Bar set lower for Senators these days
The plunge into mediocrity was subtle.
Now, the prevailing image is of a wheel stuck in mud. Ten years ago, the goal for the Ottawa Senators was singular and clear. Win the Stanley Cup. Nothing else would do. Win the Northeast Division? The Senators had done that multiple times.
Finish atop the Eastern Conference?
They scaled that height twice, in 2002-03, and 2005-06. One hundred-point seasons? They were all but automatic, with six 100-point campaigns in an eight-season span from 1999 to 2007. Twice, the Senators hit the franchise zenith of 113 points, in ’02-03 and ’05-06. The last time Ottawa broke 100: 2006-07.
How times have changed. Being almost good enough is OK out on Palladium Drive. From winning the Cup, the mantra has evolved to: Get in the playoffs and anything can happen.
Where once they spoke realistically of winning a championship, club owner Eugene Melnyk stresses a goal of qualifying among the top eight of the conference so the team can cash in on home playoff dates “when we don’t have any player salaries” to pay. A bottom-line approach.
Playoffs assure capacity crowds wielding inflated tickets. “We’ll lose money because of that (missing the playoffs),” Melnyk told reporters Tuesday.
“This team cannot survive not making the playoffs.”
Years ago, when the team was languishing following the Stanley Cup final loss to Anaheim in 2007, I wrote a column advocating eradication of the over-priced roster in a serious rebuild.
In a press conference days later, Melnyk responded by saying that anyone making such a suggestion should “blow themselves up.” This was one of the early signs that Harold Ballard, the mercurial owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1970s and ‘80s had been reincarnated and now owned the Senators.
But fair enough. It’s his team. Not ours. Instead of a long and painful rebuild, à la Buffalo or now, Toronto, the theme here has always been a “quick rebuild.” There would be no bottoming out to gain a premier draft pick such as the ones that once netted Ottawa Marian Hossa or Alexei Yashin.
The most dramatic change was a move away from spending to the cap to being a budget team. After parting company with the likes of Mike Fisher, Chris Kelly and Alex Kovalev in 2011, the Senators loaded up at the draft that summer to select Mika Zibanejad, Stefan Noesen, Matt Puempel, Shane Prince and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Some hits. Some misses. Due to their ‘tweener’ status — not a true contender, not a tanker — they haven’t had a top-10 draft pick in five years (Zibanejad, sixth overall).
Alongside the player development onus, the Senators have gone out and acquired a couple of big-ticket players in forward Bobby Ryan and defenceman Dion Phaneuf. While instantly helpful, these expensive longterm deals have the potential to be troublesome down the road when all-world defenceman Erik Karlsson needs a new contract (2019). Karlsson’s seven-year deal starting in 2012 was a move of sheer brilliance.
On balance, how has it worked out?
Since the Cup final run of 2007 with Bryan Murray behind the bench, the Melnyk ownership with Murray as GM has presided over one playoff series victory, in 2013 over the Montreal Canadiens. This spring will mark the fourth time in nine years the Senators have missed the playoffs.
Assuming head coach Dave Cameron is let go, he will join John Paddock, Craig Hartsburg, Cory Clouston and Paul MacLean on the scrap heap.
Without a doubt, coaching has been an issue. The pattern has been to hire on the cheap, either in-house or unproven outsiders. Of the group, Hartsburg was the only one with experience as an NHL head coach. Oddly enough, he was probably the biggest disaster.
Look for the Senators to hire an experienced coach the next time.
Maybe they can also look in the mirror, those atop the organization that fund and build the roster.
Captain Karlsson was rather eloquent when he was asked if he felt badly for Cameron being centred out by the owner.
“No, I don’t think anyone was personally called out,” Karlsson said after Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals. “I haven’t seen the full comments but I think it’s an overall (criticism). Even with those comments made, he (Melnyk) includes himself in there. He’s an owner who cares and he knows he needs to do something different and step it up, too. I don’t think it was directed to any specific person whether it was players, coaches or management.”
Here’s the thing. The Senators have tickets to sell. Game in, game out. After Tuesday’s excellent crowd of 19,000-plus, they moved up to 17th from 18th in NHL attendance, still in the lower half of the pack with an average home gate of 18,022. Teams like Buffalo, Calgary, Vancouver, Tampa Bay and Dallas draw better.
Despite missing out on the playoffs for a second time in three years, the spectre of hope and a fresh approach can fuel a summer ticket drive in a smart hockey market. The same old message will not spark lineups to the ticket office, so says the refrain from the fan base over the past week.
During this period of reflecting on the Senators’ 25th anniversary of their return to the NHL, they would do well to look back at a time when they represented excellence.
Not “almost good enough.”