Over the coming days, weeks and months, we’ll find out if the Ottawa Senators want to buy into what their interim head coach — Jacques Martin — is selling.
Defence first. Commit to keeping the puck out of your own net.
Over the years, the Senators have had a couple of fresh-faced guys who were found to be out of their realm behind an NHL bench. But this isn’t a rookie coach coming in, far from it.
He was hired to be the Senators’ third coach nearly 18 years ago, Jan. 24, 1996. He spent nine seasons with the Senators, with a 341-255-96 (.562) regular-season record and remains the team’s all-time leader in games coached (692), regular-season wins (341), playoff wins (31) and playoff games coached (69). He’s replacing D.J. Smith, who was fired by the Senators on Monday.
Jason York, who played for Martin with the Senators from 1996-2001, said on the terrific Coming in Hot podcast Monday: “You have to sacrifice offensively to have success. If these guys buy into what Jacques is selling them, you’re going to see the goals against go down. All of a sudden, you’re like, ‘Wow, the goaltending is playing really well.’ That’s because you’re not turning the puck over anymore, that’s because you’re not trying to beat guys at the blue line anymore, that’s because you’re not trying stupid s–t anymore. I’m a believer talented guys can play defence. You just have to set your mind to it. To this point, there hasn’t been a full-fledged commitment from this group to play on the same page defensively. That’s going to be what Jacques, on an interim basis, has to drive home. ‘You’re not going to win until you start playing better on the other side of the puck.”
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