Senate Reform 3

Earlier this month, the Senators invited some of the top draft prospects out for their own mini combine.  That's the subject of this episode of the team's "road to the draft" webumentary - Senate Reform.

Gabriel Landeskog and Jonathan Huberdeau were there but probably won't be available when the Sens pick sixth overall. Do they trade up to ensure they get a player like that?  Do they roll the bones that one of them does slip to 6th?  Or will they lean toward other attendees like Sean Couturier, Ryan Strome and Mika Zibanejad, who probably will be available at 6.

Zibanejad is the most intriguing.  The way his stock has rocketed, playing against men in the Swedish Elite League, you get the impression that, if they postponed the draft until Christmas, he might end up first overall.  For now, he's thought of as a 9 or 10.

Melnyk's Head Coaching Choice Becomes the Assistant

It appears the Ottawa Senators have found a place for Dave Cameron. Recently touted as a top Sens’ head coaching candidate, Dave Cameron is expected to be named assistant coach under Paul MacLean sometime in the next couple of days.

Cameron’s resume is more than good enough to take this job. He played in the NHL then coached in both the OHL and AHL. However, since Eugene Melnyk went public with the info that Cameron is one of his personal favourites, he comes in looking like – as TSN”s Pierre Maguire put it - the teacher’s pet. That’s not the way you want to enter any organization. You want to be there because the team believed you were the best candidate or the best fit, not because the boss did a personal favour for the owner.

NHL head coaches generally have a say in the hiring of their assistant coaches. It’s doubtful MacLean had much of a say here. His new assistant coach is someone the owner wanted for head coach. It’s uncomfortable. That said, no NHL coach should ever be comfortable. There are probably 100 guys out there who’d make good head coaches so you’re always looking over your shoulder.

What could turn this into something sticky is a lack of chemistry between MacLean and Cameron. What if they’re on completely different pages – professionally and socially? Will MacLean trust Cameron or will he see him as an insider or spy for the owner? Will he look at Cameron as a helper or a guy with an agenda out to steal his job?

Initially, there will be a professionalism that can and will rise above all this. But if the club begins to struggle again, I can see an emergence of conflict and paranoia. This is exactly why clubs rarely go on the record about coaching preferences.