Moments ago, the Ottawa Senators announced that the team has fired head coach DJ Smith. The decision comes as the Senators find themselves in last place in the eastern conference with a record of 11-15-0, and showing no progress on their promise of trying to compete for a playoff spot.
In his place, the Senators have hired Jacques Martin as an interim head coach, and also have named franchise legend Daniel Alfredsson as an assistant coach.
Several seasons into their rebuild, the Senators have a promising and talented core of young players, but they've now begun to collect their larger contracts, and the team is still in the basement of the standings. Under the new ownership of Michael Andlauer, the lack of success is now clearly unacceptable.
The Senators arguably should've made the move months ago, maybe even at the beginning of this season. Hopefully under the leadership of a new coach, the Senators can realize the potential of their roster and begin to compete for the playoffs next year.
