Tkachuk's passion is admirable, but Senators fans have reason to boo

It was bound to happen. 

An emotional Senators captain, coming off another loss, boos ringing in his ears as he skates off the ice, lashing back. 

Brady Tkachuk went off a little bit. Who doesn’t admire that passion in their young leader?

“Whenever you don’t win it’s frustrating and it’s frustrating the negativity from the outside, it’s the constant booing and the bullshit kind of, from the crowd tonight was – I understand they’re a passionate fan base. I love it,” Tkachuk said, sweat still rolling off his brow following a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

“But I mean, when you face adversity, you don’t turn your back on the guys out there and I mean, we’re playing hard. I know it’s frustrating right now but it’s not like we’re giving up out there. We’re fighting to the very end. So to be honest with you I was very frustrated (with the booing).”

There was more. Tkachuk went on to say that he and his teammates have never quit “on the people that paid money to support us.” He said that it is “non-negotiable in our group that we finish hard no matter what. And we leave it all out there.”

This is where there may be a slight disconnect. I don’t know a single fan of this team who would suggest this group has ever quit. That is not why they are upset, not why they chanted “Fire D.J.” or booed the team as it left the ice. 

They are booing because this year was supposed to be different, with a new owner, new president of hockey operations, and a payroll full to bursting. 

This was the season the Senators would avoid that lousy stretch of games in October and November that doomed their playoff hopes before fans could blissfully imagine the first playoff game on home ice since 2017. Or at least be competitive to the final game of the regular season. 

Instead, they are seeing their team lose five of their last six games, 4-6 overall, making the same mistakes in the same sensitive areas by a team that has had the same coaching staff for four-plus years. Fans have invested in this Senators group in a big way. With hearts and wallets.

They dared get their expectations up, that this was a playoff-calibre team. They bought tickets in bunches, caught up in the swirl of excitement around new ownership and the idea of a fresh culture with the added bonus of tapping into the past with the return of Daniel Alfredsson and other Sens alumni. 

These home games, where the Sens have lost four of seven, are playing to 90 per cent capacity at the Canadian Tire Centre with an average crowd of 17,762. 

Given the current economy and cost of living, that is pretty darn strong. 

And I am sorry, Brady, these fans love your passion and leadership but they also have a right to boo. 

Have you been to a game – any game – in Philadelphia?

Fans aren’t booing the players as much as they are booing the situation and the same pattern of losing. Early mistakes, costly goals. Soft as butter coverage in the defensive zone. 

They play a horrible second period and try to make up for it with a big, futile push in the third.  

Last Thursday, they fell behind 3-0 to the disciplined Los Angeles Kings and rallied to make it close, a 3-2 loss. 

On Saturday, the Lightning rolled to an easy 4-1 lead, and the Senators fought back in the third to close the gap to 5-3 and finally took a 6-4 loss. A garbage time rally. Tkachuk battled throughout and scored two of Ottawa’s goals. 

Brayden Point never had an easier hat trick. 

At different points in the game, fans chanted for the Senators coach to be fired. 

In the end, they booed the team off the ice and again chanted for a firing. 

It isn’t difficult to imagine where the frustration stems from. And it has little to do with the players’ effort. Fans want that effort channeled in a constructive way. 

They want to see an effective system executed. And if players wander or freelance, sit them down for a few shifts, although that is next to impossible on the back end with three starting defencemen out. But it’s the forwards who aren’t helping their D-men. 

Other teams are surviving minus big players. The New Jersey Devils are winning without Jack Hughes. The Boston Bruins lost two massive centres over the summer and defensive stalwart Charlie McAvoy to a recent suspension and roll on with their system and strong coaching. 

It’s the first week of November and those Bruins have an 11-point lead on the Sens. 

At the ten-game mark, a significant marker for taking stock of a team’s season, Ottawa is looking up at seven teams ahead of it in the Atlantic Division including a three-point gap up to 7th place Florida. 

Good Lord, how did this happen? In this year of the Great Expectations!

Sure there are 72 games left. But don’t be fooled that things will automatically improve. 

I’ve quoted Yogi Berra in this space numerous times, and it’s worth saying again. It gets late early out there. Old Yogi was talking about the difficulty of playing left field in Yankee Stadium, due to the effect of the sun in the late innings. 

It gets late early in the NHL, too, in the competitive Atlantic within a tough Eastern Conference. 

The new Sens owner, Michael Andlauer, only arrived on the scene in late September, after a long summer of getting this $950M deal approved by the NHL. 

President of hockey operations Steve Staios checked in a week after Andlauer. 

The two of them have already had to fire a general manager. They don’t seem to be in a hurry to change coaches, too. 

I get that. They want to assess this team fully. Perhaps when it is less banged up. 

Figure out personnel needs, hire the right GM and let him decide on a coach. 

Andlauer and Staios are in it for the long haul, taking a big-picture approach. 

But they need to understand why fans want a quicker change behind the bench, to salvage something from this season before it’s too late. 

Those booing fans have nothing against their valiant captain. 

They are booing six years of non-contention that was supposed to end this season. 

The Senators have another tough week ahead, with a Wednesday game against a grumpy Maple Leafs team, then back home to face the rolling Vancouver Canucks on Thursday. 

That leaves one more home game, against the Calgary Flames Saturday, before the Sens depart for a pair of games in Sweden. 

November has the potential to be hellish yet again. 

What will it take to spark a turnaround?