Paul MacLean, who won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's coach of the year just two seasons ago, was fired Monday by Ottawa Senators and replaced by assistant Dave Cameron, it was announced. The news was released via the team's Twitter account and marked the first head-coaching change of the 2014-15 seasons. The Senators were off to an 11-11-5 start and are 10th in the Eastern Conference.
General manager Bryan Murray, speaking at a news conference Monday at Canadian Tire Centre, said Cameron, a favorite of owner Eugene Melnyk, will succeed MacLean. "I've had some tough days lately," said Murray, who is undergoing cancer treatment. "This is one of them." Murray said there was”uneasiness" in the locker room with MacLean. "Some of the better players felt that they were singled out a little too often maybe," Murray said. "That's today's athlete. They want to be corrected, coached, given a chance to play without being the center point of discussion in the room."
MacLean, who previously worked as an assistant to Mike Babcock in Anaheim and Detroit, won the Jack Adams Award in the 2012-13 lockout-shortened season, when he led an injury-ravaged Senators team to the postseason despite long odds. Defensive tactics by MacLean, who was in the first season of a three-year deal, allowed opponents easier entry into the defensive zone, leading to games in which the Senators were often outshot.
