Paul MacLean – Ottawa Senators
When looking into the job that Paul McLean has completed this season, it is impressive to a point.
In his first season as coach of the Sens, the team improved from 74 up to 92 points.
This was a jump from fifth in the northeast, up to second. The one item I feel that takes away from this accomplishment, is the team was relatively healthy.
Very little man games were lost by the big time players for McLean this year. Yes, Anderson, Alfredsson, Gonchar, Kuba, and Neil all missed time. None of them missed more then 10 games.
This provided Ottawa stability in the lineup all season, with Kyle Turris added as a late piece for the push.