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Ottawa Senators: Hiring a Director of Hockey Ops Won’t Change Things

By Hunter Eitel

DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Jacob Bernard-Docker poses for a photo onstage with Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk (L) after being selected twenty-sixth overall by the Ottawa Senators during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
DALLAS, TX - JUNE 22: Jacob Bernard-Docker poses for a photo onstage with Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk (L) after being selected twenty-sixth overall by the Ottawa Senators during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center on June 22, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The Ottawa Senators want to add more chefs to the kitchen.

Over the weekend, Elliotte Friedman reported that the Ottawa Senators are looking to hire a director of hockey operations. John Shannon would follow that up by saying that Dean Lombardi had been approached for the position.

On paper it sounds like a decent idea: Bring in a fresh voice to the Senators to create a sense of order and give off the impression that the front office actually knows what they are doing.

But there is still the tiny problem of Eugene Melnyk being the owner of the Senators, and nothing is going to change if he is still in charge.

A Role No One Wants

Think about it: Why would Lombardi, a two-time Stanley Cup winning GM with the Los Angeles Kings, want to come into an organization wrought with management and ownership incompetence. In fact, forget Lombardi, why would anyone want to come to Ottawa to fix this shipwreck?

The Ottawa Senators franchise is at the top of everyone’s “Do not apply to” list. Players, coaches team doctors, equipment managers, general managers, hell even zamboni drivers are doing everything they can to avoid being employed by the Senators.

All a director of hockey operations would do is sit there and take orders from Melnyk and Pierre Dorion. Yes that is how the hierarchy of an NHL franchise works, but it’s doubtful anyone would want to fill a position underneath two guys who have destroyed a franchise that just 669 days ago was one goal away from the Stanley Cup Final!

What’s The Point?

Why would the Sens front office change plans now? People are still going to games (For some reason) and have stocked the farm system and draft capital for the next few years. The only logical reasons for the team to want to bring in a director of hockey ops is to: A. Distract fans from mistakes made by the current management team and owner or B. Have a scapegoat to fire when things go wrong (AKA “The Guy Boucher Special”). To be honest, it’s probably both.

Next. Eugene Melnyk Needs to Stop Talking. dark

Unless a change is made and the Sens start showing progress towards recovery, no viable candidate is going to fill the director of hockey operations position. The Ottawa Senators have made their bed and they need to lay in it, not ask others to join them under the sheets.

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