Friday morning Steve Staios spoke with the Ottawa media to share his end of season thoughts. It's no secret that this was a frustrating season for players, fans, and of course management, however that doesn't mean that there weren't positives to take away.
When Steve Staios took over as interim GM (before dropping the interim titles a few months later) and Jacques Martin took over the reins after the Senators parted ways with D.J. Smith, the goal was to instill a sense of stability and confidence. Staios' is confiendent that the Senators laid the foundation of that stability and confidence within the group and it was on full display toward the end of the season, on the work and back of Jacques Martin and the coaching staff.
That brings us to the first key piece of Staios' takeaways, the status of the next Ottawa Senators coach.
Coaching:
First let's address the outgoing interim head coach Jacques Martin and what his impact was on the group. Staios was quite clear that he felt that Jacques brought everything that the team needed when he was tapped to take over head coaching responsibilities. He brought that foundational piece that will be lasting for this group going forward, bringing poise, professionalism, details, and wisdom.
“When you’re evaluating coaches you look at the win-loss record first. If you watched our games and how we played under Jacques and how we grew as a team he had a significant impact, on stability but also details and approach to the game.” - President of Hockey Operations and GM, Steve Staios
Jacques Martin will be transitioning back into the consulting role he was initially brought in for, someone for the next head coach to be able tap into. He’s a great hockey mind so with the consulting role these exists a potential for special hockey assignments. The rest of the coaching staff will have time to let things unfold as opportunities may come up and the Senators will have to balance how the new head coach wants to construct his team. However, Staios was clear that he would welcome back any of the rest of the coaching staff without hesitation.
As for the next head coach of the Ottawa Senators, the process is ongoing and the team has already spoken to a few candidates in the market. That said, the Senators have a longer list and will take their time to make sure that they get the right person for the job at this time.
Staios mentioned two further notes when asked about potential head coaches. First, after his first season behind the bench as an Assistant Coach, Daniel Alfredsson will not be the next head coach of the Ottawa Senators. At this point if he continues down the coaching path, both he and Steve agreed that he will need a little more time before he is positioned to be a head coach. Second, while the ability to speak French in our bilingual market will be seen as an asset and a factor considered, it won't be the deciding factor as the emphasis is purely making sure they have the right coach for the team at this point in time in their development. However, of note since being a bilingual team is of such importance to owner, Michael Andlauer Steve has committed to trying to become more versed in la belle langue to be able to converse with the French media.
Structure of the team:
While a season that came up short like it did may make one think that this team is in need of big changes, Staios was adamant that that was not the case. There is a strong desire to continue growing this team from within and Staios acknoledged that as it stands there is a massive potential for internal growth with this team given the current structure.
"We have an incredibly well intended group of players that care. A lot of our discussion was on how they continue to grow not only as a player but as a leader for all our players."
The adversity the group faced this season is something that Staios believes could fast track the development of the Senators young core.
"The players need to go through these scenarios and situations and years where it’s utter disappointment because it will only drive them to be better. A year with conflict, turmoil they need to learn how to deal with that. As hard as this season was it might be the most important year to building this program and team to where we need to get to."
When it comes to making changes this season there is an emphasis of being intentional with every move they make. Staios hammered home that the Senators are building a culture and that doesn't just extend to the players. If they're going to make changes, they have to be with the right intentions to bring in the right people for the right positions.
That said, the team will be looking at everything this offseason. When asked about the goaltending specifically, Staios echoed his long standing stance that Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg are better than their numbers this season showed.
"I know that he [Korpisalo] will perform at a better rate next year."
From there Staios was asked about the status of several key players for the Senators.
Jakob Chychrun on his impending contract negotiations with one year remaining on his deal:
“Jakob Chychrun is a heck of a player. We saw his talents this year with our group. When you talk about the buzz the names at the trade deadline, names of good hockey players come up often. We think highly of Jakob Chychrun and a lot of our players. We’ll look at all areas to see how it fits and that’s our job as a management staff.”
Tim Stützle on the frustrations he felt this season with lingering injuries:
"When you’re a top talent like that you feel like you can make an impact on every shift and when it doesn’t happen it’s frustrating. That will be the growth for him, how can we support and expedite that growth and maturity. “His intentions are to go out there and help the Ottawa Senators on every single shift and using his god given talents to be able to do it, so when it doesn’t happen for him there is frustration.”
Josh Norris on his recovery from surgery and status heading into next season:
While he would not comment on Norris' surgery itself, he did mention that it went well and he will be ready to go come training camp.
“Josh is an incredibly resilient young man. A lot of our players go through injuries at certain times and Josh is dealing with another significant one so early in his career. He’s doing very well with it probably because he’s gone through it already and knows the routine. We’ll support him on both sides. The injury is probably less important at certain times and having the mental support from us as an organization is going to be important.”
Offseason plans:
Obviously the next head coach is top of the list right now however, there are some key opportunities to bolster the personel on the ice as well. In regards to the draft the Senators will hold their amateur scouting meetings in a few weeks led by head of Amateur Scouting, Don Boyd.
For the upcoming draft the Senators two first-round picks and have identified a couple of key characteristics when evaluating the talent, a the top of the list are character and hockey sense. While later in the draft Staios mentioned that they may start to look at positions and how players fit, at the top of the board it’s cleat that they will be looking at the best player available.
In regards to freeing up spots on the roster Staios did not mince words when asked if a buyout is a tool in his repertoire this summer. With this current group at this point a buyout is not on the table right now.
