Cameron spent three-plus years as an assistant coach before replacing MacLean.
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Dave Cameron, Andre Tourigny and Rick Wamsley have all been let go, while Jason Smith has been relieved of his coaching duties and offered another position within the organization.
Despite a 38-35-9 record, I guess upper management wanted to send a message to the fans and players that missing the playoffs is not acceptable no matter what.
Pierre Dorion wasted no time making his first move as general manager of the Ottawa Senators.
Cameron has a 70-50-17 record since taking over as the franchise’s 11th head coach on December 8, 2014.
After a miraculous run in the playoffs last year, the Senators failed to make the playoffs this year. There are multiple coaches with National Hockey League experience who are now unemployed and could be on their radar. He also spent three years as an assistant coach with the club and has a year remaining on his contract.
The sense from Dorion is that he intends to hire a coach with experience. “It’s just a lot of little tiny mistakes that all of a sudden escalates and gets serious and gets in people’s heads and the next thing you know some days you look like Stanley Cup champs and then you look like EHL players”.
Ottawa has had a coaching carousel since Bryan Murray left following the 2006-07 season. We just have to make some changes.
Ottawa’s been a high-event hockey team for years, but this season, the team’s numbers took a turn for the worse.
Dorion shot down the suggestion that an internal budget would be a significant hurdle to landing a new head coach saying, “Mr. Melnyk has made it very clear to me that we will have the resources to hire the best coach available”. The team has also fired all of his assistant coaches.
“Whoever that person is, I hope they are here for a long time”, said Dorion. I didn’t think there wasn’t going to be a firing until the offseason. “You see his intensity in practice and that’s what we need, guys willing to push each other”.
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As Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun speculated, former Minnesota Wild head coach Mike Yeo is another one that could be among those considered.
