News Article: The Ottawa Senators have turned the corner with D.J. Smith's approach

[Sensmileletsgo]

Turnover machine, irresponsible defensively while making selfish plays all over the ice. 4th line wingers shouldnt make no look passes/passes between the legs. Moves at the blue line etc. Eventually some of these things work when you try them enough but not at the cost of the defense he is not playing. Slap in the face to sit out Bobby over him. Atleast Bobby plays hard and gets the puck in deep.

We're seeing completely different things out there. Ennis can skate and at least keep up with the pace of the NHL. He does make some bad turnovers and gets pushed off the puck easily but he at least works and competes hard. I dont want to say Bobby Ryan doesnt work hard because for all we know he is working his butt off but it just doesnt show. Ryan cant keep up with the pace of the NHL anymore.

 

[Xspyrit]

I respect your opinion, but did you really just say that Bobby plays hard? I mean...

Bert is not totally wrong. Look at the way Ryan get points or creates scoring chances. I could post many videos. There’s also advanced stats that suggests that Ryan has always been among the 6-9 best forwards of the team on both sides of the puck, even through his decline the last 3 years. He’s not a first liner anymore but he’s a 2nd/3rd line tweener like half of the forward groups. He just doesn’t fit the blue collar approach DJ Smith is preaching and he has been singled out, which is very stupid considering he has 2 years left and 15 M$ left and the state of the team (no first line talent outside of Chabot)

People assume that Ryan is lazy because he is an under average skater and (IMO) probably lacks stamina and endurance; at least for that level. His problem I think is that he can’t go hard for 45 seconds shifts so he is playing a finesse energy economy style. The fact that players like Ennis, Sabourin or Beaudin plays over him is mind blowing because even at 50%, Ryan is still much more talented...

This should be a tank season (usually really not a tanker but the context has forced me too). Vets like Ryan and Boedker should be put in a position to succeed so at least Ryan could be traded for a more economic contract if they really needed to save money (for Eriksson for example). Prospects should be “cooked” longer in the AHL so they’d have a stronger team down there. Thinking of Brannstrom especially...

This team is head scratching... they have been doing what should have been done when the team started struggling after the Duchene trade exactly 2 years ago (mid November 2017), to turn things around and don’t end up going into a full rebuild. Now it’s too late, invested a 1st round pick in Duchene and let things slip away that it ended up a 4th OA pick...

Melnyk just wants cost effective teams that can outplay their own payrolls. But at some point, there’s a limit to what a team like that can do

 

[Samsquanch]

The Sens have been playing at a 67 point pace good for 28th place in the league with teams looking past them on the schedule and facing back up goalies in the majority of their starts. Let's see how Smith handles the rough times that are coming before we assess his impact.

Considering that this is perhaps the worst roster that we've iced in the last 20 years, I would say we are witnessing exactly how DJ handles the rough times...And its pretty encouraging to see the team and individuals getting better everyday. Thats about all that anyone could ask for at this point in time from DJ and his staff.

 

[Sensinitis]

Bert is not totally wrong. Look at the way Ryan get points or creates scoring chances. I could post many videos.

People assume that Ryan is lazy because he is an under average skater and (IMO) probably lacks stamina and endurance; at least for that level. His problem I think is that he can’t go hard for 45 seconds shifts so he is playing a finesse energy economy style. The fact that players like Ennis, Sabourin or Beaudin plays over him is mind blowing because even at 50%, Ryan is still much more talented...

This team is head scratching... they have been doing what should have been done when the team started struggling after the Duchene trade exactly 2 years ago (mid November 2017), to turn things around and don’t end up going into a full rebuild. Now it’s too late, invested a 1st round pick in Duchene and let things slip away that it ended up a 4th OA pick...

