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.

Front office shuffle (but not the big one)

Ottawa Senators lifer Randy Lee was recently promoted from conditioning coach to director of player development, a fitting promotion for a guy who seems to have done a swell job at keeping the Sens in shape. Physically, at least. Hopefully Adam "The New Guy" Douglas is as much of a hardass as Tyler Arnason suggested (although not directly) Lee was.

The promotion of Douglas means that Lee will be able to focus more on keeping track of players' development, and where they can be slotted in the organizations' depth chart. Good, whatever, just do what you have to do.

More importantly, though, is that this might have something to do with an announcement about the hiring head and assistant coaches. I might be reaching at straws, but often times front-office work is done in groups. So we'll see how the hiring process goes.

Obviously, Ron Wilson is out of the picture (and just as well). Suggestions that GM Bryan Murray made on the Team 1200 a couple of weeks ago were that he wasn't speaking with anyone who hadn't been fired yet, so John Tortorella and recently-relieved Marc Crawford are doubtful. That leaves a few names, but often mentioned as the front-runner is Bob Hartley.

Hartley's got a few things going for him. He's a local product, which is something Bryan Murray has shown he likes. He's a hardass, and Murray said he was looking for someone who'd keep his players accountable. He's bilingual (I think?), which is a bonus, but remains important in this city. And he might be friendly with Dany Heatley. And he's won a Stanley Cup.

Over at Black Aces, Jeremy Milks brought up the possibility--thanks to speculation from Bruce Garrioch--that Murray may be looking to hire two guys, maybe Hartley as a head coach and either Peter DeBoer or Craig Hartsburg as his assistant coach. I'm not sure about this for two reasons:

1. Why top coaching prospects DeBoer and Hartsburg would accept an assistant's position in the buyer's market that is head coaching in the NHL right now.
2. Why Hartley would want to work in front of a pretty big name, if it meant he might be training the guy who would take his job in a couple of years.

But it's all speculation at this point. I hope something happens soon, though, I'm getting bored.

Sens coaching update

As we all know, the Sens are looking for a new head coach. If reports in the major papers are correct, there should be no shortage of candidates, with as many as 10 head coaching vacancies expected as well as the possibility for old-timers such as Pat Quinn and Pat Burns coming back, the Sens list of suitors won't be short.

The frontrunner on my list might very well be Joel Quenneville, recently relieved of his duties with the Colorado Avalanche. In fact, it may have been less the choice of Colorado GM Francois Giguere to let Quenneville go than the decision of Quenneville to pursue other opportunities. Included on this list will certainly be the Toronto Maple Leafs, Q's favourite team growing up, his hometown, and a team he played in two seasons with. But there is a lot of uncertainty with that franchise, and it won't be easy for whatever coach goes in there; Ottawa might be a nice alternative, with our stable of offensive stars likely clamouring for another kick at the Stanley Cup.

Aside from Quenneville, a few former Leafs coaches are probably on the Sens (not-so) short list, including the aforementioned Burns and Quinn as well as the recently-fired Paul Maurice. Quinn seems like the kind of coach GM Bryan Murray might get along with, but he might not fit well with the Sens' offensive stars. He was also a hated man in this city, and I don't know how fans feel about taking on our former arch-nemesis. Maurice, similarly, isn't tops in the books for the Sens organizations, and he might have killed any opportunity for this team when he referred to the Sens a bunch of purse-swingers. Burns, on the other hand, is well-respected, seems to be doing well in the World Championships right now, and was coach for the Leafs before they really started a rivalry with the Sens. He seems like a pretty good option for the time being.

Then there's John Tortorella who, fairly or not, may be in the hunt for a new coaching job if what some Tampa Bay Lightning pundits are predicting comes true and Tampa fires him. I'm not sure I like the prospect of this guy behind the bench, because he sure doesn't fit in with Ottawa's (the city) relaxed culture, and I doubt players like Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza will appreciate his attitude. He might just be what this team needs, though, and he's not afraid to send some players a wake up call. Similar in attitude to Tortorella is Bob Hartley, formerly of the Atlanta Thrashers, who's from the area and has a bit of a mean streak. He'd have no problem sending some signals to Sens players, but there are rumblings that Heatley isn't Hartley's biggest fan. Apparently Murray is looking for a coach to hold the Sens' top guns accountable, according to the Ottawa Sun, so maybe one of these two are just what the doctor ordered.

There's also the option of bringing in a new guy to the NHL, and word on the street has OHL coach Peter DeBoer and AHL coach Randy Cunneyworth the next in line for NHL gigs. Although I don't know much about their styles, Cunneyworth was the Sens captain for a few years in the late 90s, and he played for the Ottawa 67s. So, Murray, there's your Ottawa connection.

Or maybe the Sens are planning on sticking with what they've got. According to the Sun, Sens owner Eugene Melnyk asked Murray to consider the dual role of Head Coach/GM for next season. Although it's unclear whether or not Murray's interested, it's an intriguing prospect. It can't be easy, though, and I think it would be better to allow Murray to do one job very well instead of two jobs with mediocrity.