The new season was full of promise for the Ottawa Senators, who had done a tremendous amount of work over the summer to put a very interesting lineup on the ice, including the acquisitions of Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat. Many of the team's immediate needs seemed to have been addressed, including adding some offensive punch to the team, as well as injecting some leadership into the dressing room. However, through the first nine games of the campaign, the Senators have compiled a 4-5-0 record. Sens GM Pierre Dorion has done his job, providing some interesting tools for his coach D.J. Smith to become a competitive club, but so far the Sens are not responding well on the ice, being relegated to last place in the Atlantic Division. The pressure would be palpable for Ottawa's head coach, as the journalist assigned to cover the Senators, Sylvain St-Laurent, mentioned that Smith had a 20-game trial that would be crucial to his career. <The pressure is coming from the market a lot. It's been five to six years since fans have had a taste of the playoffs. It's been a tough couple of years. Some people had told me that the first 20 games of the season were crucial for D.J. Smith. [...] Four wins and five losses, a team that lacks consistency, that's not encouraging for him. - Sylvain St-Laurent</q> The latter even brought up a name as a possible replacement for Smith, saying he wouldn't be surprised, because of the bond of trust between Claude Julien and GM Pierre Dorion, that the former Canadiens coach would be a possible option, should he be fired. <q>I haven't spoken in the last year with Claude Julien, but he lives in Ottawa. He was motivated to work last year, he even went to Beijing to coach a team with minor league players at the Olympics. The last time I talked to him, on the record, he told me he wants to work in the NHL with an interesting organization, with people he gets along with. He and general manager Pierre Dorion have known each other for over 30 years, they are friends. I think it would be a natural fit. - Sylvain St-Laurent</q> After all, even if his career ended in disaster in Montreal, Julien is an experienced coach who has already won the Stanley Cup, speaks French and would like to return to the NHL soon. The Senators will be an interesting case to follow over the next few weeks, if the team doesn't get back on track in November. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/985Sports/status/1588002313389629446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1588002313389629446%7Ctwgr%5E992c9179a3e0f1fabbdd135b4225872688b3d816%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.danslescoulisses.com%2Fclaude-julien-pourrait-il-etre-considere-pour-le-poste-dentraineur-des-senateurs%2F'> </a></blockquote></div> Source: Marqueur.com