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Paul MacLean’s Firing By Ottawa Senators Makes One Fan Really Sad (Photo)

By Phil Watson

Dec 6, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Ottawa Senators head coach Paul MacLean gestures on the bench against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the third period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 6, 2014; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Ottawa Senators head coach Paul MacLean gestures on the bench against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the third period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Ottawa Senators fired coach Paul MacLean on Monday and one fan of the Sens, in particular, has to be terribly saddened by the news.

The Ottawa Senators became the first team in the NHL to make a coaching change this season when they fired Paul MacLean on Monday and promoted assistant coach Dave Cameron to the post.

But for one fan of the Senators, the news had to be particularly crushing.

In the blink of an eye, this fan has gone from, “Hey, aren’t you that guy who looks like the Senators’ coach?” to “Hey, aren’t you that guy trying to look like a walrus?”

The Senators are 11-11-5 and are four games behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins in the race for the two Eastern Conference wild-card spots. Ottawa is seventh in the Atlantic Division.

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The top three teams in each division qualify for the playoffs, along with two wild-card teams based on overall conference standings.

He was in his fourth season coaching the Senators and had a record of 114-90-35. He won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, when he led Ottawa to a 25-17-6 record despite a spate of injuries and took the club to the second round of the playoffs.

But Ottawa missed the postseason last year with a 37-31-14 mark, five points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings for the wild-card positions in the East.

Before coaching in Ottawa, MacLean was head coach for Peoria Rivermen  in the International Hockey League from 1993-96, was an assistant with the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996-97, returned to the IHL to coach the Kansas City Blades from 1997-2000 and coached the Quad City Mallards of the United Hockey League from 2000-02.

He joined Mike Babcock’s staff as an assistant coach with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in 2002 and went with Babcock when he was hired as head coach of the Red Wings.

MacLean also played 11 years in the NHL, scoring 248 goals in 527 games for the St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets and Detroit from 1980-91.

For Cameron, 56, this is his first NHL coaching gig. He had coached in the Colonial Hockey League, the Ontario Hockey League (major junior), the American Hockey League and coached the Canadian junior team in the 2011 World U20 Championships.

He scored 25 goals in 168 games with the Colorado Rockies, who later became the New Jersey Devils, from 1981-84.

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