The Ottawa Senators made the announcement most expected a month ago, the team relieved head coach DJ Smith of his heading coaching duties.
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In addition, the Senators announced that senior advisor Jacques Martin would be taking head coaching duties on an interim basis.
News Release: D.J. Smith has been relieved of his head coaching duties; Jacques Martin has been named #Sens interim head coach. Daniel Alfredsson joins the team’s coaching staff as an assistant coach: https://t.co/UtadFrrkEG pic.twitter.com/LZiNGB5Mbm
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) December 18, 2023
Along with DJ Smith, assistant coach Davis Payne has also been relieved of his role, while the rest of the coaches have been retained for now. Payne was in charge of the penalty kill the Senators.
The Senators are also adding to their staff as Daniel Alfredsson will join interim head coach Jacques Martin’s staff. Remember Alfredsson was on the bench for the Senators during their two games in Sweden.
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And things have not gone well for the Senators since returning from Sweden either. Ottawa is dead last in the Eastern Conference. There were expectations for the Senators this season. One of those expectations was to make the playoffs.
Right now, that is the furthest thing from happening. And Smith knew it was his responsibility to get this team higher in the standings given who the team added in the offseason.
DJ Smith says he takes responsibility for the team’s performance of late. I’m the coach, I put the players on the ice.
— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) December 18, 2023
DJ Smith is the fourth coach fired this season. He joins Jay Woodcroft, Dean Evason, and Craig Berube. The Edmonton Oilers, Minnesota Wild, and St. Louis Blues experienced a coaching bump in the win column after the moves were made. The Senators are hoping for the same.
Many expected this move to happen a month ago, when Jacques Martin was brought in as the special advisor to DJ Smith. And as the Senators kept losing general manager Steve Staois had no choice to let go of Smith, something they did not want to do right now.
3 weeks ago tonight, the Sens were thumped 5-0 at home by FLA, & DJ Smith somehow survived. It’s never ? the coach’s fault, but today’s decision was inevitable. Smith couldn’t get the most out of this group, and now we’ll see how much of the group has to change by training camp.
— Steve Lloyd (@TSNSteveLloyd) December 18, 2023
The weirdest part of the whole situation was DJ Smith ran Senators practice before the club made the announcement.
Here is DJ Smith meeting the media in Arizona just shortly before he was fired https://t.co/dABmaSstiu
— TSN 1200 (@TSN1200) December 18, 2023
Smith had a record of 131-154-3 with the Senators as the bench boss. Now a familiar face in Martin will be back behind the bench. Martin spent nine seasons as Senators head coach posting a record of 341-255-96 with a winning percentage .562 in the regular season.
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Martin has been behind the seasons watching this team perform and when he coached in Ottawa he brought structure to the team. There was a reason Daniel Alfredsson loved playing for him.
There was a belief was going to be saved until the end of the season as NHLRumors.com has written, but the performances on the ice by the players made this decision easy.
DJ Smith is in the final year of his contract. Originally, the plan seemed to be to wait things out and have the new GM make the call on the Sens next coach. 4 straight losses & last in the East, Sens decided to cut the cord now to try and salvage this season in some fashion.
— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) December 18, 2023
The question for the Senators is it too little too late to save their season?
?Night Cap Recap ?
DJ Smith Fired in Ottawa.. Jacques Martin in as Interim. #gosensgo @FullPressNHL @myNHLTradeRumor @Pammerhockey @FP_Coverage
Thoughts: pic.twitter.com/p2vS4djPdX
— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) December 18, 2023