Like you, Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer has heard the chants raining down in Canadian Tire Centre calling for the head of coach D.J. Smith after the team’s disappointing 9-10-0 start. He hears it, but he isn’t necessarily listening.
“Section 323, the 30 fans that are there?” Andlauer asked. “I don’t know.”
Andlauer and president of hockey operations Steve Staios, who is also holding the interim GM tag after the firing of Pierre Dorion last month, have been reluctant to make a coaching change. Staios wanted to come in and be a stabilizing force for a group of players who have seen their fair share of drama this season – a GM change, forfeiture of a top draft pick, a half-season suspension for gambling – and they appear to be sticking to it.
“I totally understand their angst,” Andlauer said after the first day of the Board of Governors meetings in the Emerald City. “I do appreciate, and I love these fans, they are passionate. They have also gone six years without making the playoffs. The only thing I can say is that I’m as big a fan. I know I cannot socialize when the game is on. I’m pretty intense.”
We wouldn’t exactly call it a vote of confidence for Smith, as there is surely a point of no return that exists. But Andlauer pointed out that the Sens are the only team in the league that hasn’t yet hit the quarter mark of the season. They have a whopping seven games in-hand over division foe Tampa Bay. Going 5-2 in those extra games would put the Sens in front of the Lightning.
“It’s a process,” Andlauer said. “I’m a new boss. I’m looking at all our key employees and trying to understand and making sure they have the right tools to be successful. Steve is working pretty hard at this. I can feel the fans’ angst.”
As new owner, Andlauer is still very much in fact finding mode. He said he won’t act hastily, always keeping the long view in mind. When asked to evaluate the season, he pulled no punches.
“There’s some areas of improvement,” Andlauer said. “We’re making notes. It’s so early in the season. I’ll leave it at that.”
Andlauer said nothing is imminent on the club’s GM search, which hasn’t begun in earnest, and he reiterated that he liked the idea of a “two-headed monster” with a president and GM. He saw it in operation first-hand as minority partner of the Montreal Canadiens with Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes.
Andlauer began his morning in the damp Pacific Northwest with a tour of sparkling Climate Pledge Arena. His development partners are in tow on the trip as part of a fact-finding mission for the Sens’ next arena. So far, they’ve toured the Islanders’ new home in Belmont, N.Y., witnessed the improvements of the Bell Centre in Montreal, as well as Little Caesars Arena in Detroit before they head west to Edmonton’s Rogers Place in early January. They toured the lounges, concourses, concession technology and even the all-electric Zambonis inside the Kraken’s billion-dollar palace.
“We’ll try to rip off and duplicate all of the best in class,” Andlauer said. “Hopefully we’ll be in a position one day where we’ll have a piece of land – whether it’s in LeBreton or downtown Ottawa – where we can do something pretty special for fans.”
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