While it was just last week that Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk told the media that no one on the team was safe after a disappointing season, it turns out the organization has been under the microscope for a month.
On Friday, GM Bryan Murray affirmed the notion that all changes are being considered.
“I’ve started (the evaluation),” Murray told the Ottawa Sun. “After talking to Eugene, over a month ago now, we both kind of agreed we just kind of had to take a look at everything that was going on, from player development to on-ice product,”
“We’re going to have to make changes for next year. I’m looking at all of it. It’s right across the board. There’s nobody safe when you have a year like we just did. No way. The status quo will just get us back [here] again next year.”
The Senators have 81 points in 78 games this season, eight points out of a playoff spot. Last year, the Senators surged in the standings over the second half, largely on the back of goaltender Andrew Hammond and the performances of their youthful core.
While defenceman Erik Karlsson has produced Norris-worthy numbers in 2015-16, the team seems to have taken a step backward — or at least sideways.
“That process [of evaluation] won’t take a long time, I don’t think,” said Murray. “Part of the reason we’ve got everybody on the road this trip, and a couple of previous trips, is we’re just sitting around doing a lot of talking and a lot of evaluation of where we are (with) what players and what else has to happen here to make it better.
“We’ve missed the playoffs a couple of times now and it’s really an empty feeling,” he said. “It’s frustrating. I’ve had a couple of years where I don’t make the playoffs, and you don’t have a very good hockey team and you understand and you have to do something about it.
“I really thought that this was a team that would be competing at this time of year and every game would be very meaningful. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. We have to do something about it.”
