Ottawa Senators GM Steve Staios: "Expectations Were a Bit Debilitating For Us"

According to Staios, the young Senators had a hard time this season with the weight of expectations.

If there's one thing that former Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion and current GM Steve Staios would both probably agree on, it's the theory that high expectations on a young team can affect performance.

Dorion was always careful not to talk publicly about playoffs being the goal over the past couple of years, even though it was their hope. Dorion frequently answered questions about expectations by saying the goal was to play meaningful games at the end of the season.

Even the players at training camp last fall were super careful not to talk too much about the high expectations being set for the club by so many of the hockey experts and talking heads. 

Many Sens players spoke about the double-edged sword of high expectations without even being asked about it, almost like they'd been reading the suggested script from a pre-season team meeting.

This week at the NHL GM meetings, TSN's Gino Reda asked Staios if next year is potentially a playoff team. And Staios had his own concerns about expectations, saying the only goal this team should be looking at now is improvement.

"I think the expectations were something that were a bit debilitating for us," Staios said. "We have a young team – a very good, talented group of players. I think that we'll see how the off-season goes on what we can add, but there's going to be growth from within as well. 

"I don't think any of our core group of players can be looking outside of just improving themselves and continuing to move forward as a group."

No one would argue that great expectations add extra pressure to any team in any sport. But if Staios is right, and the expectations managed to become "debilitating" to this year's team, then the expectations shouldn't have been so lofty in the first place.