Sens coach for 2019-2020 Season

[OgieO]

Wow, media didn't even have a sniff of this. Hope he's good!

 

[Taluss]

I dont even know this guy

 

[Tnuoc Alucard]

He probably takes them all for lunch and makes them cover their own bills.

Either way, not gonna help you complete your mandate by discussing the same tired subject over and over. Maybe you should give us your opinion on who should be the next coach.

I would love to see Patrick Roy as HC, because it's going to be a boring couple of years before the team contends for a WC spot at best.


But now see that DJ Smith has been hired

 

[Fandlauer]

 

[Sens in Process]

DJ Smith is the head coach

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

I dont even know this guy

Was very successful in OHL and has been Leafs assistant for four years.

I'm hoping we get an experienced assistant.

 

[Silencio]

Interesting. Wonder if Crawford gets the POHO job now.

 

[stempniaksen]

Leaf fans are thrilled he's gone, which should tell us all we need to know.

I was about to post something earlier saying I can't help but shake the feeling we'll end up with Smith because he'll be the cheapest option. Gotta say I'm pretty disappointed my gut feeling ended up being right.

 

[OgieO]

Incredibly successful in junior as a head coach and assistant coach. Mentored under Babcock for a few years. I can't say I know a ton about him, but he's won in several places and was a very well regarded assistant coach.

 

[otown]

Another decision based on dollars and cents? Team minimum wage!

 

[danielpalfredsson]

I know nothing of DJ Smith, but looking at his attire, he is a master of personality mirroring.

 

[BonkTastic]

Dang, that was quick.

I look forward to Dorion's boilerplate "overenthusiastically positive press conference" where he spends an unnecessarily long amount of time telling us how Smith was the "overwhelming favorite", and that he was "blown away" by Smith's plans for the team. Heck, Dorion might even low-key give himself a vote of confidence as GM during the presser, who knows!

We need to develop a Pierre Dorion Press Conference Bingo card

 

[BonkTastic]

At least it wasn't Roy.

... Or Crawford.

Those two were my "worst case scenario" candidates.

 

[EdAVSfan]

No doubt the situation and hierarchy in Colarado was messed up, and it led to dissent within the ranks.

No one really knows how much input Roy had in hockey matters. You dont know. I dont know. But we all know that Roy left over his perceived lack of input. That's a fact.

He apparently had Zibanejad and Chabot for Duchene lined up, which would have been INCREDIBLE for you guys. You would be contenders right now. But Sakic nixed it. So I personally dont blame Roy for getting frustrated with the lack of roster changes and the hesitation to make moves.

The bottom line is that I remember that you guys were completely over the moon with him after year 1. And even if it went poorly in years 2 and 3 for you guys and Roy, he still has a best load of potential as a head coach in this league. And not many coaches could have made the Avalanche look good....

We have some decent inside guys on the Avs board who have good ideas of where Roy was involved.

Yes, that was an apparent deal that was nixed. But not sure if you’ve noticed, but the Avs were able to get a fantastic haul and are on the very cusp of being contenders right now already.

So while Roy may have brought in Zib and Chabot, he was also responsible for Beauchemin, and playing Nate Guenin big minutes, and playing Marc Andre Cliche, and trading Downiest for Maxime Talbot. Brad Stuart, signed for 2 years...

Lots of terrible moves as well.

The biggest issue arose when Roy pushed for rentals, and then didn’t make the playoffs (boedker trade). After that, Sakic decided to take a calculated and patient approach. Seems to be working just fine for us right now. The organization is as healthy as its ever been since the implementation of the cap.

And again, the Avs roster of top 9 forwards was great. Easily top 10, maybe even top 5 in the league. Roy rode a vexing season from Varlamov.

He’s not a bad coach. He’s not a great coach. He’s like most of them. He’s got good and bad in him. But I’m gonna pretend that he was amazing for use and everything that went wrong wasn’t his fault. The Avs have been in a pretty good upward trajectory since he left.

 

[otown]

Wow, media didn't even have a sniff of this. Hope he's good!

Thought our Ottawa insiders would be all over this! Lol

 

[danielpalfredsson]

I am really disappointed because I was looking forward to my Patrick Roy/Game of Thrones Sens fan fiction playing out in real time.

Otherwise, I have nothing to contribute. Don't know much about this guy. Hope it works out for the best.

It is an interesting side note that our last two hires have links to the Leafs. Boucher was apparently "minutes" away from being named the Leafs head coach prior to the Leafs deciding to beat Buffalo's offer for Babcock. The Leafs also offered him a job as part of Babcock's staff. Now we poach an assistant coach of theirs. I am not implying anything, it's just an interesting tidbit.

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

Leaf fans are thrilled he's gone, which should tell us all we need to know.

I was about to post something earlier saying I can't help but shake the feeling we'll end up with Smith because he'll be the cheapest option. Gotta say I'm pretty disappointed my gut feeling ended up being right.

Who knows how he’ll work out, but fan opinion of an assistant coach doesn’t tell you anything really.

 

[justafan22]

Who knows how he’ll work out, but fan opinion of an assistant coach doesn’t tell you anything really.

The PK was dreadful with him last year FWIW. It was fine 2 years ago with their team, but last year it took a downturn.

It's a meh hire.

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

The PK was dreadful with him last year FWIW. It was fine 2 years ago with their team, but last year it took a downturn.

It's a meh hire.

I’m not debating that, I just feel like fans wouldn’t have enough knowledge of what an assistant really does or what he was responsible for. The same would go for me with the sens.

Only time will tell!

 

[justafan22]

I’m not debating that, I just feel like fans wouldn’t have enough knowledge of what an assistant really does or what he was responsible for. The same would go for me with the sens.

Only time will tell!

Fair enough.

However, this is kinda concerning

 

[5ive4Fighting]

Not exactly expected, but I hope for the best. The potential seems there for a kind of used car salesman douchey, and we’ve got a bit too much douche going on as it is. Presumably anybody’s heart is all in on their first head coaching gig however, and I wish him lots of luck.

 

[aragorn]

Now there was a low key hiring, the guy wasn't even on the coach thread poll list. I wonder if EM had anything to do with this hire given it's another guy from Toronto? Good luck to him, I wonder if he will get to choose his assistants or if he will have to take who PD provides? One of the least likely candidates gets the job over much more experienced coaches, definitely a head scratcher, of course, they do get hired to be eventually fired. Let's hope he does well with developing our young guys.

 

[FormentonTheFuture]

Not exactly expected, but I hope for the best. The potential seems there for a kind of used car salesman *****ey, and we’ve got a bit too much *****e going on as it is. Presumably anybody’s heart is all in on their first head coaching gig however, and I wish him lots of luck.

By all accounts players like playing for him.

 

[Masked]

Fair enough.

However, this is kinda concerning

Why? Corsi is, for the most part, a fool's tool.

 

[aragorn]

Maybe the under the radar kind of hire is what gets this team headed in the right direction with so much less expected from this team. He seems to have a decent resume outside the NHL & was an assistant to Babcock "the supposed guru of hockey coaches", he must have learned something. I kind of liked that "Corsi" quote from him, hopefully, he likes a tough team. We'll see, the important thing now is to develop the young guys. I guess that means Keefe moves up to an assistant in Toronto under Babcock.