Jacques Martin, a veteran coach, as advisor Alfie is ‘back in the fire’ with the Senators
Following his 2012 appointment as head coach of the Oshawa Generals, he guided the team to the 2015 OHL championship, defeating Connor McDavid’s Erie Otters in the final, and the franchise’s fifth Memorial Cup victory.
From 1996 to 2004 the 71-year-old Martin, the longest-tenured coach in team history, guided the Senators to eight consecutive playoff trips over portions of nine seasons. With Ottawa, his regular season record was 341-255-96.
In 2002–2003, he guided the Senators to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final and took home the Jack Adams trophy as NHL coach of the year in 1999.
Along with coaching the St. Louis Blues, Florida Panthers, and Montreal Canadiens, he assisted Pittsburgh in winning Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.
