Sorrowful news: the Ottawa Senators have recently lost their most talented player, resulting in a significant setback for the team and ultimately leading to the suspension of the head coach.

Sorrowful news: the Ottawa Senators have recently lost their most talented player, resulting in a significant setback for the team and ultimately leading to the suspension of the head coach.

Sad to hear: The Ottawa Senators lost their best player recently. This was a huge blow to the franchise and ultimately resulted in the head coach being suspended.

It’s not a terrible way to commemorate finishing your 20th season as head coach when the Ottawa Senators announced on Saturday that Belleville Senators Head Coach David Bell has agreed to a two-year contract extension.

This season, Bell led the B-Sens to a.569 point percentage, their first-ever playoff victory, and their first-ever trip to the AHL Playoffs’ second round. The B-Sens defeated the Toronto Marlies in round one of the Battle of Ontario diet version, but they were defeated by the Cleveland Monsters in round two.

Bell took over as the AHL’s head coach in February of the previous year, following the unexpected mid-season dismissal of Trent Mann. Bell takes over full-time this season after the interim tag was lifted last summer, despite the team missing the playoffs by four points.

Although significant changes to the NHL roster are anticipated from Ottawa’s new management group this off-season, they have already begun work on their AHL club.

In addition to Bell’s re-signing, the team has also signed one-year, two-way contracts with forwards Angus Crookshank and Cole Reinhardt. For the upcoming season, Jiri Smejkal, Jacob Larsson, and Lassi Thomson have all returned to Europe.

The three European players who were leaving were vital players for Bell, even if they were depth players who could step in when necessary at the NHL level.

Regarding that, the Senators still need to decide what to do with a number of undrafted free agents. These players include forwards Boko Imama, Matthew Highmore, Josh Currie, and top scorer Garrett Pilon from Belleville, who played 37 games for the Senators this season. The club captain, Dillon Heatherington, is also among them. One can also question if RFAs such as Nikolas Matinpalo, Max Guenette, or Egor Sokolov are still being considered.

Bell just finished his 20th year as a coach, having started in 2004. It’s reasonable to say that during a four-year junior stint with the Ottawa 67s, he also learned a thing or two about coaching from his three years of playing for Hall of Famer Brian Kilrea.

Bell spent seven seasons bouncing around the lower leagues before hanging up his spikes and taking a coaching job with the Owen Sound Attack that same fall.

After that, he worked as an assistant coach for the following teams: the Ontario Reign (AHL), the Quad City Mallards (CHL), the Sudbury Wolves (OHL), the Niagara Icedogs (OHL), and the Springfield Falcons (AHL). In 2019–20, he joined the Belleville Senators as an assistant coach.