Melnyk refutes the rumours - kiss of death?

Last time he refuted a, wasn't it Paddock?...

As per TSN...


SENS' OWNER MELNYK REFUTES RUMOURS THAT QUINN IS ON HIS WAY



With the team on the ice struggling mightily on their current road trip and the imposing figure of Pat Quinn looming, Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk released a statement Wednesday in an attempt to end the speculation pertaining to a possible change in the Sens coaching staff and management.
Several media outlets had released reports stating that the Senators were prepared to fire head coach Craig Hartsburg and general manager Bryan Murray and replacing them with the combination of Quinn as head coach and Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson as GM.
Melnyk stated that those rumours were completely false.
"Contrary to what is being reported today by the media, I have made no decisions with respect to any personnel changes within the Senators organization," Melnyk stated. "Winning remains our number one priority and there is a collective focus by our management, our coaching staff and our players to deliver this to our fans.
I, along with our fans, will do nothing but continue to remain fully committed to our Senators and enthusiastically cheer them on to a successful second half of the season.
This is crunch time. Now, more than ever, is the time to rally behind our team. We don't surrender half-way though the season.
Every victory from here on in matters. We know it and the fans know it. Period."
In addition Quinn told TSN Wednesday that he had not had any conversations with the Senators at all.
Speculation in the Nation's capital was running rampant after Quinn led the Canadian National junior team to their fifth consecutive gold medal at the IIHF World Junior hockey championship in Ottawa.
Melnyk was seen congratulating Quinn quite enthusiastically following Canada's demolition of the Czech Republic and was also on hand to present the team with their Gold medals.
The Senators have been a major disappointment this season as they sit dead last in the Northeast Division with a 12-19-6 record including a dismal road mark of 4-13-3. Due to the fact that Ottawa was hosting the World Junior tournament, the Senators have been on an extended road trip where they have gone 1-5-1 with one more game against the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins before returning home.
There has been plenty of noise from Senators fans demanding the firing of Hartsburgh who signed a three-year contract prior to the season. Ironically enough Hartsburgh led Canada to Gold in the World Junior tournament the two year's prior to Quinn's success this season.

"Contrary to what is being reported today by the media, I have made no decisions with respect to any personnel changes within the Senators organization,"

WOW, what a ringing endorsement! I wouldn't worry about my job after that emotional love-in!!! Buy a bigger house, new car, put down roots, even buy a cemetary plot in the capital....

I would feel better if I were Hartsberg had he said nothing at all, haha. That was not a very warm, cuddly, msg.

No decisions yet. In other words, lose tomorrow, and they're gone.

It certainly doesn't come off as strong of an endorsement he gave when Murray was coaching and the team was slumping two seasons ago. (There were many calling for heads during that period as well) However, Quinn was interviewed on Hockey Central at 11pm tonight and he also denied the rumours. What made it sound credible is that Quinn admitted to hearing the rumours and felt bad for the good people this affects. He went on to say that even though he would like to get back into the business there are some teams that he's simply not interested in coaching because he wants to coach a team that has a chance at winning NOW. He said that some teams he's rumoured to coach aren't there right now. The host on HC immediately joked that if that's true we can rule out the Sens. Quinn is pretty old so I don't think he would be interested in rebuilding a team or taking on a challenge that the Sens represent. Therefore, the rumours of Murray and/or Hartsburg getting canned are bogus or... perhaps Melnyc has others in mind. We can probably rule out Quinn though.

strachattack wrote:It certainly doesn't come off as strong of an endorsement he gave when Murray was coaching and the team was slumping two seasons ago. (There were many calling for heads during that period as well) However, Quinn was interviewed on Hockey Central at 11pm tonight and he also denied the rumours. What made it sound credible is that Quinn admitted to hearing the rumours and felt bad for the good people this affects. He went on to say that even though he would like to get back into the business there are some teams that he's simply not interested in coaching because he wants to coach a team that has a chance at winning NOW. He said that some teams he's rumoured to coach aren't there right now. The host on HC immediately joked that if that's true we can rule out the Sens. Quinn is pretty old so I don't think he would be interested in rebuilding a team or taking on a challenge that the Sens represent. Therefore, the rumours of Murray and/or Hartsburg getting canned are bogus or... perhaps Melnyc has others in mind. We can probably rule out Quinn though.

Ummm new coaches dont tend to get Stanley Cup contenders, lol. Its not like Detroit is going to can Wang, or Boston can Junlian, lol.

