The biggest changes to expect in the Jacques Martin era in Ottawa

Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk were joined by Brent Wallace from the Coming in Hot Podcast to discuss the hiring of Jacques Martin and who might be the permanent solution behind the bench on the latest episode of Daily Faceoff Live.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I want to talk about how the Sens have looked since the D.J. Smith firing. Jacques Martin is behind the bench now, what are the biggest changes you expect him to make early on in his tenure?

Brent Wallace: You’ll see the biggest change is the details. Yesterday in practice, they practiced line changes and this sounds really weird but Jason York who is on my show played under Jacques in his first full year with the Sens. And Jacques did the same thing back then, they practiced second period line changes. Ottawa is the worst team in the league for giving up second period goals and so it’s details. You saw it in the game, Mark Kastelic doesn’t finish a check and Daniel Alfredsson comes over to him when he came off the ice and basically gives it to him that he has to start paying attention.

You see the details really matter. They’re trying to change the neutral zone and the transition game too.

Frank Seravalli: Yeah Wally, it’s so interesting that something so old school as practicing a line change, the attention to detail, the structure, the stickler that Jacques Martin is can provide some of the details that this Sens team needs. But I have to think, thinking long-term that at 71 years old, one of the oldest NHL coaches ever, this isn’t ageism but a fact, Jacques Martin will not be a permanent solution.

I published a story and you and I had a talk yesterday about five potential coaching candidates for the Sens. Who would be your guy, who would you pick to be the next coach of the Senators?

Brent Wallace: Let’s go back to Jacques for a minute. I’ve seen this everywhere, he’s 71, if you know Jacques Martin he’s a young 71 I don’t think age really matters. If you think of the average length of coaching for an NHL coach it’s three or four years with a team. I think Jacques might be what they need as a great teacher. He took over a team in Ottawa in 1995-96 that had a young Alexei Yashin, a young Daniel Alfredsson, Marian Hossa, Radek Bonk, Wade Redden, and Chris Phillips and he turned these guys into a perennial contender.

I’m not counting him out. What if in the last 55 games, they start to go on a roll, would he earn it? Maybe. I understand your point Frank, long-term I think Steve Staios and Michael Andlauer want a guy for them that they know they trust. Of course that comes to the names John Gruden and Jay McKee. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s one of them, I personally think they need a veteran coach, someone who’s been there, done that. But probably John Gruden would be my favourite but you and I talked about this yesterday I don’t think we should overlook Chris Kelly, former Ottawa Senator who’s the Boston Bruins’ assistant coach.

He won the Stanley Cup with Boston, highly regarded in Ottawa as one of the smartest players who’s ever played for the Ottawa Senators, great with details, great defensively, I think he might be a candidate too.

You can watch the rest of the episode here: