Rival seeks to poach key figure from the Maple Leafs

In Ottawa, Jacques Martin’s been filling in on an interim basis as head coach for the Senators, however, the team is looking at a timeline for the search for a full-time coach. On last night’s edition of Insider Trading on TSN, Pierre LeBrun revealed how the Senators may be getting closer to making a critical hiring for the club, hinting at the fact that the Ontario club could go shopping in Toronto, amongst other venues:

“General manager Steve Staios, and he’s talked about this, has a list that he’s working on, a list of candidates that he’s working on. John Gruden, the Toronto Marlies coach that coached for Staios in OHL Hamilton is obviously on that list but other, bigger names such as Todd McLellan, Dean Evason, Craig Berube, among others we believe are also on this working list. And I say working list because the Senators may add to it at two critical junctures: one at the end of the regular season, when perhaps some coaches become available depending on what happens elsewhere, or at the end of the first round of the playoffs, when we know some coaching decisions are made. So that’s why Ottawa doesn’t want to rush through this, ultimately they’d love to have a coach named by the draft in Vegas. As for Hall-of-Famer Daniel Alfredsson, they’ll sit down with him at the end of the season and see what he feels might make sense in terms of his role moving forward in the organization.”

LeBrun noted that the Senators “are in no rush” to find their replacement behind the bench, though they’d “love” to have someone in place by the 2024 NHL Draft in late June.

In Ottawa, Martin took the reins after D.J. Smith was fired in December, but the 71-year-old has expressed no interest in taking over the role on a full-time basis.

When it comes to one of the target in Gruden, he is in his first season as head coach of the Marlies, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate. The team has gone 30-21-9-2 under his direction.

The Senators are in the midst of another disappointment campaign after it was expected that the club would push for a playoff spot, but is now toiling away near the bottom of the standings.

A change behind the bench could have significant impact for the upcoming 2024-25 season.

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