Pieces falling into place for Sens' head coaching hire

Everywhere I look, I see another clue towards the impending hire of a head coach for the Ottawa Senators within the next few days. And it's not only rumours in the Ottawa Sun suggesting that "the Senators could have a new coach by the end of the week"--although that is a pretty obvious sign.

The one thing I noticed today? TSN.ca is reporting that the San Jose Sharks have found a new head coach, former assistant of the Detroit Red Wings Todd McClellan. This is interesting because an article in the Sun suggested that if Peter DeBoer was interested in the Sharks job, it was "his for the taking". My thinking is that perhaps the Sharks were told DeBoer was off the market, so they took the next best thing.

DeBoer was one of three candidates that Sun article said remained in the running, along with Bob Hartley and Craig Hartsburg. He went to Barbados to speak with Sens owner Eugene "Huge Eug" Melnyk today. Even though TSN is saying it's just a "continuation of the interview process", it seems like a pretty expensive step to do with someone who's not the far-and-away favourite to be hired.

So I await the announcement of Peter DeBoer to be the sixth all-time Ottawa Senators coach. I am predicting it happen in a news conference at 3:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon, but don't take that as a guarantee. Or anywhere close to it; it's speculation, and nothing but. If it happens as I predict, though, I expect Hockeybuzz to come knocking.