Through a third party on Twitter, Gord Wilson dropped a ‘Goodie’ during yesterday’s Senators game versus the Colorado Avalanche.
Interesting note from Gord Wilson: Dave Cameron now appears to be coaching the Sens defensemen while Mark Reeds is with the forwards.
— Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) March 16, 2014
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MacLean on switching roles for his assistant coaches: "I have no comment on that."
— Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) March 16, 2014
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Apparently the switch was made prior to Ottawa’s game in Montreal, but the rationale behind making that move now will have to wait.
Inevitably, Paul MacLean’s unwillingness to comment on the matter is certainly going to be portrayed by some as though the decision to make the switch was not his. This perception is going to be fueled by this belief that Mark Reeds was MacLean’s hire while Dave Cameron was brought in because Eugene Melnyk’s relationship with Cameron dates back to the days when Cameron was coaching Melnyk’s St. Mike’s Majors.
It is possible that MacLean made the decision himself to switch things up, but given the timing of the move and his decision not to comment on the matter. He’s not doing himself, his assistant coaches or his organization any favours by not offering any explanation for why or how this process came unfolded.
At its best, the move reeks of desperation and at its worst, it lends itself to concerns that higher authorities (especially ownership) are imposing their will on a staff and neutering their staff’s autonomy in the process.
For what it’s worth, Pierre McGuire downplayed the significance of the switch in an interview on TSN 1200 this morning.
“It’s happened before, absolutely. I mean, that’s not just Ottawa that’s done that. Sometimes you’re just trying to change up the message. Most of your coaching, in the NHL anyways, is done in practice. The guys running the bench, they are creating matchups and relaying information to the head coach, but if they decided to put Dave (Cameron), who has run benches before obviously in major junior hockey, if they chose to put Dave to work with the defence and move Mark (Reeds) up to work with the forwards, that’s fine. I mean, that’s happened before in a lot of different situations.”
(shrugs)
Senators’ Defence
I penned an article that is running in today’s Ottawa Citizen that touches upon the state of the Senators’ defence. More specifically, I examined whether the discrepancy in the goals against average of the 2012-13 Senators and the 2013-14 Senators is the product of a team that was better defensively last season.
So please buy a paper or check out the article on SenatorsExtra.com.
Jared Cowen News
I probably should have penned something on this last week, but CBC’s Elliotte Friedman published his latest ‘30 Thoughts’ column and it only includes one blurb on the Ottawa Senators that followed up on his Sirius XM Hockey Night in Canada interview in which he mentioned that the Senators fielded calls on Jared Cowen at the NHL trade deadline.
28. Bryan Murray had some calls about Jared Cowen, who's had a rough season. He didn't bite. "I believe this guy is going to be a really good player for a long time," Murray said. "He's lost his confidence. We're going to send him home in the summer and start fresh next year with a new outlook. That's all it is."
I’m not really sure if anyone should expected something different from Bryan Murray at this point. There being 15 games left on the schedule, it’s he’s not going to publicly shit on the personification of mediocrity that was Jared Cowen’s 2013-14 season.
Cowen’s frustrations with this season will probably prove enough of a distraction without having to worry about rumours dogging him this offseason.
Cowen already essentially said as much in an interview that ran on the Senators’ website.
“There have been so many things in my mind I've been trying to deal with in terms of the hip and dealing with that and trying to play well and there's a bit of a domino effect with everything else. It's better now and I feel like I can go out there and play instead of worrying about things like that and I think when I feel like I can just play my game I'm a way better player.”
Radio and Podcast Appearances
Yesterday morning I appeared on TSN 1200’s Sunday Scrubs show to talk some #fancystats and plug my article in today’s Citizen. I have not seen a link to the appearance on the station’s Facebook page or podcast section on their website, but once it’s available, I’ll be sure send out the link.
In the meantime, you can check out my appearance on the SensNation’s podcast.
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