Pierre Dorion and DJ Smith totally miscalculated what this team needed during the offseason. Sens fans were also saying this during the summer, it's fine to create internal battles if you're bringing players that actually bring value on ice. Unfortunately, it's not the case here, they brought in some guys that can barely play in the NHL or on the other hand brought in some guys that play too many minutes and roles they shouldn't have at this point in their careers. A lot of it has to do with Dorion, ultimately he made the decisions to bring in those guys, but DJ Smith has a coaching style and that team was molded for him so I would say he has some responsibility here as well.
A bunch of the moves are fine in a vacuum, but when you look at the sum of all parts it's just a bunch of castoffs that were grouped together. Gudbranson is fine in a 3rd pairing role with a good puck-moving Dman, but he's been playing top pair and 2nd pair now. Obviously that wasn't going to work. That one can be understandable, replacement for Hainsey that didn't cost much. The Paquette/Coburn deal is also understandable, they made the trade thinking Paquette would be a good role player with winning experience and they got a 2nd rounder for taking them. No issues here again. Turns out the two Tampa players have been terrible, but in the end they made the deal for the pick. The Watson deal, ok sure, he's been probably the best of the bunch so far, he's a good 4rth line player.
The Stepan deal was the mind-numbing one here. In a time where teams are scrambling to unload cap space Sens went out and gave a 2nd rounder for a guy that has severely regressed over the past few years. He can't skate, he can't do anything really, and he's out there playing PP1 and get minutes with guys like Stutzle and Dadonov. This is on DJ Smith. Stepan has proved he isn't any better than the guys we already had and we paid a high price for simply no reason. Then the Josh Brown deal, you're sitting a guy like Jaros, who I don't even think is a good player, but you're adding a similar guy through trade and signing him to a 2-year deal right off the bat. It's just hard to understand these deals.
Anyways, it's crazy sometimes to think that fans have a better idea than the management team. A lot of people here always mention that coaching staffs and managements teams are pros and they know what they're doing and that we should trust them. The reality is there's enough evidence to look at and at this point we know management teams often (very often) make very avoidable mistakes that everyone can see from a distance. The good news with all of this for Sens fans is that the plan has backfired heavily, and now we'll see some changes, and maybe Dorion will be fired.