Hartsburg Fired!

shabbs wrote:

marakh wrote:Alfredsson's comments looked totally irresponsable to me. HE just seemed like he didn't care.

Which comments? Any link?

marakh wrote:

shabbs wrote:

marakh wrote:Alfredsson's comments looked totally irresponsable to me. HE just seemed like he didn't care.

Which comments? Any link?

Tsn.ca Video section.

SpezDispenser wrote:It's about time. Clouston is not needed here, let's find someone quick so he doesn't have to interim too long.

marakh wrote:Alfredsson's comments looked totally irresponsable to me. HE just seemed like he didn't care.

SpezDispenser wrote:

marakh wrote:Alfredsson's comments looked totally irresponsable to me. HE just seemed like he didn't care.

Oh boy...an attack on the Captain...

MurderOnIce wrote:If he is stupid enough to put Clouston in place then, begrudgingly they should be moving Murray out too. This is silly. There are a lot of coaches out there. He recently interviewed them you would think. He should be in position to pull the trigger on a better solution than Clouston, even if it is just for a few games. I am sorry but the fanbase here deserves better than here is another vanilla AHL coach to run your 'Contender' Diddle that.

davetherave wrote:Here is Lyle Richardson's (Spectors Hockey) take on the firing from his blog on Fox Sports. IMHO right on.

Hartsburg Fired as Senators Head Coach.
Feb 02, 2009 | 7:36AM |

The struggling Ottawa Senators have called a press conference for 11 am today where it's expected they'll announce the firing of Craig Hartsburg as their head coach.

Hartsburg was hired last summer by Senators general manager Bryan Murray after consultations with team owner Eugene Melnyk. His no-nonsense style was expected to motivate a Senators team which collapsed in the second half of last season under easy-going John Paddock, whom Murray fired and replaced behind the bench to finish the '07-'08 campaign.

Unfortunately Hartsburg didn't seem to be a good fit with the Senators as they picked up where they left off last season, floundering through the first 48 games of this season to sit 14 points out of a playoff berth as of today.

Early reports suggest the last straw came following the Senators 7-4 defeat to the Washington Capitals on Sunday, when Hartsburg publicly blasted his team for not working hard enough.

It's not the first time Hartsburg called out his players this season but it's apparent his message wasn't sinking in.

To be fair to Hartsburg he was working with a Senators roster which had been significantly depleted of depth since its run to the 2007 Stanley Cup final.

Goaltending had been an issue early on, although that seems to have settled down with Alex Auld and rookie Brian Elliott established as their tandem.

Elsewhere however depth has been a significant problem, particularly on the blueline and second line scoring, and those are issues Hartsburg couldn't solve.

Management found itself hard-pressed for sufficient cap space this season, handcuffed by expensive contracts. Murray got stuck with the inherited mistake of Martin Gerber's $3.7 million salary, but he also overpaid Mike Fisher and Antoine Vermette, who've done nothing to earn their new salaries this season.

No one faults Murray for not retaining a fading Wade Redden, particularly when the NY Rangers were willing to overpay for his services, but an aging Jason Smith at $2.6 million was not a suitable replacement. The Senators needed a puck-moving blueliner, not a veteran stay-at-home defenseman.

The expensive contracts for Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley were also a problem but one could scarcely fault Murray and Melnyk for opening the vault to retain these two. Still, their salaries and their lesser numbers this season compared to their recent previous performances have made them easy targets for fan and media criticism.

If however the Senators had decent second line offense it would take considerable pressure off the first line. Daniel Alfredsson, Spezza and Heatley have 39 or more points this season. None of the other forwards have more than 18. That speaks volumes for the Senators offensive woes.

The problem of course is a lack of cap space and of viable trade bait to bring in the help the Senators desperately need.

Depth problems cannot be overcome with a coaching change. Hartsburg probably wasn't the right coach for this team but replacing him isn't going to magically produce more seocnd line scoring or pluck a puck-moving defenseman out of thin air.

This is a move done out of desperation by a general manager who has run out of options.

*Update* The Senators announced they've promoted Cory Clouston, the head coach of their AHL affiliate, as Hartsburg's replacement. Good luck, Cory, you'll need it.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Clouston will get this team nowhere.

marakh wrote:I said some stupid stuff in there as well. Haha, good memories.

SpezDispenser wrote:Oh yeah, for sure. But that's not entirely fair, I definitely said I was wrong about Clouston. Several times I think actually. But I'll GLADLY do it again: I was wrong about Cory Clouston. 100% wrong, I didn't know what I was saying, I love the work he's doing.

marakh wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Clouston will get this team nowhere.

Looks like the entire GMH founding crew has some crow eating to do

SpezDispenser wrote:I'm kidding of course, I laughed...I was some pissed off...