The undercoating of that bus is starting to get dirty...

While watching the Washington Capitals completely dismantle the Ottawa Senators this weekend I went through several stages... First was my worry stage. I thought that Elliot had been playing good hockey recently, but I was concerned that he would be exposed. Apathy soon followed when exactly that happened and he was pulled from the net with Auld taking over. Next came amusement when Ovechkin notched another hat trick and then annoyance when Heatley brought the team within two and kind of seemed uninspired or unimpressed with it. Dean Brown, announcing that night, thought that the Senators had really poured it on in the third period, but I disagree. If this were November then I would have nodded my head and compliment Deano in his assessment. Sadly the back end of the season is well underway and the Senators poured it on with an early season rise rather than a late season fervour. Yet, nothing compares to how I felt today when I read the news about Coach Hartsburg.

HARTSBURG HAS BEEN FIRED

There, I said it nice and clear. I whined and complained when he was rumoured to be our coach that he was the wrong guy for the job. My hopes and intentions were for Pat Burns, but the poor guy is fighting cancer ... again. With Hartsburg out that leaves the position to Murray to sub in or Cory Clouston, the Binghamton Senators head coach or a third alternative like Pat Quinn... Talk about a real piss off.

I have already stated why Quinn would be bad, but I am going to say it again in brief. We just fired a guy who has the same philosophy as Quinn with as much actual success as him as well. Forget it. Now what about Cory Clouston? He has similar experience in the minor leagues as Hartsburg did, but he is Bingo’s coach now. He came in to replace Cameron when he went back to the St. Mike’s Majors ... yadda yadda yadda. Let’s be honest. Another minor league coach in Ottawa would not help this ship. Worse than that it will not help Binghamton in the least ... Every time that Ottawa has had a coaching rotation it seems Binghamton has as well. If we want our picks and prospects to develop into solid players we need a solid coach down on the farm!

WHAT’S NEXT?

At the start of the season the word was accountability. This would be the new philosophy for the Ottawa senators after there was some barn burning done. Murray decided that instead of developing talent and dealing with problems he would simply fire them under a bus and hope for the best. It started with Paddock ... John Paddock was, by all accounts, the bulldog for the Ottawa Senators. He was a prick with the media, but was intimidated by the spotlight when he shifted from assistant coach to head coach. Although he knew the players from his time in Bingo as a coach there the transition didn’t go well for him and the team slumped. He was the first to go.

After the horrible season last year Murray continued throwing people under the bus, but moved to players. Ray Emery, our once golden boy between the pipes, was chucked for attitude rather than given an attitude adjustment. Easier to get rid of a problem than it is to confront it ... Several free agents were let go and our back end disappeared. Hate him or not, Meszaros, though a horrible defensive player was a decent opening pass player and the Senators have missed him. I personally thought he was overrated, but neither Picard nor Kuba have made up for that one pass despite the point totals from power plays and slappers from the blue line.

Anyway, before I go on too much of a rant here, that bus is getting pretty full and all eyes are now on Murray. Firing Hartsburg was not the answer. Yeah yeah. I know. I said he was a bad choice for this job, but let’s roll back to accountability. Who put this team together? Who was it that decided to turn Ottawa into a coach-killer? Who was it that has been secure in his job despite these blunders? With Hartsburg fired it has singled that the Senators are truly done for the season and either the UFAs are gone and we bring up Bingo kids (and Clouston) or a fire sale (that means home town discount guys would be in the way of the moving bus) with a new head coach for next year.

Lastly ... who would I see as a coach in Ottawa? John Tortorella. Yup. I said it. However, Torts is a smart guy. He would want a few stipulations if he came in. One he would need impunity for how he is going to coach and what he says. And two he would need some sort of assurances that come this time next year he too doesn’t befall the axe.