Senators GM says high expectations crushed them

The Ottawa Senators entered this season with heavier expectations, and were thought of by many to be a prime team to make the playoffs this spring, which would have been their 1st appearance in the annual tournament since their incredible run to within one game of the Stanley Cup Final in 2017. 

However, the Senators season has been anything but ideal, as bad goaltending and defensive breakdowns have resulted in a mostly losing campaign that will result in the team missing the playoffs for the 7th straight year. Their prize offseason acquisition of Russian goal scoring forward Vladimir Tarasenko was sold off to the Florida Panthers at the Trade Deadline, and the team is simply playing for pride at this point. 

And according to Senators general manager Steve Staios, the high expectations that were levied upon his team before this year began caused their downfall. 

"I think the expectations were something that were a bit debilitating for us," Staios said. "We have a young team – a very good, talented group of players. I think that we'll see how the off-season goes on what we can add, but there's going to be growth from within as well. 

"I don't think any of our core group of players can be looking outside of just improving themselves and continuing to move forward as a group."

Right now, the Senators are projected to finish with 11 fewer points than last season, and will also need to conduct a search for a new full-time head coach. D.J. Smith was fired in December and replaced on an interim basis by Jacques Martin, who isn't interested in a long term commitment. 

"The process has started. We have a list of people," Staios said of finding a permanent head coach for Ottawa. "We want to be patient with our approach because things do change into the offseason."

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