Melnyk just wants cost effective teams that can outplay their own payrolls. But at some point, there’s a limit to what a team like that can do

Ryan lacks endurance, yes. But he has mastered the art of "pretending to give a ****", during his shifts. As someone who has personally mastered that art in my own hockey career, it doesn't fool me. And it doesn't fool DJ either, which is why he's being scratched. When he has open ice, he skates. When he has a guy next to him, he hits him. But he doesn't go out of his way effort-wise, and it's painfully clear.

Sure he's skilled, but so was Roby Schremp and a million other players that didn't deserve to be in the NHL. It's not about skill, imo. At this point he can't even shoot or skate, he just has good hands and above-average playmaking ability.

The reason why Ryan needs to be scratched is to create individual accountability. You can't have Ryan playing his "finesse energy economy style", and then preach "WORK HARD SKATE HARD" in practice, and not give the players who are actually doing that an opportunity to play. Not scratching Ryan makes you look like a hypocrite, ala Guy Boucher.

 

[supsens]

We have seen a few former rookie Sens coaches have success in small sample sizes. Paul MacLean won the Jack Adams with both Karlsson and Spezz in the lineup. I'm not disputing that Smith has done a bad job. More disputing your claim that EK and Spezz are coach killers as you seem to be stating. Guy Boucher also seemed to push the right buttons in his first season. EK was there for that too.

That being said. DJ has them going right now for sure but let's see and hope that he can keep this up. It's only been 16 games let's not crown him just yet. The rope Ennis has been given when he has played so poorly is definitely a red flag for me so far. However, all coaches have favorites so it's really not the end of the world.

EK and Spezza ran McLean out of town because he wanted them to play as hard as everyone else and stop playing high risk hockey.
The two tier system where the better players run the show lasted until this year and the team had all sorts of problems from that model

 

[Do Make Say Think]

The game has been getting faster for a while now.

It was a matter of time but it has caught up with Ryan.

 

[BatherSeason]

EK and Spezza ran McLean out of town because he wanted them to play as hard as everyone else and stop playing high risk hockey.
The two tier system where the better players run the show lasted until this year and the team had all sorts of problems from that model

I would blame Paul MacLeans demise more on having been forced to run a defence with that consisted of Cody Ceci, Jared Cowen, Weircoch, Phillips.

Also, I am having trouble finding anything anywhere that states that MacLean was fired because he was run out of town by Spezz and Karlsson. So please can you help me find a source for your claims?

Karlsson and Spezza weren't here last year either and the team was a trainwreck. Was that because of the culture EK and Spezz created?

I will end my side of this debate here. All I am trying to say is that I like what I have seen from Smith so far this year, let's debate that. Let's focus on the future and not the past. Focusing on the past was what made this board so painful for the past 24 months.

 

[Xspyrit]

Ryan lacks endurance, yes. But he has mastered the art of "pretending to give a ****", during his shifts. As someone who has personally mastered that art in my own hockey career, it doesn't fool me. And it doesn't fool DJ either, which is why he's being scratched. When he has open ice, he skates. When he has a guy next to him, he hits him. But he doesn't go out of his way effort-wise, and it's painfully clear.

Sure he's skilled, but so was Roby Schremp and a million other players that didn't deserve to be in the NHL. It's not about skill, imo. At this point he can't even shoot or skate, he just has good hands and above-average playmaking ability.

The reason why Ryan needs to be scratched is to create individual accountability. You can't have Ryan playing his "finesse energy economy style", and then preach "WORK HARD SKATE HARD" in practice, and not give the players who are actually doing that an opportunity to play. Not scratching Ryan makes you look like a hypocrite, ala Guy Boucher.

I can agree with that (and look I edited my first paragraph). Smith is preaching a blue collar approach. Guys like Spezza and Ryan at this point in their careers don’t fit on this team. And even in the league, they have less and less space because the game is faster and faster every year, so skilled guys also need to have a combination of being fast, strong or have elite hockey sense ala Stone. Very few under average skaters can have some success in the game today

Ryan needs to play on a solid team where he could be a support player; particularly when injuries arise. Ideally with 2 fast and relatively skilled guys (more than Tierney and Ennis lol) on a 3rd line so he could produce a bit there and on their 2nd PP. Problem is those teams already spend close to the cap so the Sens would have to retain and accept taking a (smaller) cap dump.

