Sens axe head coach D.J. Smith after disappointing start to the season
Posted Dec 18, 2023 02:17:13 PM.
Last Updated Dec 18, 2023 04:08:50 PM.
The Ottawa Senators fired head coach D.J. Smith on Monday, with the club not meeting expectations past the quarter-mark of the season.
Former Senators head coach Jacques Martin, who was hired as senior adviser to the coaching staff earlier this month, has been named interim head coach. Senators legend Daniel Alfredsson, who also has been working for the team, becomes an assistant coach.
The team also fired assistant coach Davis Payne.
The Senators lost the first three of a five-game western road trip and are currently on a four-game losing streak, sealing Smith’s fate.
Martin takes over a team that sits last in the Atlantic Division with a record of 11-15-0.
Martin first became Senators head coach midway through the 1995-96 season. He guided the team to the playoffs the next eight seasons before he was fired following the 2004 season.
New Senators owner Michael Andlauer has not been shy in making his mark on the struggling club, firing general manager Pierre Dorion on Nov. 1 after the NHL revoked a first-round draft pick from the team for its role in the failed Evgenii Dadonov trade between the Golden Knights and Ducks. President of hockey operations Steve Staios was named interim GM after the club cut ties with Dorion.
Smith becomes the fourth head coach fired in the NHL this season, following Jay Woodcroft of the Edmonton Oilers, Dean Evason of the Minnesota Wild and Craig Beube of the St. Louis Blues.
Smith’s fate came under a microscope in early November when fans chanted “Fire D.J.” as the Senators were booed off the ice following a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Senators players, however, were quick to come to the defence of their coach.
Smith, 46, had a team option for 2024-25 left on his contract. He has been the head coach since the beginning of the 2019-20 season and the Senators — undertaking a significant rebuild — did not make the playoffs once during his tenure.
Before joining the Senators, Smith spent his previous four seasons as an assistant coach on Mike Babcock’s staff with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He previously led the Ontario Hockey League’s Oshawa Generals to the Memorial Cup in 2015.
