Questions Surround Senators as Training Camp Starts

What does the future hold for the Ottawa Senators? Just four years ago they sat on top of the world, battling it out in the Stanley Cup finals. But the team took a drastic plunge after that glory year, where they didn’t even end up bringing home the cup; and last year they came in as one of the last place teams in the entire league. What happened? And where did it all go wrong? These are questions that the Sens’ staff and players have been trying to figure out for the last four years and this year, with strategy in place and a new head coach, they might just have some answers.

The new coach is Paul MacLean, who was the assistant coach for Detroit Red Wings when they won the Cup in 2008. This will be MacLean’s first time in the role of the head coaching position and the task before him is not an easy one. So how does he even go about tackling the job of getting a weak team back into contenders’ territory? For MacLean, it’s all about laying a foundation and going through the process. And it’s definitely not something that can be rushed.

Prior to training camp which begins for the Sens today, MacLean said, “We might not go real fast at the start, but we’re trying to build a foundation for something. All I know is where I want to go and I have a lot of people around me who want to go to the same place. The process is the process, I know that’s not a great word to use, but it is a process and we have to learn how to do it. Once we learn, we’re going to be there and we’re all going to enjoy it.”

The 59 attendees invited to training camp will meet at Sensplex today to begin their physicals. From there, they’ll take to the ice in groups of three throughout the weekend, before heading to Toronto for a preseason game Sunday evening.

Categorized in: NHL