Is there one of those teams who have an useless player signed the next 2 years at around 5.0? Then the Sens retain 2.25 and it works... but a deal like that is very hard to find. And another thing is that Melnyk would want to save money so the player’s salary would have to be under that 5.0 cap hit; so even harder to find lol

 

[bert]

Really? Why do you follow this team anymore? Does everything have to be negative before it even plays out?

Maybe the writer is trying to show some positive aspects of the future instead of being down in the dumps. Maybe.

Stop focusing on the negative and calling people out. You did it with my post and you are doing it with his. We both made legitimate points and you went out of your way to focus only on the negatives. Now this thread has turned into something it didnt need to be, the rest of my post was far more important but now we are discussing Bobby Ryan again.

I respect your opinion, but did you really just say that Bobby plays hard? I mean...

Compared to Ennis he does. He actually throws the body and doesnt turn the puck over in dangerous areas of the ice. He also wins some board battles.

Bert is not totally wrong. Look at the way Ryan get points or creates scoring chances. I could post many videos. There’s also advanced stats that suggests that Ryan has always been among the 6-9 best forwards of the team on both sides of the puck, even through his decline the last 3 years. He’s not a first liner anymore but he’s a 2nd/3rd line tweeter like half of the forward groups. He just doesn’t fit the blue collar approach DJ Smith is preaching and he has been singled out, which is very stupid considering he has 2 years left and 15 M$ left and the state of the team (no first line talent outside of Chabot)

People assume that Ryan is lazy because he is an under average skater and (IMO) probably lacks stamina and endurance; at least for that level. His problem I think is that he can’t go hard for 45 seconds shifts so he is playing a finesse energy economy style. The fact that players like Ennis, Sabourin or Beaudin plays over him is mind blowing because even at 50%, Ryan is still much more talented...

This should be a tank season (usually really not a tanker but the context has forced me too). Vets like Ryan and Boedker should be put in a position to succeed so at least Ryan could be traded for a more economic contract if they really needed to save money (for Ericsson for example). Prospects should be “cooked” longer in the AHL so they’d have a stronger team down there. Thinking of Brannstrom especially...

This team is head scratching... they have been doing what should have been done when the team started struggling after the Duchene trade exactly 2 years ago (mid November 2017), to turn things around and don’t end up going into a full rebuild. Now it’s too late, invested a 1st round pick in Duchene and let things slip away that it ended up a 4th OA pick...

Melnyk just wants cost effective teams that can outplay their own payrolls. But at some point, there’s a limit to what a team like that can do

Thank you. I dont see how anyone that really understands hockey can say Ryan is playing a more self serving game than Ennis. I dont like the plus minus stat but its a pretty good indicator when you are such an outlier compared to the rest of your teamates. Then you watch Ennis play and consistently see the poor decisions he makes with the puck and it all adds up. I mean you are at the end of a shift at the opponents blue line shoot the damn puck in, some fancy dump that doest make it in deep enough for your teammates to change is a horrible play.

 

[Xspyrit]

Thank you. I dont see how anyone that really understands hockey can say Ryan is playing a more self serving game than Ennis.

You are one of my few references on this site when it comes to “understand” the game. It’s clear that you played. Aragorn is another guy that I can rely too. Even if I don’t always agree with you both; I know I can take some valuable opinions from you on this.

Ryan even if he is aging and went through many injuries, he is still better than several forwards on this team; easily top-9. Problem is his skating and stamina/endurance. He can play a powerfoward style occasionally which has confused people during all his career. He just physically cannot go like this all the time; you can’t have 25 seconds shifts, he just wouldn’t have the puck enough to be effective. Let’s be realistic.

