Ottawa Senators GM Comments on Future of Head Coach

The Ottawa Senators had a busy offseason which was supposed to propel them into contention in the Eastern Conference. So far, that hasn't been the case at all as the team continues to be inconsistent. General manager Pierre Dorion has been asked a ton lately regarding the status of his coaching staff, but to this point, it doesn't appear head coach DJ Smith's job is in jeopardy.

Dorion confirmed via NHL.com on Monday, Smith's job is safe. The Senators sit with a 4-7-0 record and have lost five games in a row. Dorion had this to say about his bench boss:

I'm very happy with him. I'm happy with the job D.J. has done, his staff has done. … I think D.J. has done a good job, he's shown he can win. I'm not giving votes of confidence or anything. D.J. is our coach, he's going to be our coach. I have faith in how this team plays under D.J. The one stat I look a lot at is 5-on-5 expected goals against, the differential, and we're sixth in the League right now. Last year we were 30th. There's a lot of positives there. If we're sixth at 5-on-5, that would tell you something's not going right. Our power play is 26th. There's a lot of room for improvement. Our penalty kill, nine out of 11 games we've let in a goal. I think there's areas we can improve, but overall, am I elated? No. I think I'm happy with how we're playing for the most part. I think these next 10 games will be very important for our season.

Sounds like the Senators have a lot of things to clean up and while Smith may be safe now, things could quickly change, especially with new ownership on the horizon.

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