True that! Still... I think he meant a team that's a bit closer than the Sens. The Sens are looking like a bit of a long term project and given Quinn's age he probably feels he doesn't have that much time. Anyway, by the sound of the interview it not only sounds like he wasn't asked but it also sounded like he's not interested.

strachattack wrote:True that! Still... I think he meant a team that's a bit closer than the Sens. The Sens are looking like a bit of a long term project and given Quinn's age he probably feels he doesn't have that much time. Anyway, by the sound of the interview it not only sounds like he wasn't asked but it also sounded like he's not interested.

Something is going to happen in Ottawa, not sure what, so it is anyones guess. Im just dont care at this point until something changes.

The dynamics of this team is 100% wrong, wrong chemistry, wrong personel make up, wrong system for this team, wrong everything.

I really do not think the problem is with the Coach or the GM.

The buffalo game showed us that the sens can play well, they dominated the 2 -3rd periods.

Lets give them time to Gel, a few rooster changes. Let the players learn the system and master it before changing it all up again.

We have tried change... its only made us worse.

The_Dude wrote:I really do not think the problem is with the Coach or the GM.

The buffalo game showed us that the sens can play well, they dominated the 2 -3rd periods.

Lets give them time to Gel, a few rooster changes. Let the players learn the system and master it before changing it all up again.

We have tried change... its only made us worse.

Half a season is not time enough to gel? Gimme a break.

Hartsburg is definitely part of the problem. He wants puck-possession players to play dump and chase hockey. He let the Big 3 run the team for too long. And worse than anything, he has Mike Fisher playing the 1st PP unit on the point while Picard rides the pine.

Even if you dispute that Hartsburg has no fault whatsoever in this, you can't fire the players and you obviously can't deal most of them either.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Half a season is not time enough to gel? Gimme a break.

Hartsburg is definitely part of the problem. He wants puck-possession players to play dump and chase hockey. He let the Big 3 run the team for too long. And worse than anything, he has Mike Fisher playing the 1st PP unit on the point while Picard rides the pine.

Even if you dispute that Hartsburg has no fault whatsoever in this, you can't fire the players and you obviously can't deal most of them either.

I heard a good Gary Galley quote something like... 'You can't play dump and chase if no-one is willing to chase' The team is successful when they pay attention to what happens after the dump and someone steps up to chase....

Like in the movie H a n c o c k "Lose. Just one more time....."

MurderOnIce wrote:

I heard a good Gary Galley quote something like... 'You can't play dump and chase if no-one is willing to chase' The team is successful when they pay attention to what happens after the dump and someone steps up to chase....

They have to learn to get those dumps right, too: hard around the glass or chipped softly into the corners. Those soft, slow rollers along the boards get cut off by the opposing team's goalies, and so quickly moved out by the other team's D, or intercepted on the way into the zone.

It's really a pretty simple tactic, but we're even getting that wrong most of the time, and it's really hampering our forecheck / offence.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:Like in the movie H a n c o c k "Lose. Just one more time....."

That movie is in it's third run already. The 3rd Islanders game, then the Dallas game, then the Edmonton game...

I don't believe anything anymore unless it points to nothing happening.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

The_Dude wrote:I really do not think the problem is with the Coach or the GM.

The buffalo game showed us that the sens can play well, they dominated the 2 -3rd periods.

Lets give them time to Gel, a few rooster changes. Let the players learn the system and master it before changing it all up again.

We have tried change... its only made us worse.

Half a season is not time enough to gel? Gimme a break.

Hartsburg is definitely part of the problem. He wants puck-possession players to play dump and chase hockey. He let the Big 3 run the team for too long. And worse than anything, he has Mike Fisher playing the 1st PP unit on the point while Picard rides the pine.

Even if you dispute that Hartsburg has no fault whatsoever in this, you can't fire the players and you obviously can't deal most of them either.

Actualy , I really do not think 1/2 a season is enough to Gel, especialy not when a team is in this much of a slump. Your right, we can't fire the player, but that does not mean the absolute alternative is fire the coach & GM. Hatsburg was not the coach last season, and we sucked just as much in the 1/2 half. Even Murray last minute attempt to salvage did nothing more then give fans a glimpse of hope. But we have made coaching changed and the problems persist. I'm no rocket scientist, but this leads me to believe the one thing we have in common with last season is the players. You could also say Murray, but I think he has proven to us in the past that he is more then capable of building a kick Donkey hockey team .

I honestly think this team needs time & roster ! There is no miracle fix, and making changes to management every 6 months will only prolong the drought.