Could There Be A Coaching Change Coming in Ottawa?
TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joined Jay Onrait on SportsCenter and was asked if the Senators hiring Jacques Martin as a Senior Advisor to DJ Smith meant the end of Smith in Ottawa, Button did not think so.
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** NHLRumors.com Transcription
Jay Onrait: “All right for the first time in this show, first of a couple of times, so we’re gonna get more Craig for everybody. It’s Craig Button our friend. And Craig I find this whole situation a little bit bizarre. You have a coach and DJ Smith who’s been on the hot seat pretty much since the start of the season. Still very much on the hot seat many fans calling for his job. How do we cool that down? Oh, let’s just bring in a legendary former coach to be his quote Senior Advisor Craig This is bizarre is it not?”
Craig Button: “I don’t think it’s bizarre. I think that Michael Andleauer, Steve Staios, they come into an organization, they clearly see lots of areas where it needs propping up. It needs support. I mean, that was the issue with the Ottawa Senators under the previous management or the previous ownership rather. And when you’re not supporting all your different areas that needs support. It’s thin.
And I think that this is a great example of Steve Staios saying wait a sec, let’s give some support to the coaching office. Let’s get some support to DJ Smith. What’s the area where the Ottawa Senators have I would say struggled, they’ve made some improvements in that area under DJ, but Jacques Martin has been a brilliant defensive coach in the National Hockey League over the course of his career as an assistant and certainly as a head coach.
NHL Rumors: Could There Be Off-Season Changes Coming In Ottawa?
And I think that that’s exactly what they need. And we can talk about improvement but trying to get players in the team to stay consistent with it to really dial into that I think is really important. Now the second part of this, Jay, I think Daniel Alfredsson had a big say in regards to Jacques Martin coming back to the Ottawa Senators. You know, all the success that Daniel had with the Senators where Jacques was the coach, and now Daniel’s been there for a period of time. You’re asking him for his input he’s looking at the situation goes, wait a sec, I know somebody that could be really good.
And I think Jacques Martin is exactly exactly what the Ottawa Senators need at this point in time. It could be exactly what helps DJ move forward and improve as a coach so I don’t see it as bizarre. I see it as very, very astute.”