To say this is a crucial off-season for the Ottawa Senators would be a gross understatement.
One year after an incredible post-season run to the Eastern Conference Final, the club struggled to a 30th-place finish, all while wading through trade rumours and speculation around its best player and criticism directed at ownership. That speculation will continue until Erik Karlsson has a contract offer in front of him on July 1, the earliest date the captain, (a 2019 UFA) is eligible to sign an extension.
So for now, plenty of attention turns to head coach Guy Boucher after a rocky sophomore season at the helm.
“We still all think that Guy’s a very good coach. Don’t get me wrong here. But when you finish in 30th place, I think you have to evaluate everything,” Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said during a press conference Thursday morning. “If he’s back, I think things need to change — and they were addressed during the season.”
They key word here – and one used often in Dorion’s media availability – is “if.” The GM took his time wording his responses to questions about his coach, just as he said he’ll take his time deciding on his future.
“I think Guy has the toughest job in Ottawa,” Dorion said Thursday, a statement that raised just as many eyebrows as it did the first time he said it upon hiring Boucher back in 2016. “I’ve said that multiple times — the toughest job in Ottawa is head coach of the Ottawa Senators.”
“We believe that having Guy coach with an open mind is the best way for our success,” Dorion continued. “So during the course of the season, we’ll bring up little things that we feel maybe could improve, but at the same time he’s the coach and we’re going to let him be the coach.”
In two seasons with the Senators, Boucher has coached the Senators to a 72-71-21 record. Dorion also pointed out a pair of changes he needs to see if there’s going to be a third.
“At the end of the season, we had about a two-hour meeting, there were quite a few things that were addressed because to us, this is unacceptable,” he said. “Two things that will change, that’s for sure, if he’s back, is the implementation of younger players in our lineup — he will decide who gets what ice time — and we’re going to practise more. ‘Rest is a weapon’ — if I hear that one more time, I’ll go crazy.”
Criticism, of course, wasn’t limited to the bench boss. Dorion also critiqued his own performance over the course of the past season, admitting he “probably had to be better this year.”
“I have to apologize to our fans. An example of that, is I said a tongue-in-cheek comment in the middle of January where I said, ‘if Gretzky got traded, anyone else can get traded.’ And obviously directions were pointed at a certain player,” Dorion said, reflecting on the storm of speculation around Karlsson’s future with the club, which sent fans into a tizzy.
“That probably wasn’t the right thing to say at that time. And for that, I need to apologize to our fans.”
While Dorion certainly shouldered plenty of blame for his words, he also put some of the onus on members of the media.
“When it comes to dealing with the media and the people here, we have to be better and we have to do it more often. We finished in 30th place, we have to accept criticism, as long as criticism is the truth. And I think some things that were reported weren’t even close to the truth,” he explained.
“If you want to criticize us because we’re in 30th place, that is your right. No issues with that, because we weren’t very good this year and we have to accept it,” he said. “And as a second-year general manager, I have to take part of that blame and that responsibility.”
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