SENATORS ON RIGHT TRACK WITH SMITH
First-year coach proud of change in culture he’s seen, team’s accomplishments so far
Time flies when you’re having fun.
And though the Ottawa Senators didn’t have nearly as many wins as D.J. Smith would have liked in the 71 games played before the NHL went on pause March 12 because of the COVID -19 threat, he’s proud of what the club accomplished in his first season behind the bench.
Smith, 43, will quietly mark the one-year anniversary of the day he was introduced as the Senators’ new head coach during a news conference held May 23, 2019, at Canadian Tire Centre. It followed an exhaustive search by general manager Pierre Dorion to find a replacement for Guy Boucher, who was fired on March 1, 2019, and replaced by Marc Crawford on an interim basis.
After spending four years as an assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs under Mike Babcock, Smith wanted the challenge of becoming a head coach. So he quietly slipped into town the night before the announcement with his wife, Christie Bezaire, and the family to sign a threeyear deal with the Senators to help lead them through a pivotal stage of this total rebuild.
Looking back now, he was ready to make the next step, but he knew it was a difficult challenge.
“I couldn’t have been any more excited and I was a little bit nervous,” Smith said in a video interview with Postmedia on Thursday from his off-season home in Windsor. “To be a head coach in the NHL is something serious and not be taken lightly. You’ve worked so hard to get here and now you’re in charge, so now what do you do and what’s your message?
“Right away, I’ve got to get out there and tell the players what I expected and talk to the media and do all these things I hadn’t done in a few years because as an assistant coach, you don’t speak to the media. I was certainly super excited and I couldn’t wait to get going.”
While the Senators sit at
No. 30 in the NHL with a 25-3412 record and 62 points with 11 games left in a regular season they likely aren’t going finish, Smith can’t point to many nights when the club didn’t compete the way he or his staff wanted. After saying on his first day that the Senators were going to work hard on a daily basis, he’s confident the franchise achieved that goal.
Smith wanted to make sure he brought in a strong staff around him so he hired former
St. Louis coach Davis Payne, former Islanders coach Jack Capuano and longtime associate Bob Jones from the AHL’s Texas Stars, while retaining goalie coach Pierre Groulx. They do a good job of keeping each other in check and making sure they’re all working in the same direction by helping to improve the team.
“When I think back on the year, certainly you’d like to win more games and all that, but what I am proud of is that we wanted to change the culture, we wanted to make sure we worked hard, and we did that,” Smith said. “Our work ethic in practice, in the gym and on the ice was strong.
“I can honestly say we played 71 games and I think we either matched their work ethic or outworked the other team in maybe 68 of those games. We knew we weren’t as skilled or as deep as a lot of these teams, and that’s how a rebuild works. But now, in my opinion, as these players get better and they get older and we continue to bring in better players and you continue to work that hard, then success will follow.
“Where I’ve been my whole career all my teams have worked hard and as the skill set gets better, we’re going to continue to work hard, and that’s going to help us play right.”
Dorion couldn’t be more pleased with where the Senators are headed under Smith and his staff.
“The one thing that stands out to me the most is that D.J. has delivered on what he promised," Dorion said Thursday. “He’s instilled a high-energy work ethic and is a great communicator — two things that are vital to the development of a young team.
“He quickly earned the respect of the players, who regard him as a motivated teacher with a genuine desire to see each of them improve. His own competitiveness had our players prepared and ready to play virtually every night last season. When I look back to this time last year, I’m more certain than ever that we made the right choice with D.J.”
Smith is trying to build the culture through young players such as Thomas Chabot, Brady Tkachuk and Colin White, while preparing to integrate more into the lineup next season. You have to think top prospects Drake Batherson, Josh Norris and Alex Formenton, who all had big years with the Senators’ AHL affiliate in Belleville this season, will push for spots in camp whenever it’s held next season.
“If anyone’s watched, and
I’m certain people have, the (Michael) Jordan documentary (The Last Dance) that’s been out recently, when your best players become your hardest-working players and do it right every single day, then it’s time to turn the corner,” Smith said. “Right now, I’d say a big part of it was bringing in a guy like Ron Hainsey, who’s won a Stanley Cup, that can teach these guys how to be pros.
“A guy like (Mark Borowiecki) that just outworks everybody every single day is another example. Connor Brown just works hard every day and it (the work ethic) is changing as we speak. Chabot’s gotten better, Tkachuk’s gotten better, and when those guys are leading the charge and doing it every single day, then that’s when it’s going to change. Then guys like Batherson, Norris, Formenton and all these guys will follow.
“We’re well on the way, those guys worked hard. It’s difficult to hold people accountable. That’s what leadership is and it’s going to be passed onto those guys by guys like Boro, and when the young guys hold people accountable, we’re going to make improvements quick.”
The biggest adjustment Smith has had to make is dealing with the media on a daily basis, especially in a Canadian market where there’s no shortage of time spent under the microscope because the Senators are the talk of the town pretty much every day, whether they’re playing or not.
“You’re speaking to the media quite a bit with practices and morning skates. That’s a big part of the job,” said Smith, who is solid in that role because his personality shines through. “You’re speaking to the media and you’re trying to get your message out there, and when you play bad you’ve got to go up there and explain why you’ve played bad. When you’ve played well, it’s easy.
“I think that’s one of my strengths because I’m a communicator and I can get up there and do that, but there’s a lot compared to the OHL or any other league, especially in a Canadian market where you’re dealing a with a lot of media on a daily basis.”
Smith has tried not to change the way he deals with players, but admits being a head coach means he must hold players more accountable than he did as an assistant.
“Sometimes as a head coach you’ve got to be hard on your guys to try to get more out of them. But I think, as a person, the players would all say I treat them well,” he said. “I’m really hard during games and I want to push you hard, but outside the rink I don’t even think about hockey when I’m talking to a guy and I’m treating them like a human being, because that’s how I would want to be treated.
“I didn’t change anywhere there as an assistant to a head coach. It’s never been about me. I never think about the accolades, I just want to win hockey games. I don’t have to walk into the room, be the big guy and have the players be afraid of me. That’s never been me and it’s easier when you’re you all the time. You don’t have to be somebody fake.”
And that’s why what you see is what you get from Smith, and down the road that approach will lead to more success on the ice.
I’m really hard during games and I want to push you hard, but outside the rink I don’t even think about hockey when I’m talking to a guy and I’m treating them like a human being, because that’s how I would want to be treated.