Jacques Martin's Senators are like DJ Smith's Senators

A few weeks ago, the Ottawa Senators made an important change: they finally relieved DJ Smith of his duties as the club’s head coach.

We all knew it was time. And we’ve known it for a long time.

The challenge, of course, was to find a replacement who wasn’t going to be around for the long haul. After all, hockey president Steve Staios wanted to find his GM before appointing a coach.

For these reasons, the arrival of Jacques Martin made sense. After all, he’s not here for 10 years, and we thought he could help the Sens become a more organized team.

But is this really the case, given the state of the club since his arrival?

December 19: 4-3 loss to the Coyotes
December 21: 6-4 loss to the Avalanche
December 23: 5-4 (OT) win over the Penguins
December 27: 4-2 win over Maple Leafs
December 29: 6-2 loss to Devils
December 31: 5-1 win over Sabres
January 2: 6-3 loss to Canucks
January 4: 4-1 loss to the Kraken

What this means is that the club scored just six points out of a possible 16. Their opponents? 11 points. The Sens also scored 27 times, but gave up 33 goals.

That’s almost one more per game. And that’s more than four goals allowed per game.

Of course, I understand that the club has come a long way and is in last place in the East. I also understand that a coach can’t change everything in just a few days.

But the club doesn’t start its games well, and allows some ugly goals here and there. The defensive game isn’t as tight as it should be, which means the club often plays catch-up hockey.

It’s not ideal.

Jacques Martin, earlier this week, was even talking about benching players as he did when he was first at the Senators’ helm.

Jacques Martin says as a last resort some players won’t get the ice time they want. Martin references when he benched Alexei Yashin during his first #Sens coaching tenure.

“A lot of players were benched when they weren’t performing, that’s part of the learning process.”

– Claire Hanna (@clahanna) January 3, 2024

Five of Martin’s eight games since his return to Ottawa have been on the road. Of those five games, only one resulted in a win.

And since that was in Toronto, Martin has yet to win outside his native province.

If you count the Ottawa club’s last eight road games, you’re talking about a record of one win and seven losses. Let’s just say that’s a pretty poor team record.

DJ Smith was fired after three straight road losses.

Sens are 1-7-0 in their last 8 road games.

– NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) January 5, 2024

All this to say that sometimes you can see the effect of a coaching change quickly. But in Ottawa, we can’t really say that’s the case – quite the contrary.

I’m not saying we should get rid of Martin tomorrow morning, since the Sens’ season is over anyway. That said, it’s important to remember that the Sens now have a full-time GM: Steve Staios.

Naming him GM wasn’t the basic plan, but hey: now the Sens have established their structure on the second floor, which opens the door to the eventual hiring of a full-time coach when the club is ready. I expect that to be this summer.

Is this the part of the story where we bring Patrick Roy’s name back into the conversation?

Gossip

– Czechs go for bronze at CMJ.

The Czechs just scored 4 goals in 50 seconds, fastest four goals in #WorldJuniors history, to shock Finland 8-5 for bronze.

– James Duthie (@tsnjamesduthie) January 5, 2024

– Really?

Luc Tardif, president #IIHF interviewed by @RDSca

We understand that there are issues surrounding the Russians’ return that aren’t just political – the Fedotov case, for example.

We also understand that there’s a good chance the #LNH players will be at the next Olympics.

– Jasmin Leroux (@jasmin_leroux) January 5, 2024

– He needs to get back up.

Ron Francis and Co. have to be concerned about Eduard Sale. One of the quietest six-point performances in WJC history. A skilled player without question but his willingness to compete has to improve. Largely invisible since popping three against Norway.

– Grant McCagg (@grantmccagg) January 5, 2024

– Joe Thornton and his scoring call to Guillaume Asselin. [JdeM]

– Seen the same way…

Two transactions by two different general managers, but the price Marc Bergevin paid for Dvorak is similar to Kent Hughes’ price for Alex Newhook.
To listen to Mathias Brunet’s segment on Le Retour des sportifs yesterday: https://t.co/jdk22fkWeU pic.twitter.com/LYJifURrbs

– BPM Sports (@BPMSportsRadio) January 5, 2024