Dangerously Low Levels Of Mustache Hair Avoided

Brian Murray has been hard at work since firing Cory Clouston from his position of Head Coach. Murray has been looking hard at the history of those privileged to hold the position of Head Coach for the Ottawa Senators, and after much deliberation has determined that the principle failing has been a failure to commit.

Thus enters the mustache.

Wearing a mustache in today's world is an act which required dedication and persistence in the face of a blizzard of Gillette and Phillishave advertising, all with one message: if you ain't in the playoffs, you must be shaving.

Similarly, a head coach must be dedicated to his system and persistent in espousing it to a young team suffering in the face of a blizzard of hockey media types who are keen on finding a scapegoat to hang the latest loss on.

Looking back through Murray's history of head coaches, it is clear that this has been a deficiency that has until now been steadfastly avoided:

• John Paddock? The man obviously owns shares in Schtick.
• Craig Hartsburg? Smoother cheeks than Mr. Clean.
• Cory Clouston? Was he even capable of growing facial hair?

Thus, Murray's search for a head coach has ended with the hiring of this mustache. Former Red Wings assistant coach Paul MacLean has agreed to wear the mustache for the foreseeable future, and speak for it when necessary.

Murray can rest assured that this highly qualified Head Coach can set a road forward on the ice for the franchise. However he must be aware that should the mustache prove insufficient to the challenge facing it, he will be forced to seek out a beard as a fill-in.

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(Seriously, Mr. MacLean, welcome to Ottawa. We're lucky to have you, and I hope that Mr. Murray can give you the pieces needed to build a foundation for future success.)

Love for Coach Clouston

Houses Of The Hockey gives up some love for Coach Clouston.

At the end of the day, you can’t fault Clouston for where the Senators are in the standings. If Clouston, a winning coach and the best coach the Senators have had in years, can’t win with this roster, I’m not sure any other coach would fair much better.

And the fact of the matter is, other coaches have not fared better.

I said at the time that Hartsburg left that I didn't think the team's poor results were entirely his fault. The problem was that the guys on the ice were not putting in the consistent effort every night. My view was I'd like to see what Hartsburg could do with a real team before we decided if he was to be fired.

And the same problem is happening here. I've said before, I thought the problem was that 2007 happened a year too early. 2007 happened because Ray Emery played way, way over his head for the entire playoff series, and that inspired the rest of the team to increase their level of play. As a result, everyone thought that the construction of the team was complete, and we would challenge in 2008.

Reality was somewhat different, and since then we've been slowly tweaking ourselves into the current situation. While I think the guys on the ice are not playing to their capabilities, they are definitely not playing over their heads in the way required to succeed with this roster.

The other problem that GMs face is that they generally can't fire the entire roster due to contract limitations. If the GM thinks a change has to be made, the coach is the at-will employee closest to the players that can be fired.

We are still coming to grips with this cap-centric world, so while Murray has to take some of the blame for the current situation, the fact is that none of his colleagues have really shown they understand how to work the cap-centric world either. Until that happens, look for trades to be both infrequent and one-sided. Infrequent because the cap will govern any moves made, and one-sided because one side of the trade will inevitably be forced to accept less than one might otherwise consider fair. (See also Dany Heatley.)

The bottom line is that Murray has to be better about assembling the pieces. If we have to go through a dry spell, then I for one would like to see emphasis on picks and prospects, trying to trade intelligently for a future more than just 10 games away.

Until then, Clouston is a perfectly adequate coach and I don't see a reason to fire him.

Found: One Scape Goat

TSN reports Hartsburg is fired:

Craig Hartsburg was fired as head coach of the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night, only 48 games into his first season behind the team's bench.

One could spin this saying that Brian Murray is grasping at straws to save his own job.

I've said before that it was too soon to lower the boom on Hartsburg as the problems on the ice are a direct result of management's (lack of) player movement. The team doesn't have the pieces it needs and therefore can't succeed; firing Hartsburg was like blaming a carpenter for failing to build quality furniture when all he has to work with are driftwood and rusty nails.

Now to be sure the Senators are not driftwood and rusty nails. But they are not, by any means, complete as a team.

We should have reserved judgment on Hartsburg until he'd had a proper team to fail with.

Boooo.

Faint Praise

In response to vicious rumours telling of the imminent firing of both Murray and Hartsburg, owner Melnyk springs to their defense:

"Contrary to what is being reported today by the media, I have made no decisions with respect to any personnel changes within the Senators organization. Winning remains our No. 1 priority and there is a collective focus by our management, our coaching staff and our players to deliver this to our fans.

I, along with our fans, will do nothing but continue to remain fully committed to our Senators and enthusiastically cheer them on to a successful second half of the season.

This is crunch time. Now, more than ever, is the time to rally behind our team. We don't surrender half-way though the season.

Every victory from here on in matters. We know it and the fans know it. Period."

Mmmm.... hardly a ringing endorsement.

I've made my position on the problem clear: Murray should go. We should defer a decision on Hartsburg until he has a complete team to fail with.

Senators Futility Meter: -11, 3-6-1

Going into tonight's game in Buffalo, the Senators are a brisk 11 points out of a playoff spot.

And just to ensure we enjoy our kick in the pants, I'll note that we are still behind the entire Western conference overall.

Word on the street is that GM Brian Murray is about to fire coach Hartsburg, on the off chance that the problem with the Senators is, in fact, the coach.

While such an idea is easy to dismiss, history does suggest that this is not the totally absurd idea that it initially sounds like. Previous GM John Muckler fired coach Jacques Martin, and his successor, Brian Murray, got so much credit for the following year's run to the cup final that he got Muckler's job.

Hartsburg is however the third coach to fail to inspire the Senators. John Paddock and Brian Murray Himself split the blame last year. Now it's Hartsburg's turn on the chopping block.

In my opinion, the larger share of the blame for the current dismal showing lies on the desk of Hartsburg's boss, Brain Murray Himself. While some of the depletion of the defense corps can be expected, Murray has done little to try to stem the flow of talent out of the club.

True, the Shiny New NHL has a much tighter trading environment, and franchise defensemen are few and far between. One would hope that the team would instead turn to trying to develop talent in-house and in the farm team. Only time will tell if there will be any significant fruit from that side of the operation.

But the proof is in the pudding, and this year the pudding has curdled. When the "best top line in the NHL" can't find the back of the net, something has gone seriously wrong.

Eyes On The Prize

One of the news feeds my Google Reader is subscribed to is the Senators Top Stories news feed. Mostly it has blindingly obvious stuff like Sens Must Pull Together Now.

But yesterday, this gem comes across the feed:

WJC memories pure gold for Hartsburg

Senators coach led Team Canada to pair of triumphs at 2008, 2007 events

...and all I can think is dude, that's like bragging about being valedictorian in middle school while you are flunking out of university.