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He’s one of the league’s top coaches and sports what many consider to be the best mustache in all of sports. And now the Ottawa Senators are working on a contract extension for bench boss Paul MacLean. Coming off of a season in which he won the Jack Adams, it’s probably a deserved one.
MacLean’s contract was initially set to run out after the 2013-14 season, but the Senators and their head coach are believed to be nearing a two-year extension that would keep him behind the bench until after the 2015-16 season. In a short time, he’s proven to be one of the game’s best coaches.
Since taking over as head coach of the Senators after the 2010-11 season, MacLean has found nothing but success with Ottawa, even in the face of some pretty tough situations. The Senators made a surprise playoff run in 2011-2012, grabbing the no. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference after winning 41 games.
This season was an even tougher one for the Senators, yet they managed to hang around in the playoff race the entire season, grab a spot, and advance to the second round after knocking off the no. 2 seed in five games. That playoff berth came without Jason Spezza or Erik Karlsson in the mix for much of the season, as well as Craig Anderson being absent from the net for a good chunk of the year.
It was Ottawa’s performance during the year, without those three key players and several other injuries throughout the year, that helped MacLean to win the Jack Adams Award, following his second consecutive nomination. Given how much adversity this team faced, it was an easy call.
This new deal for MacLean is seen as something that will absolutely be done very soon. It’s just a matter of putting the pen to the paper, and the Senators will have one of the game’s best coaches locked up for another couple of years.