He doesn’t fit the DJ Smith blue collar approach but at some point you need high end skill; and guys that are fast, hard working and also highly talented are either very expensive to acquire or hard to get (high in the draft? Luck out in the first round?). Think of how much it would cost to acquire Brad Marchand or Mark Schefeile; if they were available

Edit : just adding a note but sometimes I feel like if a player skates fast, can shoot a puck and can make/receive a pass then they're good. There's plenty of guys who can do that but don't necessarily end up with an impressive career. See Curtis Lazar for example.

 

[Caeldan]

We're seeing completely different things out there. Ennis can skate and at least keep up with the pace of the NHL. He does make some bad turnovers and gets pushed off the puck easily but he at least works and competes hard. I dont want to say Bobby Ryan doesnt work hard because for all we know he is working his butt off but it just doesnt show. Ryan cant keep up with the pace of the NHL anymore.

Personally I feel like Ennis plays with the equivalent vision of the beer league player who has the ability to go end to end in pickup but then puts the puck in the chest of goalie every time despite having pass options available to to create chances, or attempts the high risk pass every so often to avoid the puck hog label and blames the recipient for not catching it.

 

[BonkTastic]

Really? Why do you follow this team anymore? Does everything have to be negative before it even plays out?

Maybe the writer is trying to show some positive aspects of the future instead of being down in the dumps. Maybe.

Three things here:
1) I started my post by stating that I really like the coach so far. How exactly is that a negative?
2) I simply provided proof that early success doesn't always = lasting success, and that it's worth keeping in mind what the goal here is. If the goal is long-term success, issuing too much praise for the short term can sometimes be a trap.
3) I even went out of my way to suggest that there wasn't really anthing wrong with the article, and that if there was a problem, it was with an over-zealous editor who provided a bit of a sensationalist title. Journalists don't get to title their articles, that's up to the department editor, and it's pretty common for writers to HATE the titles their articles end up adopting. If you have a problem with the fact that I'm simply pointing out a WELL established journalism trope, maybe you should take it up with the editors?

You're mis-interpreting pretty much everything I said, simply because you don't like the fact that I'm applying cautious optimism instead of an immediate wholesale emotional investment, based solely on the fact that I didn't like the article's title, that the journalist didn't even write.

Did you even read the rest of what I wrote, or did you just see the three linked articles, and then completely ignore the context I was putting them in? At no point ANYWHERE IN WHAT I WROTE did I criticize DJ Smith. Not even once. Not even slightly. Not as an insinuation, or a suggestion, or even a subtle hint.

I made a point about two things: 1) remembering to keep in mind the difference between short term success and long term success when making wholesale evaluations and finalizing opinions about things, and 2) that newspaper editors suck a lot of the time. Calm down, jeez.

 

[dumbdick]

Do I like DJ Smith so far? Absolutely.
I feel, however, like I wouldn't be doing the subject justice if I didn't point out these articles as well:

a) Sens' Guy Boucher deserves coach of the year consideration
b) Paul Maclean wins Jack Adams award
c) Clouston corrects the situation

Clearly I'm not trying to suggest that Smith will fail because the other three on that list did. I'm just suggesting that maybe "5 weeks into his first season" isn't necessarily the time to title articles about the coach in this way.

That's on the editor for giving this article an unnecessarily leading title.

Yep. Ive seen this movie before. Talk to me in 2021/22 season.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Three things here:
1) I started my post by stating that I really like the coach so far. How exactly is that a negative?
2) I simply provided proof that early success doesn't always = lasting success, and that it's worth keeping in mind what the goal here is. If the goal is long-term success, issuing too much praise for the short term can sometimes be a trap.
3) I even went out of my way to suggest that there wasn't really anthing wrong with the article, and that if there was a problem, it was with an over-zealous editor who provided a bit of a sensationalist title. Journalists don't get to title their articles, that's up to the department editor, and it's pretty common for writers to HATE the titles their articles end up adopting. If you have a problem with the fact that I'm simply pointing out a WELL established journalism trope, maybe you should take it up with the editors?

