The Ottawa Senators have fired Troy Mann, the longtime head coach of the AHL affiliate Belleville Senators, the club announced late Thursday, not long after he coached the team to a 5-3 victory over the Rochester Americans.
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Mann, whose brother Trent serves as the NHL Senators’ assistant general manager, has a 150-117-15-7 record in 289 games behind the bench.
Belleville assistant coach David Bell will take over head coaching duties on an interim basis. Bell is a former head coach of the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs.
“A change like this is a difficult decision, but we are aligned internally and feel this is necessary for the short and long-term growth of the players in our organization as well as the cohesion in systematic play between Ottawa and Belleville,” said Belleville Senators general manager Ryan Bowness in a press release.
In his time as coach in Belleville, several players graduated from the AHL to the NHL to become key players on Ottawa’s roster, including Drake Batherson, Josh Norris, Erik Brannstrom and, most recently, Ridly Greig.
This season, Belleville is sixth in the AHL’s North Division with 38 points and a 17-22-3-1 record.
“While a change at the head coach position during the season is not an ideal scenario, we felt it was necessary to deliver improved team performance,” said Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion in a press release.
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