When Jacques Martin first joined the Ottawa Senators midway through the 1995-96 season, he inherited a mess.
The Senators were a directionless franchise that could not shake their expansion label. The 43-year-old Martin was appointed head coach in January of 1996 and the hockey club had managed to win only two of their previous 25 games under Dave Allison. They had some talented young pieces assembled on the roster but lacked the structure and discipline to move the program to the next level.
Within 14 months of taking over, however, Martin transformed the Senators into a playoff team. Martin’s arrival jumpstarted the most dynamic and successful era in franchise history, in which they were a perennial Stanley Cup contender for a decade.
The Senators are hoping history repeats itself — to some extent — by naming Martin as a senior adviser to the coaching staff. Ottawa has been mired in a six-year playoff drought that is starting to test the patience of the fan base.
Now 71, Martin sees the obvious parallels with his previous stop with the organization. The Senators have a young, talented core that simply needs some structure injected into their veins.
But he believes the current iteration of the Senators is significantly further ahead of the team he inherited 28 years ago.
“When I first came, we weren’t at the level that this organization is at now. They’ve been building over the last four or five years,” Martin said Wednesday. “I think they’re on the cusp now of being able to take another step in the right direction. And then challenge for a championship.”
The idea to bring Martin back into the fold was the brainchild of Steve Staios, who is currently serving in a dual role as president of hockey operations and general manager. Staios said he consulted with head coach D.J. Smith about adding more support to his coaching staff.
“My job is to identify areas throughout the organization where we can add some support,” Staios said. “Our commitment is to providing all the tools and resources for us to be successful.”
“Right away I thought it was a good idea,” Smith added.
In his new capacity, Martin won’t be on the bench or on the ice with the Senators. Instead, he’ll serve as an additional “eye in the sky” during games, watching games and taking notes from the press box alongside his old pupil Daniel Alfredsson. Martin will help the coaching staff break down video and look for ways to implement structure into the Senators’ system.
“The one thing Jacques is known for is details,” said Smith. “For me and my staff, we’re going to try and get every piece of knowledge he has and introduce it to our team.”
During his initial nine-year run in Ottawa, Martin’s calm demeanour never wavered — even as he navigated a roller coaster of emotions in the market.
A Presidents’ Trophy season.
Multiple playoff heartbreaks.
Even a bankruptcy.
Through it all, Martin was the epitome of a stoic and calm presence behind the Senators bench. And Smith is hoping to tap into that part of Martin’s personality.
“He’s going to bring a real calming presence. Especially in a Canadian market, sometimes you get too excited or fired up one way or the other,” said Smith. “And I think being calm is going to lead into our players.”
At one point on Wednesday, Martin deadpanned, “I was known as an offensive coach when I was here.”
That touch of humour came because Martin built a reputation as a defensive-first head coach, who preached the values of responsible, two-way hockey. But there was a grain of truth embedded in Martin’s joke as well. In his final season in Ottawa in 2003-04, the Senators were the highest-scoring team in the NHL. They finished inside the top five in goal-scoring in each of the previous two seasons prior to that.
Martin’s philosophy hasn’t shifted over the course of three decades: If you take care of the defensive side of the puck, the offence will naturally flow.
“To me it’s about the commitment away from the puck,” said Martin. “A lot of those young players, when they come into the league, focus on offence. They need time to realize that in order to win on a consistent basis and in order to win championships, you need to play a 200-foot game.”
Martin’s arrival in Ottawa should help quiet some of the noise around the future of Smith behind the bench. Staios is wearing two hats right now and admitted on Wednesday that his search for a new general manager to replace Pierre Dorion is “ongoing.”
“We’ll take the time that’s afforded to us,” Staios said.
But by adding Martin to the mix, Staios should satiate a portion of the Senators fan base that was screaming for something to change with Ottawa’s coaching philosophy.
“I think to have someone of that calibre available to us is incredible,” Staios said. “And also the great history of Jacques Martin here with the Ottawa Senators is icing on the cake.”
Martin may not have been able to deliver a championship to Ottawa, but he was part of two Stanley Cups as an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017. On Wednesday, Martin said he vividly recalls the speech Mike Sullivan gave the Penguins when he took over as head coach during the 2015-16 season.
“You need some elite players to win a championship,” Martin recalls Sullivan saying. “But that team mentality needs to be first.”
Martin had spent the past couple of seasons dabbling as a media analyst and an adviser for the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs. He admits he was biding his time, hoping for one last NHL opportunity to come his way. The fact that it’s a full-circle moment for him in Ottawa is just a nice bonus.
“I’ve always had a lot of passion for the game. I don’t think I’ve lost that,” said Martin. “It’s not an easy task to win, but I think this team is well positioned to get to the next level and compete to win a championship.”
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