Alfredsson is a Hall of Famer, but doesn't yet have the coaching experience of his three new colleagues in Ottawa.
Alfredsson is a Hall of Famer, but doesn't yet have the coaching experience of his three new colleagues in Ottawa.
The Ottawa Senators now have their new coaching lineup for the 2024-25 NHL season. Travis Green is the new head coach, signed for the next four years. Green's assistants include newcomers Nolan Baumgartner, Mike Yeo, Ben Sexton, and video coach Mike King.
Also returning is Daniel Alfredsson, the Hall of Famer and the most popular player in club history.
If you're old enough to recall the origin story of the Battle of Ontario that peaked twenty years ago, it's a little strange to see Alfredsson working under Green. Back then, the hockey hate was real. Alfie was the good guy, and Green was the bad guy.
Now Green is on Ottawa's bench? Alfie is taking his cues from that guy? Now they're on the same side? Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!
It might take a second, but we'll get used to it.
But it will be interesting to see where Alfredsson fits into this new coaching roster, freshly crammed full of recently dismissed Vancouver Canuck coaches. Who, exactly, will handle what?
Baumgartner will coach the Green defence, as he did for most of their eight-plus years together in Utica (AHL) and Vancouver.
Yeo is the most experienced coach. As with the last regime, a Senator assistant checks in with more experience as an NHL head coach than the guy he's now working for. Yeo has run an NHL bench 542 times compared to Green's 335. If Yeo was Green's choice, and we're led to believe it was, that hints at a coach who's comfortable in his own skin and trying to surround himself with the best people available.
With that much experience, Yeo can handle any task Green throws at him. We do know Yeo was responsible for handling the penalty kill in Vancouver this season.
And that brings us to Alfie.
On his Hockeydb.com page, Alfredsson's one season as a coach in the league looks awfully lonely compared to his long, stellar playing career or compared to what his new colleagues have done in coaching. But make no mistake. When Alfie speaks, people listen.
Green, Yeo, Baumgartner, and Alfredsson are all around the same age, and all of them played pro hockey. Only one of them is a Hall of Famer. So while the new Canuck coaching brigade has way more coaching experience, the respect level for Alfredsson and what he has to say or contribute will be off the charts.
As he builds on that resume, expect Alfie to do more of what he did last season: work with players one-on-one and coach individual tactics during games, practices, and in the room. Meanwhile, it's a chance for Alfredsson to learn from three brand-new colleagues, absorb what they say and do, and decide what works and what doesn't.
If Alfredsson aspires to be a head coach someday, he's in a perfect situation. Regardless, the interim label is off. He's now a full-timer and a tremendous asset for the club as it tries to drag itself out of a long playoff slump.