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Ottawa Senators fire head coach Dave Cameron

By Dave Stevenson

Apr 26, 2015; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Ottawa Senators head coach Dave Cameron talks during a press conference after the game six against Montreal Canadiens of the first round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 26, 2015; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Ottawa Senators head coach Dave Cameron talks during a press conference after the game six against Montreal Canadiens of the first round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports /
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After missing the playoffs for the second time in three seasons, the Ottawa Senators have fired head coach Dave Cameron.

The Ottawa Senators had an extremely disappointing 2015-2016 season. After making a magical playoff run at the end of the 2014-2015 season, Ottawa was expected to once again contend for the Stanley Cup. That wasn’t the case as Ottawa finished with a 38-35-9 record. Their 85 points were nine short of the Philadelphia Flyers, the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. After missing the playoffs, changes had to be made. The Senators have announced that one of those changes will be behind the bench as they have fired head coach Dave Cameron.

Cameron was hired by the Senators during the 2014-2015 season after they fired Paul MacLean. Under Cameron’s tutelage, the Senators made a playoff run, led by star defenseman Erik Karlsson and a historic performance from rookie goaltender Andrew Hammond. Cameron couldn’t recapture the magic this season, which led to his firing.

He signed his own death warrant with his mishandling of leading goal scorer Mike Hoffman. The two sides were often at odds, and Hoffman found himself inexplicably in Cameron’s dog house far too often. It’s likely that Ottawa realized that Hoffman and Dave Cameron couldn’t co-exist any longer and believed that it is easier to find a better head coach than Cameron than it is to find a goal scorer like Hoffman. This bodes well for the future of Hoffman with the Senators. Hoffman is a restricted free agent and due for a significant raise.

The firing of Dave Cameron is likely just the beginning of the changes in Ottawa as they attempt to diagnose why they have missed the playoffs twice in three seasons and figure out what they have to do to return to the postseason next year.

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