To Progress, Jacques Martin Wants Senators’ Players To Look In The Mirror

It’s been seven games since Jacques Martin was named interim head coach, and Daniel Alfredsson stepped in as assistant coach on a full-time basis behind the bench for the Ottawa Senators.

There have been glimpses of improvement in those seven games. After two tight losses in Arizona and Colorado, the Senators won three of their next four outings, two of them versus Pittsburgh and their Ontario rival, Maple Leafs. But when the team took to the ice Tuesday in Vancouver, they took another step back.

The Senators allowed five goals in the first period, leaving them playing for respectability over the final forty minutes. To their credit, the club played well throughout the final two periods, but they fell short in a 6-3 loss.

Martin’s strength is accentuating a 200-foot game, playing with structure, and getting players to combine offense while providing solid defense.

Players with a flair for offense, such as Alfredsson, Magnus Arvidsson, Radek Bonk, Mike Fisher, Martin Havlat, Marion Hossa, Shawn MacEachern, and others, all bought into Martin’s edict, gaining success. The Senators reached the playoffs in each of his eight full seasons in Martin’s previous stint at the helm.

While it’s still early in Martin’s second go-round with the club, even the cerebral coach is displaying signs of frustration, at least in his words.

The 71-year-old is pushing back on his players. After their disappointing loss at GM Place, Martin said, “But I think at some point you get to a point in a season or in your career that you can’t look at excuses anymore. You’ve got to look at yourself, and I think we’re a better team than our record. I don’t think I’m the only one that thinks so. I actually think that when your best player is 36 years old (Claude Giroux), I think a lot of guys should have to look in the mirror, and I think we need to give more as a team on a regular basis.”

Martin doubled down in his Wednesday segment on TSN1200 with host A.J. Jakubec when asked if players weren’t happy with transitioning to a new coach.

“To me, there’s nothing I can do about that. Basically, the players are paid to perform and I would understand if this team has performed, but when you look at this team in the last five years, they haven’t been in the playoffs. They haven’t been close. And to me, they have to take a look mirror to see where they’re at, we’re at, and to see how we are going to make progress? Am I going to change the coach again? I think that’s the organization’s point of view,” Martin noted.

“But I think to me, it seems that I think we need to be better as a team. And I think the players overall realize that. It’s not easy sometimes to bring some change – break some old habits. But when you haven’t had success, something has to be done about it. If they have been a successful team, I can understand.”

Martin isn’t wrong. The new ownership, management team, and Senators’ fans had high expectations this season; if not a postseason berth, at least a solid run throughout the season would be acceptable.

But for now, the club sits last in the Eastern Conference, at least points-wise, possessing a 14-19-0 record. However, due to playing fewer games, they’re percentage points ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets and rank 28th league-wide with a .424 percentage.

Forward Mathieu Joseph is eligible to rejoin the team on January 9 in Calgary if he’s healthy enough and room is made on the Senators’ salary cap. At the same time, Shane Pinto will likely return on or around January 21. Joseph and Pinto are proven 200-foot players and will have little difficulty adapting to Martin’s system. The pair will definitely add to their forward depth, but will it be in time to get the squad into the playoff race?

First, the entire roster needs to buy into the teachings of Jacques Martin and the rest of the Senators’ coaching staff if they wish to become a successful and cohesive unit.