Trying to light a fire

Prelude - Was it Hossa becoming a Penguin? Was it the local newspaper survey asking fans what they thought? Was it losing to the Leafs and Bruins without scoring a goal? Which ever evidence you point at for the reason, there is big news out of Ottawa today.

Sport - Hockey

Event - The Ottawa Senators fired head coach John Paddock today. Bryan Murray, who coached the Senators for two seasons before taking the general manager's job last summer, returns behind the bench for the stretch run

Point to say - "Did you hear that the Ottawa Coach was fired?"

Follow up point - "Doesn't Ottawa still have the same problem it did last year with their goaltending?"

Get out of the conversation - "Have you seen the Jimmy Kimbell video on Youtube?"

Backgrounder
Having dropped six of their last eight games and 14 of their last 21. With just 18 games remaining in the regular season panic had crept into the fan base, not to mention the media.

As sited from the TSN sports article on the subject: "Under Paddock, the team sprinted out of the gate early this season with a 16-3 record in its first 19 games. The team then struggled in late November and early December with a seven-game losing streak, and went 20-19-6 the rest of the way."

Coaching changes are not uncommon at this time period. Lineups are set. So really, the only thing that can be done to shake things up is change the coach.

The new coach is in fact the old coach. "Bryan Murray, who coached the Senators for two seasons before taking the general manager's job last summer, returns behind the bench for the stretch run." writes TSN.

Links
TSN's article on the coaching change.