SENATORS’ SEASON DRAGGED DOWN BY ‘NEGATIVE ENERGY’
Retiring Burrows says team distractions were worst he had experienced in his career
Alex Burrows said multiple factors left the Ottawa Senators overcome by “negative energy” in their plunge to 30th place last season.
In an interview Monday with Ottawa radio station TSN 1200, the retiring veteran of 13 NHL seasons said he had never before experienced anything like it.
“Uh, never,” said Burrows, who joined the team for the run to the 2017 conference final. “I’ve never seen that quick (of a) turnaround, I’d say.”
Burrows alluded to distractions caused by owner Eugene Melnyk and the speculation of an Erik Karlsson trade. He also made reference to damaging disruptions — likely the harassment of Karlsson’s wife Melinda, allegedly by Mike Hoffman’s fiancee Monika Caryk, which is believed to have caused a fracture of the team family — and his own failure as a leader to nip them in the bud.
“It’s not only one thing. It’s not only (owner) Eugene (Melnyk) or coaches or players,” said Burrows. “It seems like it was a lot of things that went on at the same time and we didn’t really respond to it well.
“I blame myself for it. I should have been maybe more proactive or found a way to, but that’s the way it is sometimes. It’s personal stuff you think they’re not going to expose, but later on you realize maybe you should have done something about it.”
Burrows, who had the final year of his contract bought out by the Senators, has signed as an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens’ American Hockey League affiliate in Laval, Que. As much as he wanted to keep playing, the 37-year old had nothing but good things to say about the two men who essentially decided he was done: GM Pierre Dorion and coach Guy Boucher.
“At the end of the day, I wish those guys all the best,” Burrows said of the Senators. “Pierre was good to me. The organization, the fan base was good to me and my family. I sure hope they’re going to get back to the playoffs sooner than later.”
Burrows had his best years playing for Marc Crawford and Alain Vigneault in Vancouver, but said Boucher “prepares and works as hard as any coach as I’ve ever seen.”
Boucher is entering the final year of his contract with the Senators and needs to turn the team around if he is going to get another deal.
“Obviously things didn’t work out the way we wanted to last year,” Burrows said.
“Lot of negative energy. Lot of situations that occurred during the season that we didn’t really respond to them well. But I do believe in Guy. I do believe he’s a really approachable coach. He works hard, he’s got good systems. I wish him all the best. Hopefully the team can turn it around. There’s a lot of good guys in that locker-room that cares a lot about the city, the fans, the organization and they want to do well.”
Burrows listed a number of good prospects in the organization as another reason for hope.
“Fans should be excited about that,” he said. “Hopefully everything pans out, they play well and get back to the playoffs.”
Burrows’ leadership will be missed by the Sens, even if he feels he let them down in that respect. His honesty will be missed by those of us who cover the team.
On Karlsson and Richardson: A second former Senator joined the Habs organization as a coach when Luke Richardson signed on to round out Claude Julien’s staff with the parent club Monday. Richardson, an Ottawa native with deep roots in Shawville, played the final 78 of his 1,417game career on the Senators’ blue-line before becoming an assistant with the team from 200912. The now-49-year-old then spent four seasons as the head coach of Ottawa’s AHL affiliate in Binghamton, N.Y., but left the organization when the team hired Boucher as bench boss in 2016. Yearning to run his own NHL team, Richardson stepped away for a year before returning as an assistant with the New York Islanders last season, but is now moving on with Barry Trotz expected to hire his own guys as assistants. Knowing Richardson, he still wants to be a head coach in the NHL and when he does get a job, he’s going to be a good one ... All was quiet on Day 9 of the Karlsson trade watch, at least to our ears. The blue-liner doesn’t appear to be fretting too much over his future. On an Instagram post, Karlsson showed himself and a few buddies playing Royal Dornoch in Scotland, the world’s third-oldest golf course.
Ice chips: Never drafted in the NHL, Jan Kovar has signed a one-year, $2-million deal with the Islanders. The five-foot-10, 171-pound forward scored 286 points in 285 games with Magnitogorsk of the KHL over the last five seasons. Other NHL teams were reportedly interested in Kovar, a good friend of Boston Bruins star David Pastrnak ... As expected, the Buffalo Sabres have signed No. 1 overall pick Rasmus Dahlin to a three-year entry-level contract. Dahlin is getting the maximum salary ($832,500) with a cap hit of $925,000 (including $92,500 signing bonus). With bonuses, he could bump his annual haul to $2.85 million.