Smith Fired

AHHHHHHH!!!! LFG!!!!

Leafs fan here - very rarely do I think the coach is the problem for a team and should be fired. For example, it was clear ST Louis was not a good enough team. They were performing as we all expected. To fire their coach for performing as they should be, doesn't make sense. Ottawa should be doing quite a bit better than they are this year. I would recommend a coaching change.

I posted this in an AGM I made an hour ago. Looks like they listened to me. haha - https://www.capfriendly.com/forums/thread/783723?post_id=4561178

Ottawa is a solid team on paper. They shouldn't be near the bottom of the league.

That took long enough.

With ottawa you can clearly see it was a system issue. Too many grade A scoring chances allowed, players are always out of position and lost. That’s on the coach

Should have been fired a LONG time ago. Shouldn't have survived last season, but he DEFINITELY should have been fired when the results weren't there earlier this season. As it stands it's probably too late already to salvage this season, but this is a fantastic day.

To me the best way to encapsulate how bad DJ Smith was, is to look at their record when trailing after after 40 minutes. Don't know the up to date record, but as of January 21st 2023 (the latest date I can find without putting in effort), they were 8-100-11. If they were down after the 2nd period, the quite simply never came back and won. Combine that with the fact that 2nd periods were consistently disasters, and the team just had no hope.

Here's hoping Jacques Martin can bring the structure and discipline this team has desperately needed for a long time. I still genuinely believe this team has the pieces to be great, but they've been WAY too long without anyone to hold their ass to the fire.

All that said, SUPER weird that he held a practice and met with media before getting canned. Wonder if his comments about making practice more fun was what killed him?