The Ottawa Senators have just made the best decision under the circumstances.
By appointing Jacques Martin to the position of advisor to the coach, they found the ideal man to give a little structure to this young team, without imposing a new coach on the eventual general manager.
The dismissal of CEO Pierre Dorion last month placed the organization in an unusual situation. We generally don’t let go of general managers in the middle of the season, let alone in the fall.
By firing Dorion, using a useful excuse, the loss of a first round pick in a transaction deemed illegal, while retaining head coach D. J. Smith, new owner Michael Andlauer and his president Steve Staios acted in the opposite order of things.
It becomes difficult to fire Smith and hire a new coach before the arrival of a new general manager so as not to impose a coach on Dorion’s successor.
Smith is in his fifth season in Ottawa. His early failures can be attributed to the rebuilding of the Senators, but he barely gains more with a core now at an age to dominate.
Only Jon Cooper in Tampa, Jared Bednar in Colorado, Rod Brind’Amour in Carolina, Mike Sullivan in Pittsburgh and Craig Berube in St. Louis have been on the job longer. They all won the Stanley Cup, except Brind’Amour, who was nevertheless a semi-finalist twice and at the head of one of the best clubs in the NHL. With a record of 120-139-32, Smith obviously has the worst success rate of the group.
We should not underestimate Jacques Martin’s contribution to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ most recent Stanley Cup victories, in 2016 and 2017. They coincided with his arrival as the club’s defense coach.
Pittsburgh had a defense consisting of Kris Letang, Ian Cole, Trevor Daley, Brian Dumoulin, Olli Maatta and Ron Hainsey in 2017. Ben Lovejoy replaced Hainsey in 2016.
With very limited defensemen on hand, other than Letang, of course, the Penguins finished second in goals allowed per game in the 2017 playoffs among clubs that made it past the first round, with an average of 2, 28, and ranked second in 2016 with an average of 2.29. An aspect obscured due to the offensive identity of the Penguins.
The Senators have good young players. But attention to detail and sensitivity to the importance of defensive play are not always there. It is not too late to right the ship.
With the nice victory, 6-2 Tuesday against the Rangers, Ottawa is now six points behind the New York Islanders and the last place giving access to the playoffs, with four more games to play.
If win rate were taken into account, however, the Capitals would be the last qualified club. Ottawa is six points behind Washington, with two games in hand. And five points behind New Jersey, with three more games to play. But you have to earn them.
The next general manager will have the freedom to fire Smith, keep Martin, or explore another avenue at his convenience. And too bad for D. J. Smith’s pride…
Two weeks ago today, the Edmonton Oilers, in the midst of another awful streak, seven losses in ten games, found themselves ten points behind the Seattle Kraken and the last playoff spot, with three more matches to go, and five clubs to go.
They have been unbeatable ever since. They defeated the Washington Capitals 5-0, the Anaheim Ducks 8-2, the Vegas Golden Knights 5-4 in a shootout and the surprising Winnipeg Jets 3-1.
Connor McDavid took the opportunity to increase his record by 13 points during this short stretch of four games and goaltender Stuart Skinner, one of the best rookies in the NHL last year, is slowly regaining his composure.
Fourteen days and four victories later, the Oilers are now… eight points from the last place giving access to the playoffs, with two more games to play, and still five clubs to beat!
We often forget this obvious reality: it is very difficult to move up the rankings when a significant gap has opened up at the start of the season since the clubs above you compete regularly, and as a result one or the other another comes out with two points.
Tuesday for example, the Wild faced the Flames. Calgary lost, but Minnesota took the opportunity to increase its lead over Edmonton to three points. The Predators lost to the Wild last week and the Oilers gained ground on Nashville, but also on Minnesota.
The St. Louis Blues, the last qualified team, are 3-3 in their last six meetings. They beat Anaheim and Arizona, among others, but lost to Nashville, Minnesota, then the Coyotes in turn on Saturday. So you always have one of those clubs grabbing points.
Hence this impression of seeing the Oilers standing still despite their recent success. It’s not a mirage.
