Compounding injuries add to crazy week for Ottawa Senators

After a plethora of injuries and an exhausting week for the Ottawa Senators, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss the injuries surrounding the Sens. 

Tyler Yaremchuk: Frank, you look at the Sens who are dead last in their division right now with a 4-5 record. Not a brutal start but you look at who is above them in that group and you count in the fact they are incredibly banged up. Right now, Thomas Chabot is on LTIR with a hand injury, Artem Zub a guy they rely on to play heavy minutes is out, and I know Ridly Greig and Mark Kastelic aren’t household names but those are two guys playing darn good hockey for the Sens this season. This is a substantial list and if I was a Sens fan, I’d be really worried this is going to put them behind the eight ball here over the next week. 

Frank Seravalli: No question. Then you see Travis Hamonic get hit over the head with the puck last night, he goes down but is able to finish the game. But still, you’re holding your breath if you’re a Sens fan thinking “Really, another injury to a defenseman.” Here’s where I come out on the Sens and we’ve talked a lot about them this week with the departure of Pierre Dorion and you see Steve Staios take over as interim GM. But I firmly believe at this point, injuries are one thing but there are other teams in their division who have them, what about the Florida Panthers missing their top two dmen, or Tampa Bay missing their stud Vezina-winning goalie? Both those teams are above the Senators so then how do you explain how some of the starts that other teams, who should be behind the Sens have gotten off to?

Frank Seravalli: The Montreal Canadiens are four points ahead, you’ve got Detroit off to a good start. So what’s the excuse when you get to that point? 4-5 is not brutal but it’s not anywhere near good enough on an 80-point pace to remotely sniff the playoffs. Can this team get better? Do we think this collection of players is better than what they’ve shown? Yes. But I’ve arrived at the point where it’s time for a coaching change. DJ Smith, it hit me last night, it was his 300th game behind the bench with the Sens and there’s only one other coach who’s coached more games and that is Jacques Martin. They had a lot more success back then, compared to DJ Smith. Too much of the same, too much underachieving. It feels to me like they’re a team that just needs a fresh start, the players might like him and work hard for him but it doesn’t mean that what you’re seeing on the ice can’t be better than what it is at this point. This is his 300th game in five seasons, that’s a big enough sample to tell me it’s time to shake things up.

You can watch the full episode here…