You're mis-interpreting pretty much everything I said, simply because you don't like the fact that I'm applying cautious optimism instead of an immediate wholesale emotional investment, based solely on the fact that I didn't like the article's title, that the journalist didn't even write.

Did you even read the rest of what I wrote, or did you just see the three linked articles, and then completely ignore the context I was putting them in? At no point ANYWHERE IN WHAT I WROTE did I criticize DJ Smith. Not even once. Not even slightly. Not as an insinuation, or a suggestion, or even a subtle hint.

I made a point about two things: 1) remembering to keep in mind the difference between short term success and long term success when making wholesale evaluations and finalizing opinions about things, and 2) that newspaper editors suck a lot of the time. Calm down, jeez.

My bad. Apologies. Must have misinterpreted your post.

All is calm.

 

[FolignoQuantumLeap]

Sitting Ryan and Boedker is a big win in my books. He'll get a long leash if that keeps up.

Now for the love of all that is holy, get to work on that PP.

 

[Sensmileletsgo]

Personally I feel like Ennis plays with the equivalent vision of the beer league player who has the ability to go end to end in pickup but then puts the puck in the chest of goalie every time despite having pass options available to to create chances, or attempts the high risk pass every so often to avoid the puck hog label and blames the recipient for not catching it.

Yeah he's not the greatest, that's for sure. I just dont think he should be the teams whipping boy. He was brought in for 900k to be a stop gap player and I think he's doing an ok job of that. I tend to favor players that play fast and work hard and I feel he's been doing an ok job of that.

I by no means love the player but I do prefer him to Ryan and Boedker.

 

[BonkTastic]

I by no means love the player but I do prefer him to Ryan and Boedker.

Yeah, he's very obviously not my favorite player, but at least he's got a motor that absolutely won't stop.

I mean... Sure, sometimes that motor is pointed in the wrong direction, and that motor falls down a lot, and doesn't win puck battles, and gets outmuscled along the boards... but it's always on, there's always effort there. I appreciate effort.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

He's also quite a bit faster than Ryan and Boedker and speed is the name of our game since we have so little skill.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Ennis vs Ryan?

Can I select none of the above. I really don't want either one of them in the lineup. I would keep Beaudin in over them. .. and over Sabourin as well if it came to that.

I certainly do not expect DJ or anyone else to agree with this. Give me Beaudin, or another similar prospect that wants to improve , that wants to give it everything they have. Ryan and can go as far as I'm concerned. Who would we play? A career AHLer in Sabourin or Ennis or Ryan... I mean I'm sure several of us would say Sabourin. If we are going to play a nice little one on one or two on two small ice drill in practice.. I'd go with Ryan but that's not what we need out of the bottom 6ers on this team.

 

[BatherSeason]

Ennis vs Ryan?

Can I select none of the above. I really don't want either one of them in the lineup. I would keep Beaudin in over them. .. and over Sabourin as well if it came to that.

I certainly do not expect DJ or anyone else to agree with this. Give me Beaudin, or another similar prospect that wants to improve , that wants to give it everything they have. Ryan and can go as far as I'm concerned. Who would we play? A career AHLer in Sabourin or Ennis or Ryan... I mean I'm sure several of us would say Sabourin. If we are going to play a nice little one on one or two on two small ice drill in practice.. I'd go with Ryan but that's not what we need out of the bottom 6ers on this team.

Completely agree with you. Give me Chlapik, Davidsson, Beaudoin all day everyday over Ryan, Boedker, Ennis, Sabs. You can even play them more than 5 minutes.

 

[Samsquanch]

“This is the first time in my time here that we’ve had foundation of individual accountability and work ethic,” alternate captain Mark Borowiecki told this newspaper.

You have to wonder if this comment comes in part from Erik Karlsson no longer being on the team... Rightfully or wrongfully he was unquestionably given special rules and treatment by his coaches, and a preferred practice schedule (ie totally optional) .

