Ottawa Senators Put Faith In D.J. Smith As New Head Coach

The Ottawa Senators have shocked a lot of their fans by naming 42-year-old Windsor, Ontario native D.J. Smith as their new head coach. Smith becomes the 14^th man to take over behind their bench and the seventh since 2008 when Bryan Murray stepped down. Smith replaces Marc Crawford who was Ottawa’s interim coach since replacing the fired Guy Boucher on March 1^st. Boucher had a 22-37-5 record this season when he was let go while Crawford went 7-10-1 in 18 games with the team to end the season.

The #Sens got their man in new head coach D.J. Smith. pic.twitter.com/kAVKt5KTMp

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 24, 2019

Smith was the head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Oshawa Generals back in 2014/15 when they won the Memorial Cup. He spent the past four years with the Toronto Maple Leafs as an assistant to head coach Mike Babcock. Smith has no head coaching experience in the NHL but went 135-53-3-13 over three seasons with Oshawa. He was also named the OHL’s coach of the year for 2013/14 when he led the team to a mark of 42-20-0-6. He bettered that record the next season when the Generals went 51-11-2-4.

#MapleLeafs head coach Mike Babcock on D.J. Smith being hired as the #Senators new head coach (via @PierreVLeBrun)….https://t.co/tKzNnNIX3q #TSNHockey pic.twitter.com/IqCgoAtADS

— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) May 23, 2019

Smith got his feet wet in the coaching business with the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL from 2004 to 2012 as an assistant coach. He also enjoyed success in his hometown with his former club as the Spitfires captured the Memorial Cup in 2008/09 and again in 09/10. Smith is a former pro defenseman who was selected by the New York Islanders in the 1995 NHL Draft with the 41^st overall pick.

He appeared in just 45 NHL games with one goal and one assist and 67 minutes in penalties with the Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche. The majority of his playing career was spent with the Hershey Bears and St. John’s Maple Leafs of the American Hockey League until retiring after the 2003/04 campaign due to several concussions.

Senators’ general manager Pierre Dorion reportedly inked Smith to a three-year contract with no financial details and released a press statement on May 23^rd which read, “D.J. Smith is a winner. We believe he is the best person to drive the development and success of the Ottawa Senators. D.J is a great communicator and an exceptional strategist. His passionate approach, coupled with his ability to teach the game, is exactly what we were looking for throughout the process. We’re thrilled to welcome D.J. and his family to Ottawa.”

The Maple Leafs gave the Senators permission to talk to Smith about their coaching vacancy about three weeks ago. Toronto will now be on the lookout for some assistant coaching help since Smith and Jim Hiller have both left their posts since the end of the 2018/19 season. Ottawa also asked the Leafs for permission to speak with Smith back in 2016 when before hiring Boucher but were politely turned down.

Crawford was also in the running for the head coaching job after spending the past three seasons working as an assistant with Boucher. There were also some other high-profile candidates for the position including Hall of Fame goaltender and former Colorado Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy as well as Jacques Martin, Rick Bowness, Troy Mann and Nate Leaman.

Bowness and Martin are former Senator head coaches while Mann currently coaches the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League while Leaman is the coach at Providence College. Martin is currently an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Bowness is an assistant with the Dallas Stars.

Smith was hired by Babcock to run the Maple Leafs defense and penalty killing and was signed to a four-year deal which was due to expire this summer. Smith made an impression around the league as he was named the assistant coach who should become a head coach in a recent NHL Players’ Association poll. Smith came in first in the voting with 8.3 per cent of the ballots followed by Todd Reirden of the Washington Capitals with 7.4 per cent and Ulf Samuelsson of the Chicago Blackhawks and Steve Ott of the St. Louis Blues at 5.1 per cent and Lindy Ruff of the New York Rangers at 4.2 per cent.

Babcock was happy for Smith and previously stated he wouldn’t stand in his way if a head coaching offer came his way. Babcock endorsed his former assistant in the past by telling Sportsnet.ca

“He’s got a good ability to talk to people under him. He understands the game. He’s been around here three years now and has a real good understanding of what the NHL is all about and what it takes, and I think he’s going to have good success as a head coach.”

Statistically speaking, Smith did a decent job with the Leafs’ blue liners. When he was hired the team’s goals-against average was 3.13 which was ranked the fifth-worst in the NHL. The penalty-killing was also in need of improvement as it was ranked 22^nd. At the end of the 2018/19 season their GAA was ranked 12^th in the league at 3.04 and the penalty-killing was 17^th at 79.9 per cent. However, the Leafs arguably lost their first round playoff series against the Boston Bruins in seven games this year due to terrible penalty killing. Of 56.3 per cent while their GAA was 3.29.

The Senators finished in the basement of the Atlantic Division this season with a record of 29-47-6 and missed the playoffs for the second straight season. They don’t own a first-round draft pick this summer due to the Matt Duchene trade. Therefore Smith will likely start the season behind the eight-ball.

As for the Leafs’ assistant coaching vacancies, it’s believed they will soon announce the hiring of

Paul McFarland. The 32-year-old worked with the Florida Panthers‘ power-play last season which finished the year ranked second best at 26.8 per cent. McFarland spent the previous three years as the head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Kingston Frontenacs and was also an assistant with the Oshawa Generals between 2014 and 2014 where he worked with D.J. Smith.

The Leafs still need to find somebody to take over Smith’s former duties with the penalty killing and defense though now that he’s joined the Senators.