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What's next for the Senators?

February 2, 2009 03:43 PM | Posted by   Scott Morrison  

It's Groundhog Day.

Especially in Ottawa, where Senators general manager Bryan Murray emerged Monday, saw the long shadow of 13th position in the Eastern Conference, and decided there will not be a spring unless he does something to try and prolong the winter.

So he fired another coach, this time Craig Hartsburg, replacing him with Cory Clouston, who has never coached in the National Hockey League, not even as an assistant.

Desperate times indeed and no disrespect to Clouston, who appears to be a good coaching prospect, but that is four coaches in two seasons and counting …

While neither Murray nor Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, who said the team doesn't need to be blown up (apparently, just the coach needed to be blown up), have officially given up hope, realistically the playoffs are not going to happen for Ottawa this season unless they get ridiculously hot.

Remember, they are 14 points out of eighth place with 34 games remaining. You do the math.

Who wants to play/stay?

The reason why Murray fired Hartsburg is because the team was in an obvious death spiral and wasn't going to recover. With just four weeks until the trade deadline, Murray had to see how this team responded under another coach, to get an idea of who stays and who goes, to see if anything can be salvaged under different coaching.

Now, you could argue Murray should already know that having been behind the bench himself last season - number two of four in the coach parade - and he does. But there were players added this year and there is a different dynamic in the dressing room.

Beyond that, with John Paddock and Hartsburg both being paid not to coach, there wasn't an appetite to add another salary to the mix, meaning the Senators weren't going to add a high-profile, high-paid coach right now just to have him start out and miss the playoffs.

Murray will likely stay as GM

That will happen in the summer. For certain, the Senators will go with an experienced coach next season.

The question, of course, is who will be making the hiring, meaning will Murray survive this mess himself. Odds are he will.

Murray knows he wasn't able to add any pieces during the course of this free fall to help his team, but he needs to clear some cap space at the deadline and get busy in the summer.

And contrary to what Melnyk says, this team might not necessarily need to be blown up, but a significant cleansing is necessary. Consider what has happened the past two seasons. Paddock comes in, goes 15-2, then 21-20-6 before he was fired in late February. That Senators team won 18 of its final 48 games.

Enter Hartsburg. This Senators team has won 17 of its first 48 games. Some players have been changed, but the core group has essentially remained the same.

The 'big three' a big question mark

Now, a big reason for the Senators problems is they have not had world-class goaltending the past two seasons. Check out teams that are winning and you’ll notice they all have it.

They also weren't able to keep defenceman Andrei Meszaros for financial reasons and are wanting for puck movement on the blue-line, a shopping list that hasn’t been filled. Know this, a little help in that area will also improve the secondary scoring that is missing up front. Heck, it will help the primary scoring which has been missing, too.

Finally, Murray may have to seriously consider moving one of his big three up front. It says here Daniel Alfredsson, given his age and salary, will be staying, but they might either have to convince Dany Heatley to waive his no-trade, or deal Jason Spezza before his kicks in. Unless Murray is convinced he can find and afford the other parts without touching those three and that the chemistry is right.

Melnyk also has to declare that Murray will be the general manager next season because what happens leading up to the trade deadline will have a profound impact.

The next four weeks are likely going to feel like Groundhog Day every day in Ottawa, where it is going to continue to be a long, cold winter with very little hope for spring.

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