| 08 April 2009
Cory Clouston you are the temp no longer!
After taking the reins of a runaway sled of a season he has got the team back on track with a 19-10-3 record since his arrival and been rewarded with a two year contract, which surprisingly for the Senators does not include a no trade clause. Now we get to remove the title of worst dressed interim head coach to simply worst dressed head coach and hope next year isn't as ugly as this suit.
Some outlets have said he can rest easy and begin preparations for next season. But I'm not sure if anyone whose business card says 'Head Coach, Ottawa Senators' can ever rest easy, regardless of contract status or not. I don't think it was the status of a contract that was causing his uneasiness. It was probably the unenviable task of getting the Senators big (salaried) players to wake up and earn their keep. With the success of these players comes the success of a coach. The coach killer tag was rightfully applied to a lazy and uninspired squad earlier in the season. It's anyone's guess if they decide to quit on him come next October.
The fate of the team ultimately rests on how far the big 3 and other overpaid supporting cast can take them. He now has a chance to prove his short tenure wasn't a fluke and it wasn't just the fact the games didn't matter or the honeymoon effect a new coach brings or anything else the naysayers spoke. He gets a chance to take all the limelight, or be booed off the stage like so many before him.
I like the way Clouston has taken charge of a team that was crumbling faster than Landsdowne Park. Now hopefully Clouston can reconstruct our beloved Senators teams faster than city council repairs Landsdowne. The fact that this deal is over two years tells me the Senators are convinced that the team has tried on enough coaches over the past two years to know that it's actually the players who are soiling the bed and are blame worthy, not the coach. Bryan Murray can't afford the embarrassment of having another ex-coach on the books, and neither can his own career, and I think that means we'll be seeing some significant roster changes if things don't pan out next year. Maybe, just maybe, they're already at that point and will look to the off season roster shuffle as a way to continue rebuilding. For example, Alfredsson is getting older, who knows when his play will start to noticeably taper off. Then our team scoring will be in real trouble. They're just not offensively gifted enough even with him in the lineup. How will they be when he's approaching 40 at the end of Clouston's 2 years? Then the secondary scoring debate will be considered a luxury when our primary scoring becomes the real issue at hand.
We as fans can't get too excited with the strong finish Clouston has provided however. The same group of players who are finishing strong have made the past two years a roller coaster of success, with far more lows than highs. If this team is going to work next year, the team has to be more consistent. It's a real crap shoot as to which team is going to show up. Basically, the organization needs to give this guy a fighting chance. I wish him all the best of luck, he's going to need it. It's nice to see a good guy get his shot. I just hope the players don't foul it up for him.
In other news, Erik Karlsson, is coming to Ottawa to check things out and see just what kind of mess he's getting himself into next year and gets to see just where the bar is set. After taking a look at the play of Kuba and Bell he should be able to rest easy and know he'll be a shoe-in for making the club. Conversely, a few defensemen on the team should be looking at Karlsson as a job killer for them.
Just what this team needs; more job stealers and less coach killers. Let us know in the comments section what you think about Clouston's prolonged stay in Ottawa.
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