Smith Breaks Up his Top Trio, DeMelo Talks Frustrations, and a Dawn Braid Profile

After another tough week, the Sens find themselves at 1-5-1 for the year; dead last in the NHL. Maybe this is where most folks rationally expected them to be, but it’s still been a bit of a disappointment to watch both the youth and the vets struggle. And whenever a team goes through a rough patch, you can bet the coach will be looking to push a few buttons to inspire them:

• Colin White and Brady Tkachuk have probably been the Sens’ two best forwards to start the season, but they will likely be playing apart from each other for the next little while as DJ Smith attemps to coax some offense from his line-up. Tkachuk and White had some thoughts about their new potential linemates after yesterday’s practice:/

“If we communicate and keep things simple no matter who you play with, you’ll play well with them.”

Brady Tkachuk and Colin White talk about their new linemates as the #Sens get prepped to take on the Dallas Stars tomorrow night. pic.twitter.com/BRP3rqCBXo

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 20, 2019

• Speaking of frustration, Ken Warren had a week-end wrap-up of sorts for the Citizen yesterday. Dylan DeMelo is quoted as saying he would be “...very disappointed” if the team didn’t come out hungry to play against the Dallas Stars on Monday night and that the Sens desperately need a win. I can certainly appreciate the sentiments from DeMelo, and you’re never going to convince an NHLer that losing a couple of games is “okay”, but this is a gentle reminder that this year will be real tough record-wise. The Sens are going to be very bad, and their record is not going to be a useful barometer of whether the season was a success or not. As long as they doesn’t make any panic moves to fix short-term problems, the organization should be in better shape in April. But try telling that to the guys that have to play the games today.
• Sportsnet ran a great, in-depth profile of Dawn Braid by Sonny Sachdeva.  Braid, a former champion figure skater, is a skating instructor to a wide cadre of NHLers today — most notable John Tavares and Taylor Hall. Her rise up the coaching ranks hasn’t always been smooth, she’s had to deal with plenty of the typical hockey culture sexism, but the respect she has from today’s very best NHLers speaks volumes about her coaching acumen.
• As you may already know, Melinda Karlsson gave birth to her and Erik’s daughter last week. It was something of a stressful situation as young Harlow was born several weeks prematurely, but both mother and daughter are in good health. Kevin Kurz had a piece at the Athletic over the week-end with some quotes from the former Senators captain. /