Murray and Big Bird In?
With the lose to Boston on Saturday, the Sens officially dropped below .500% in their last 82 games played. With the lose Monday to the Habs, and facing Buffalo 2 of their next 3 games (New Jersey being the other one) the Sens chances of playing above .500% hockey before November is out are not looking good.
It could be for lots of reasons – they have to many young players (second youngest team in the league)? They have to many players in the skilled positions like Heatley, Spezza, Gerber that do not come from winning programs?
But the truth is in the stats, Ottawa does not have a team that is doing anything well right now, it is very difficult to look at any part of their game and say they are playing LIKE A TEAM. With that said, they could turn it around, and a coach with a proven track record of winning and getting the most out of his teams is needed, like Andy Murray did in L.A. THE RUMOURS in Ottawa and on the internet are that Andy Murray is a leading candidate to replace Coach Murray. Besides burning his players out with his style, he is exactly what the Sens need right now to get the team to playing .500% hockey, and then trying to get them into the playoffs. A verbal, aggresive, no non-sense coach whose teams, even the ones decimated by injuries, where always in the playoff hunt and played all-out playoff hockey. The other rumour is that Larry Robinson is being looked at to replace John Muckler, a stabilizing force in the GM spot that the Sens need.
The truth about the Sens organinaztion is that right after the lock-out, they went on a big rant about how the team would lose money if they didn’t have a deep Stanlay Cup run, and that Melnyck was being a great guy and putting up his own cash, and taking a big financial hit, to try and bring a winner to Ottawa. Melnyck has said he will not operate the Sens at a lose, well faced with missing the playoffs, Melnyck can do one of 2 things. He can either get the GM to trade the expensive talent and reduce the pay-roll, or he can make changes to try and turn the team around and get them into the playoffs.
If I was an experienced NHL like Andy Murray or Mike Keenan, i would be licking my chops right now for a chance to come in and coach this Ottawa team with the talent they have. Turning a team like Ottawa around and getting them into the playoffs, Like Lou Lamourilla did, or Bob Gainey did last season, would mean Coach Of The Year votes and add more to the coaches petigree.