The Ottawa Senators have had a tough start of the 2022-23 NHL season. After a strong offseason bringing in players like Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat, the team has gone 4-8-0 during their first 12 games.
The Senators will be without center Josh Norris for the foreseeable future as there is no timeline for his return after a tough shoulder injury. The team is backed into a corner, and General Manager Pierre Dorion is not making things easier with his comments on the coaching staff.
The Ottawa Senators have backed themselves into a corner
During a presser on Nov. 7, this is what Dorion had to say about the coaching staff. (The video should start around the 6:15 mark)
I think one quote that stands out from this video has to be,
"One thing about Pierre Dorion is Pierre Dorion is very loyal."
I will look past the part of Dorion speaking in the third person here and just focus on what he is saying. The Senators are 4-8-0. They have not won a game since Oct. 24 against the Dallas Stars, and yet now the team can seemingly not make a move at head coach because Pierre Doron has thrown his support behind head coach D.J. Smith and the coaching staff.
When things do not go right for a team, the obvious change up you can make is a coaching change. We have seen it work in the past to varying extents like the St. Louis Blues in 2019 for example.
D.J. Smith has been the head coach of the Senators since 2019-20, and their best year point percentage wise was in 2020-21 when they had a record of 23-28-5.
The Devils are currently in the midst of a six-game losing streak, while four of six of those games might have been one-goal games, they still lost. The Senators are now in a corner. Unless they win their way out of this mess, they seemingly won’t be able to fire their head coach, as Dorion has shown his loyalty on the situation.
At least change could potentially come when a famous Hollywood actor buys the team.