Cameron’s story provides cautionary tale for Boucher
Logic suggests Guy Boucher will keep his job through this very disappointing season.
After all, it was only a few months ago that, in his first season as Senators head coach, he took them to within a goal of the finals.
For what it’s worth, he also has a strong relationship with general manager Pierre Dorion.
But for a reminder that logic doesn’t always come into play at Canadian Tire Centre, Boucher only had to glance at the Calgary Flames bench Friday night. Standing behind it was Dave Cameron. You remember him, right? Cameron finally got his first National Hockey League head coaching job at the age of 56, when he took over the Senators reins from Paul MacLean in December 2014. With minor-league goalie Andrew Hammond getting most of the credit, the team went on a sparkling 32-15-9 run before losing to the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs.
The next season, the Senators were headed for a 38-35-9 finish, which is a helluva lot better than what awaits them next month. Along the way, on March 22, owner Eugene Melnyk roared that “nobody’s job is safe” and called Cameron’s decision to start rookie goalie Matt O’Connor in the season opener some five months earlier an act of “stupidity.” On April 14, Cameron was dismissed.
His voice choked with emotion when met the media one last time and was asked about the comments from Melnyk, who he considered a friend as well as his employer for a decade and a half. That relationship went back to their days with the Ontario Hockey League’s St. Michael’s Majors.
“It was hurtful and I didn’t think there was any need of it," Cameron said. "I felt like I was fired for three weeks. Every day.
“I think what got lost in the comments is that you can evaluate me all you want on my coaching and fire me ... but there’s no need of being hurtful. We’re human beings, at the end of the day.”
With class and in true Cameron style, he also expressed hope that the Senators learned from a “backwards, sidewards” step and became successful in “giving Ottawa the team it deserves.”
Now an assistant to Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan, Cameron didn’t speak to the media before Friday ’s game. But Calgary forward Curtis Lazar said that, besides trying to keep up in the playoff race, the Flames wanted to win the game for Cameron.
“It would be good to get," said Lazar, a former Senator himself. "It might be a little bit of a weird feeling for him, coming back. I know he’s done it before, but it’s extra motivation.”