This is going to rub some people the wrong way no matter what. And with EK as the captain of the team, its not ridiculous to suggest that his laissez-faire approach to practice and overall team defense had a negative trickle down effect in the dressing room. Especially when the entire team is struggling badly at defence and keeping shots down (which was always the case while EK was here).

Its pretty clear to me at least that this team has been in need of a culture change for a while now.

 

[supsens]

I would blame Paul MacLeans demise more on having been forced to run a defence with that consisted of Cody Ceci, Jared Cowen, Weircoch, Phillips.

Also, I am having trouble finding anything anywhere that states that MacLean was fired because he was run out of town by Spezz and Karlsson. So please can you help me find a source for your claims?

Karlsson and Spezza weren't here last year either and the team was a trainwreck. Was that because of the culture EK and Spezz created?

I will end my side of this debate here. All I am trying to say is that I like what I have seen from Smith so far this year, let's debate that. Let's focus on the future and not the past. Focusing on the past was what made this board so painful for the past 24 months.

I don’t have a source for my “claims” I remember how it unfolded and I remember the sportsnet crew calling it insanity that they “handed control of the asylum to the inmates.”
You are free to remember things how you want but I saw what happened and listened to what the analysts thought at the time.
And yes it created a cultutre that certain people were entitled.


Quick search first link
Globe and mail....

At the end of last season, when MacLean's team failed to reach the playoffs, Murray had expressed his disappointment and said, tellingly, that the players were telling him they wanted "the old Paul" back. The new Paul, in the first season after winning the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach, had changed in their opinion, becoming far more hardline.
"Some of the better players felt singled out a little too often," Murray told a news conference Monday afternoon

Some of the better players........

 

[The Devilish Buffoon]

There are three phases to developing the positive team culture that DJ is trying to cultivate:

Phase 1: Work hard or be held accountable
Phase 2: Work hard & smart or be held accountable
Phase 3: Work hard, smart, and skillfully or be held accountable

Right now, we're in phase 1. That's why Boedker and Ryan are getting scratched. Next, in phase 2, will be Anisimov, Ennis, and Sabourin. Maybe Duclair has some speedbumps in his future, too, and he suffers a bit during this phase - hopefully not. Then, in phase 3, you're looking at guys like Boro. Phase 3 will take a while, whereas phase 2 will come this season for sure. But right now, as long as there aren't 12 guys working harder than you, youre going to be in the lineup.

 

[Pierre from Orleans]

“This is the first time in my time here that we’ve had foundation of individual accountability and work ethic,” alternate captain Mark Borowiecki told this newspaper.

You have to wonder if this comment comes in part from Erik Karlsson no longer being on the team... Rightfully or wrongfully he was unquestionably given special rules and treatment by his coaches, and a preferred practice schedule (ie totally optional) .

This is going to rub some people the wrong way no matter what. And with EK as the captain of the team, its not ridiculous to suggest that his laissez-faire approach to practice and overall team defense had a negative trickle down effect in the dressing room. Especially when the entire team is struggling badly at defence and keeping shots down (which was always the case while EK was here).

Its pretty clear to me at least that this team has been in need of a culture change for a while now.

I have a feeling if DJ Smith was here during Karlssons heydey he wouldn't be clamping down as hard as he reportedly has been

 

[Samsquanch]

I have a feeling if DJ Smith was here during Karlssons heydey he wouldn't be clamping down as hard as he reportedly has been

I have a feeling that DJ wouldnt be here at all if this wasn't a rebuilding team that was going to be focused entirely on development these next few years. I could have easily seen them going with Roy or someone like that had things gone differently with the UFAs.

I dont disagree that Karlsson probably earned every bit of special treatment that he got. But its also not easy to send a consistent message to the rest of your team if your captain (and sometimes worst offender) is given a free pass to play and practice on his own terms.