The Ottawa Senators moved Pierre Groulx out of his role as goaltending coach, replacing him with Zac Bierk. Groulx will now work with the scouting staff and development team after serving as goalie coach since 2016. Senators GM Pierre Dorion explained the move:
"Unfortunately, a number of our goaltending performances this season have been underwhelming. I think very highly of Pierre Groulx, he’s as dedicated and tireless a worker as anyone in the organization, but we recently reached a point where we thought a fresh outlook could help return some stability to our crease."
The Senators have a combined save percentage of .887 this season, only ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers’ .878 mark. The biggest contributor to that poor performance has been Matt Murray, who has an .880 in 22 appearances after signing a four-year, $25M deal with Ottawa in the offseason. Murray’s contract is actually back-loaded with $15M in salary owed over the last two years, meaning he’ll need to get his game back on track to be worth it for Ottawa.
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