Ottawa Senators fire head coach, assistants after disappointing season

Ottawa Senators general manager says it was tough, personally and professionally, to fire head coach Dave Cameron and three assistant coaches after the team's disappointing 2015-16 NHLseason.

"This is not a great day and it's not a fun day. We're dealing with human beings here," Pierre Dorion told reporters at a news conference early Tuesday afternoon, a few hours after the moves wereannounced.

"They were all good people. It was tough for me to do on a personal level, and on a professional level."

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The dismissed assistant coaches areAndre Tourigny,Rick Wamsley and Jason Smith.Smith has been offered another position in the organization, but the team did not specify the role or say whether he had accepted it.

Dorionthanked the dismissed coaches for their contributions and wished them "the best of luck."

Ideally, the Senatorswillhave a new head coach in time for the NHL draft, Dorionsaid, adding he would like it to be someone with a commitmenttothe teamplaying more defensively.

Watch the entire news conferencehere.

'We have a team that underachieved'

The Senators finished the 2015-16season with a 38-35-9 record eight points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. An evaluation to examinewhyhad been underway for about a month prior to Dorion'sdecision to terminate the coaching staff.

In late March, Senators owner EugeneMelnykpublicly called out the entire organization for the team'sperformance.

"There's nobody safe when you have a year like we just did. No way. The status quo will just get us [back here]next year,"Melnyktoldreporters."We're going to have to make changes for next year.I'm looking at all of it. It's right across the board."

Dorion said Tuesday he wasn't bound by Melnyk's remarksand that the decision was his.

"We all know Eugene's a very passionate owner. ... He cares so much about us winning that I think he spoke out of passion," he said.

"Were my hands tied? Not at all. ...If you want to coach in the NHL, you have to understand the circumstances. As far as reputation, I think we have a team that underachieved this year. ... I think that's pretty clear on how I feel."

Cameron had served for just more than a year

Cameron, 57, became the 11th headcoach in Sens historywhen he was promoted in December 2014, according to the team.He hadspent the previous three-plus seasons as an assistant coach, andhas a career NHL head coaching record of 70-50-17, or.537 in137 games.

Dorion said Tuesday that Cameron handled his firing professionally, along with the assistants, when they were notified Tuesday morning.

Tourigny, 41, joined the Senators coaching staff inJuly 2015 and hadspent the two previous seasons as an assistant coach with Colorado. Before joining theAvalanche, he served ashead coach and general manager of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

Wamsley, 56, was hired by the Sensin July2010. He is aformer NHL goaltender who played 407 games with the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. Hepreviously had workedwith the Columbus Blue Jackets, and in St. Louis and Toronto.

"We just felt that we needed to make a whole change," Dorion said about the decision to let them go.

"You don't want to string them along. The evaluation has been going on for over a month about why we didn't make the playoffs here. ...Players are part of this, too ... but you can't fire 23 players. You can't."