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D.J. Smith behind the Senators’ bench in Ottawa, 2023.
Feels like there’s been a whole lotta love of late for Mitch Love as it applies to the Penguins’ coaching search, and I’m no exception. The fit seems fine, at least from the periphery.
But I’m told tonight that it’d be a mistake to overlook D.J. Smith.
I know, I know, this is supposed to be a no-retread zone, and Smith, 48, was the Senators’ head coach for 4 1/2 seasons, 2019-23, so there’s obviously some wear on that figurative tire. Compounding that, he wasn’t exactly some seismic hit in Ottawa, going 131-154 and never making the Stanley Cup playoffs before being fired in December of 2023.
The part I really don’t like: Smith had, at various stages, quality youngsters in Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle, Drake Batherson (who’s scored only 115 of his 116 NHL goals against the Penguins, incidentally), Thomas Chabot and Jake Sanderson … only for the group to never really grow into anything until this past season, when Travis Green finally got them back into the playoffs, first time for that since Chris Kunitz beat Craig Anderson on local ice.
That said, Smith’s had a longstanding connection with Kyle Dubas, he once had a reputation for being good at development, and the Ottawa franchise has been a bigger mess for the better part of a decade — on and off the ice — than could be blamed on any individual.
Just sharing.