At his season-ender with the media on Friday, Staios said Daniel Alfredsson is not in the head coaching discussion for next season.
For many weeks now, we've known that interim head coach Jacques Martin and assistant coach Daniel Alfredsson were both temporary help behind the Ottawa Senators bench – a bandaid to help stop the bleeding and guide them through to the end of the season.
But now that the end of the season is here, what's next for the two Senators legends?
At his season-ender with the Ottawa media on Friday, GM Steve Staios said that Martin will now, as expected, return to a consultant role with the club. As for the rest of the current coaching staff, Staios says he isn't sure yet how things will unfold. Presumably, that means that their fate will be up to the new head coach. But Staios says he would welcome all of them back with open arms.
The staff includes Alfredsson, Jack Capuano, Ben Sexton, Bob Jones, Justin Peters, and Michael King.
What we do know is that Alfredsson isn't being considered for the club's vacant head coaching position.
"I had a great conversation with Alfie," Staios said. "He's not going to be in consideration for the head coaching job at this point in time. And I think this is something we left a little bit open-ended. But I think he does believe that if he does continue on the coaching path, he'll need a little bit more time."
As for the people who are in consideration, Staios says he's already spoken with two potential candidates. But he says it's hard to say when he'll have someone in place.
"I think making sure that we take the appropriate amount of time to be able to look at everybody that may be available is important. Now, as we're going through the process, if we feel like we have the perfect candidate, then we would move on it. But certainly at this point in time, we're still working through our list."
Some teams like to have their head coaches in place before the draft, while others like to get things done so they don't lose a top candidate to another team that's looking for a coach like Buffalo. No one wants to be the last one standing in the off-season coaching game of musical chairs.
The Senators' next head coach will be their eighth since 2010. The others are Cory Clouston, Paul MacLean, Dave Cameron, Guy Boucher, Marc Crawford, D.J. Smith and Jacques Martin.