Ottawa Senators Might Be Looking At Division Rival For New Bench Boss

It's been three weeks since the Ottawa Senators fired former head coach DJ Smith. At the time Ottawa was last in the Atlantic division and haven't made much progress since Interim coach Jacques Martin took over going 3-10 during this stretch.

Darren Dreger was on TSN 1200 discussing who he believes is the front runner to be the next Ottawa Senator head coach.

Adds that he feels if they were going after Craig Berube, it would've been done by now. Reiterates that John Gruden is more likely.

John Gruden is currently the head coach of the Toronto Marlies after getting hired last summer. Gruden has a wealth of experience behind a hockey bench, he was an assistant coach with the the New York Islanders from 2018-2022 and was part of the coaching staff with the Boston Bruins during their historic run last season.

Gruden has connections to both owner Michael Andlauer and interim general manager Steve Staios.

Gruden coached the OHL's Hamilton (now Brantford) Bulldogs for two seasons, leading them to an OHL championship in 2018. Andlauer is still the owner of the Bulldogs, and Staios was the team's president and general manager during that time.

Ottawa needs to get someone behind the bench that can do something with this underachieving roster. This roster should be good enough to knock on the door of a Wild Card position but instead is hanging in the bottom of the Atlantic division.