Speculation: D.J. Smith

[Ice-Tray]

There is always something for the experts to complain about in here.

Heck, they even complain that we need to be patient with the rebuild and not rush young players....

Until it comes time to be patient with the rebuild, and not rush a whole bunch of young players into the line up when they aren’t ready.

Folks don’t expect us to do well this year because we are still a couple years into the rebuild, and STILL moan after every loss and are now calling for the coaches head.

It would be nice to actually be patient with the rebuild, enjoy the growth of our core players, and see what the team looks like on the other side, instead of whatever you call what goes on on this board.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

The coach is just a symptom. We need a proper owner who hires a proper GM who hires a proper coach.

I'd settle for the same owner who hires a proper GM who has a strong enough hockey background to fill his roster such that key young players are developing and insulates them with vets that are there to help the young guys get better. DJ can coach .. he just should not have 100% control of the roster decisions at this point with a rebuilding team in times where so many young players are not playing at all.

I don't have an issue with his coaching .. its the personnel decisions that is the issue. This is where we need a stronger hockey man in the GM chair

 

[Tuna99]

How sheep like is this fan base? Shawn Simpson throws DJ smith under the bus on morning radio because and suddenly the fans are out for the coach.

I thought we were smarter then this as a fan base, but as someone else said, most fans won’t get it.

give DJ smith a good goalie like even Nilsson last year who played better then Murray to this point and we’re .500 right now and the fans are cool with it

 

[DrEasy]

I'd settle for the same owner who hires a proper GM who has a strong enough hockey background to fill his roster such that key young players are developing and insulates them with vets that are there to help the young guys get better. DJ can coach .. he just should not have 100% control of the roster decisions at this point with a rebuilding team in times where so many young players are not playing at all.

I don't have an issue with his coaching .. its the personnel decisions that is the issue. This is where we need a stronger hockey man in the GM chair

This owner won't/can't hire a strong hockey man

 

[2CHAINZ]

How sheep like is this fan base? Shawn Simpson throws DJ smith under the bus on morning radio because and suddenly the fans are out for the coach.

I thought we were smarter then this as a fan base, but as someone else said, most fans won’t get it.

give DJ smith a good goalie like even Nilsson last year who played better then Murray to this point and we’re .500 right now and the fans are cool with it

Winning and losing is of no concern to most of the fan base who are hating on DJ right now. We want to see prospects play, not play it "safe" with old crappy vets that have 0 future here.

Dj is focused on trying to keep games close by playing safe hockey with players who have no offensive ability when all I want to see is Logan Brown dangling mofos while we are down by 6.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

This owner won't/can't hire a strong hockey man

Ron Hextall would work .. Melnyk should do it.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

How sheep like is this fan base? Shawn Simpson throws DJ smith under the bus on morning radio because and suddenly the fans are out for the coach.

I thought we were smarter then this as a fan base, but as someone else said, most fans won’t get it.

give DJ smith a good goalie like even Nilsson last year who played better then Murray to this point and we’re .500 right now and the fans are cool with it

We’re essentially almost .500 right now lol.
He had NILlson last year he finished second last (expected)

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

How sheep like is this fan base? Shawn Simpson throws DJ smith under the bus on morning radio because and suddenly the fans are out for the coach.

I thought we were smarter then this as a fan base, but as someone else said, most fans won’t get it.

give DJ smith a good goalie like even Nilsson last year who played better then Murray to this point and we’re .500 right now and the fans are cool with it

I missed that ... I am pretty sure I had the bus parked on him when ever Simpson came out with it.. when did he come out with it lol?

 

[OD99]

There is always something for the experts to complain about in here.

Heck, they even complain that we need to be patient with the rebuild and not rush young players....

Until it comes time to be patient with the rebuild, and not rush a whole bunch of young players into the line up when they aren’t ready.

Folks don’t expect us to do well this year because we are still a couple years into the rebuild, and STILL moan after every loss and are now calling for the coaches head.

It would be nice to actually be patient with the rebuild, enjoy the growth of our core players, and see what the team looks like on the other side, instead of whatever you call what goes on on this board.

If there were other leagues for the kids to grow and develop in I would agree with some of what you say.

The reality is the kids should be playing right now because there is no down side. Play up for now, learn, get used to NHL pace and then by all means send all who should be in the A down when it gets going.

Having a bunch of our young future sit makes no sense, does not show any strategy and is just a bad decision.

Logan Brown, Formenton, Bran, White, Chlapik, etc...should at minimum be rotating in and out. Benching Wolanin for not being top of his game after such a long absence is also dumb.

If the team is thinking in any way that we should be winning games they are delusional and we will be stuck here forever.

This was a perfect storm for the Sens to be able to expose kids to NHL with zero pressure and then move them to A afterwords.

Watching our vets skate around our zone in a fire drill shift after shift is maddening and a waste of development time.

 

[Yourkeyparka]

How sheep like is this fan base? Shawn Simpson throws DJ smith under the bus on morning radio because and suddenly the fans are out for the coach.

I thought we were smarter then this as a fan base, but as someone else said, most fans won’t get it.

give DJ smith a good goalie like even Nilsson last year who played better then Murray to this point and we’re .500 right now and the fans are cool with it

DJ Smith is being stubborn. Anisimov - Paquette - Stepan - all are questionable decisions up front...and now he inserts Haley over White or Galchenyuk...let's see how this works out tonite and judge him on his line up decisions. Guarantee you the opinions will be much uglier tomorrow.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

There is always something for the experts to complain about in here.

