Embattled Smith vows to fight on

The embattled D.J. Smith said on Monday that he would be lying if he said he wasn't feeling the pressure, but vowed to fight on as Ottawa Senators head coach.

Smith spoke to reporters after Saturday night's 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning that left the team at 4-6 through its first 10 games. Smith was serenaded with "Fire D.J." chants from the home fans during the loss.

"I'm my worst critic," Smith said. "I want any time that I coach to play a certain way and to play right and to play hard and to play together. When you don't win, like I said, I'm my biggest critic. I go home and I beat myself up. The noise doesn't bother me. It's the fact that when you're not winning, you're frustrated as a coach because you want them to do what you do and win. But our job as coaches is to get the best of the players. Make them play the best. Make them play the right way and that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna work with them and we're going to get out of this."

In his fifth season behind the bench in Ottawa, Smith said his team needs to drown out the noise around them and focus on what's happening on the ice.

"It's pointless," Smith said of listening to outside criticism. "We know we have to get playing better. Structurally, we were too loose last game and we got stung. But we had a great practice today and sometimes things happen and you become stronger because of it. I think this is one of those instances. I think Timmy [Stutzle] probably had his best practice of the year today. It was just dialed in. I think sometimes you just have to stick together more and you trust in the details and the structure of it and you find a way to get out of it.

The 46-year-old Smith also offered a defence of captain Brady Tkachuk whose frustration boiled over after Saturday's loss in criticism of the booing from home fans, calling it "bulls---."

“I understand that they’re passionate fan base and I understand that they love it, but when you face adversity you don’t turn your back on the guys out there," Tkachuk said. We’re playing hard, I know it’s frustrating right now. It’s not like we’re giving up out there, we’re fighting right to the very end. To be honest, that was very frustrating tonight.”

Smith called his captain "passionate."

"We don't wanna focus on the noise, but Brady is a passionate and he was frustrated after the game," Smith said. "Brady chose Ottawa as his home for a long time. He works with the Boys & Girls Club and he is all-Ottawa. He loves the fans and I think when we have anything where there's an opportunity to sign [autographs], Brady's the last guy coming off. He signs until essentially someone on the team pulls him off. So the one thing I know is that Brady Tkachuk loves Ottawa and he loves the fans. At the end of the day, I think he's probably just frustrated and sticking up for his teammates as a leader does, but I can tell you one thing - he loves the community and he loves the fans."

As for that booing and criticism on social media, Smith says he can't let it get to him.

"My job is to win games," Smith said. "It's not always been about winning games, first off. When I got here, it was about developing kids. We put our own pressure on ourselves to be good or great at what you do. That is part of sports. And the thing is, I've played. I've been around [hockey], I understand it. I understand the frustration from the fans, as well. You see the result [of] not getting the results done. I understand that they're passionate and they have the right to be passionate. But my job can't be affected by what noise is [coming] on the outside because if you do that, no matter where you coach, there's always going to be that and there's more than ever now, probably, with social media and that's why I stay off it. No matter where you go, there's gonna be those pressures. So it can affect you and if it affects you in a really negative way, then this probably isn't the profession for you."

Smith has yet to make the playoffs in Ottawa, but the Senators had their best year under Smith last season, posting a 39-35-8 record. Smith has a 124-145-32 record during his time with the team in his first career stint as an NHL head coach.

Prior to being hired by the Senators in 2019, Smith spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He also spent three seasons as head coach of the OHL's Oshawa Generals from 2012-2015.

The Senators' new era under its new owner, Toronto billionaire Michael Andlauer, has gotten off to a rocky start.

On Oct. 27, unsigned restricted free-agent forward Shane Pinto was suspended 41 games for violating the league's gambling rules.

Then on Nov. 1, the team was docked a first-round pick by the NHL for its failure to inform the Vegas Golden Knights of Evgenii Dadonov's 10-team no-trade list ahead of a trade for forward Nick Holden in 2021. The Golden Knights later attempted to trade Dadonov to the Anaheim Ducks the following year, but the deal was reversed upon the discovery of the previously undisclosed no-trade clause.

Dorion, in his eighth season on the job, was dismissed in the immediate aftermath for his part in the saga.

New president of hockey operations Steve Staios, who was hired by Andlauer on Sept. 29, is serving as the team's GM on an interim basis.

The Senators are next in action on Wednesday night with a visit to the Toronto Maple Leafs.