Reasons for Hope and Doubt - Senators Finalize New-Look Coaching Staff
Written By: Luke Muise
It will be a new look behind the Sens’ bench this season, and hopefully a new look in the standings to go along with it.
After hiring Travis Green as the new bench boss last month, the Ottawa Senators have shored up the rest of the coaching staff as well. They have hired Mike Yeo, Nolan Baumgartner as new assistants and confirmed that Daniel Alfredsson and Ben Sexton will also return as assistants.
The initial reaction among fans to the Green hiring was not overwhelmingly positive to say the least. Fans had long had their sights set on one of the many available coaches like Craig Berube (now with the Toronto Maple Leafs), Dean Evason (looks like Creed Bratton from The Office), or Todd MacLellan to name a few, before Green suddenly emerged as the top candidate seemingly out of nowhere. I don't remember seeing him on anyone’s shortlists and if you say he was on yours, you’re lying.
Fans pointed to his 133-147-34 record as a coach (noting its similarity to DJ Smith’s 131-154-32 record), the tumultuous end to his time in Vancouver, and the New Jersey Devils’ inability to salvage their 2023-24 season with him behind the bench as interim Head Coach as points against him. All of these points are fair in my opinion, but if we’re being fair we also need to point out that the Canucks’ head office under Jim Benning reached (to put it in terms Sens fans will understand) Sens-level incompetence at times during his time there. This season, he took over as Interim Head Coach in New Jersey on March 4 - probably too late in the game to turn their fortunes around (even though he had been an associate coach all year). If a team is changing coaches that late in the year, there’s probably much more going wrong than just the message behind the bench. Lo and behold, not a single Devils’ goaltender posted a SV% above .898 or a GAA below 3.15. Show me a great coach and I’ll show you a great goaltender, amirite?
Personally, my initial reaction to the hire was also one of trepidation, but after coming to terms with the Sens’ decision and considering these other factors, I'm more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I’ve still got questions about whether this was the right move and I’m sure others do to, but now all we can do is wait to see how it plays out.
One of the other new names joining Green has me quite excited, as Mike Yeo steps in as an assistant. He joins the Sens with a 263-217-62 record as a head coach, split between time with Minnesota, St. Louis, and Philadelphia. That’s a solid amount of experience to bring to a team that’s still young and trying to find its way. Yeo recently revealed on TSN1200 that he would be in charge of the powerplay this upcoming season, which I see as welcome news. The Sens powerplay last season was uninspiring at best, ranking 23rd in the NHL at 18.02 per cent. Improvement here is necessary if the Sens want to have any hope of competing for a playoff spot, and with the talent they have in the forward group there should be no excuse not to do better.
The next new addition, Nolan Baumgartner, is 100 per cent Green’s “guy,” as he was an assistant for Green during his Canuck days. It's not surprising that Green would bring in someone he’s comfortable working with. My hope for Baumgartner is that he can draw on his playing career as an NHL defenseman to coach out some of the bad habits on the backend. Despite the common perception, the Sens weren't a terrible defensive team when it came to giving up high-danger chances (14th overall in all situations according to naturalstattrick, so, middle of the pack), but the ones they did give up often resulted from spectacular lapses in their own zone. Mistakes are going to happen, but if Baumgartner can help the Sens clamp down and reduce the frequency of those mistakes it will be huge for the team.
Returning behind the bench are assistants Ben Sexton and Daniel Alfredsson, a guy you may have heard of before. I like this move for continuity’s sake for the players. Plus, I think we all loved watching Alfie actually coach guys on the bench during the game as opposed to DJ Smith’s “I'm here to chew bubblegum and coach hockey players and it turns out due to a massive shipping error I've actually got a lifetime supply of bubblegum” approach to in-game coaching. Hopefully we’ll see more of that in the upcoming season, along with some real-time adjustments to strategy during the game, which is something the Sens have been sorely lacking for a while now.
It will be interesting to see how this all comes together for the Ottawa Senators. While I initially felt like the Sens had fumbled the coaching search, I think I’ve come around on the decisions. I am excited to see a new coaching staff get a full training camp and season with the team.
Speaking of training camp, I hope the players come into it in the actual best shape of their lives. They're going to have to - Green’s training camps have a bit of a reputation.
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All that said, I hope this new group can come in and do what needs to be done to get this team to where it should be: the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I do have one very specific request for the new staff though, and it's a pretty simple one: please remind the players that the second period does, in fact, count towards the full 60 minutes of a game. Thank you.