Heck, they even complain that we need to be patient with the rebuild and not rush young players....

Until it comes time to be patient with the rebuild, and not rush a whole bunch of young players into the line up when they aren’t ready.

Folks don’t expect us to do well this year because we are still a couple years into the rebuild, and STILL moan after every loss and are now calling for the coaches head.

It would be nice to actually be patient with the rebuild, enjoy the growth of our core players, and see what the team looks like on the other side, instead of whatever you call what goes on on this board.

The coach is not even patient with the rebuild lmao

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I think this goes back to the criteria for a head coach in a rebuild situation put out by presumably Dorion

 

[Gil Gunderson]

White got 8 minutes last game with Watson and Paquette and still did way more offensively than either of them, now he’s scratched for a player who plays just like Watson and Paquette.

If this is what you want to defend, go right ahead.

 

[bert]

I've liked him so far but his lineup and systems decisions this season have been baffling me. The mega collapse strategy when we were defending the lead against Winnipeg was brutal. I don't even want to get started on recent lineup decisions. Hopefully he learns soon because I like him and don't want to have to hate our coach once again.

This is a pretty good sticky post if ive ever seen one.

 

[bert]

I hope not. With all of Dorion's faults, I doubt there's a more competent person willing to work under Melnyk.

I have a hard time believing this.

The coach is just a symptom. We need a proper owner who hires a proper GM who hires a proper coach.

Bingo it aint changing until there is a new owner. 310 days without sens hockey and this is what we get when it comes back. Its like a sick joke. I mean if we had won cups or something then whatever the fan karma is fine for me. We have had to endure the worst team of all time (literally Sens 93-96) and now we get this. Fire sale of franchise players, owner that insults the fans, now an organization doing everything it can to look like its completely incompetent on every level. Fan torture. Finally have some players worth cheering for instead Paquette, Anisimov and Haley are in the lineup.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I have a hard time believing this.

It may be more difficult to find a less competent person working in the pro ranks

 

[Stylizer1]

Help me, Troy Mann... you’re my only hope

 

[DrSense]

We've played 4 games folks. A few of the kids didn't earn their spot and got outworked by some vets. A solid lesson in my mind.

Let's give it 15-20 games and see where we are at. If the kids continue to mostly sit, while certain vets continue to play with nominal impact, then I'm all for questioning the coach. But a few games can be really misleading on the big picture.

Give it until mid February, then let's regroup on what our coach and GM are doing here. I'll be making lots of observations between now and then, but too early to judge.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

We've played 4 games folks. A few of the kids didn't earn their spot and got outworked by some vets. A solid lesson in my mind.

Let's give it 15-20 games and see where we are at. If the kids continue to mostly sit, while certain vets continue to play with nominal impact, then I'm all for questioning the coach. But a few games can be really misleading on the big picture.

Give it until mid February, then let's regroup on what our coach and GM are doing here. I'll be making lots of observations between now and then, but too early to judge.

I am impatient with impatient coaches. Sure lets play White over Anisimov for 20 games and go back to Anisimov if White hasn't figured it out. Lets play the guy we ultimately want over the guy who is if you look real real close marginally better at a couple of things but worse at others and is on his last legs

 

[bert]

We've played 4 games folks. A few of the kids didn't earn their spot and got outworked by some vets. A solid lesson in my mind.

Let's give it 15-20 games and see where we are at. If the kids continue to mostly sit, while certain vets continue to play with nominal impact, then I'm all for questioning the coach. But a few games can be really misleading on the big picture.

Give it until mid February, then let's regroup on what our coach and GM are doing here. I'll be making lots of observations between now and then, but too early to judge.

You can tell they are already overcompensating by the interviews they are giving. Thats a big red flag.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

We've played 4 games folks. A few of the kids didn't earn their spot and got outworked by some vets. A solid lesson in my mind.

Let's give it 15-20 games and see where we are at. If the kids continue to mostly sit, while certain vets continue to play with nominal impact, then I'm all for questioning the coach. But a few games can be really misleading on the big picture.

Give it until mid February, then let's regroup on what our coach and GM are doing here. I'll be making lots of observations between now and then, but too early to judge.

It's very hard to believe the vets outplayed anyone. The coaches and management have very little credibility left. Guys like Paquette, Stepan, and Anisimov have been awful. Itd be hard for anyone to do worse. If the kids were outperformed by these guys, one has to seriously question managment and their drafting. We must have some of the worst prospects in hockey if they're worse than these guys. If this is truly the best option, to sit a bunch of recent high picks back in Ottawa to just practice and not play hockey than we're way behind in the rebuild at this point.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

It's very hard to believe the vets outplayed anyone. The coaches and management have very little credibility left. Guys like Paquette, Stepan, and Anisimov have been awful. Itd be hard for anyone to do worse. If the kids were outperformed by these guys, one has to seriously question managment and their drafting. We must have some of the worst prospects in hockey if they're worse than these guys. If this is truly the best option, to sit a bunch of recent high picks back in Ottawa to just practice and not play hockey than we're way behind in the rebuild at this point.

so true

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Gotta take the personnel decisions away ...

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

#ItsNotaMeritocracy

 

[Sens of Anarchy]