Ottawa Senators clean out lockers after disappointing season

The Ottawa Senators cleaned out their lockers at Canadian Tire Centre on Monday as the team readies for an off-season of change, which began this weekend with a new general manager.

• Bryan Murray steps down as Senators GM
• Eugene Melnyk says 'nobody safe' after disappointing season
• Just breathe, Senators fans, as disappointing season draws to a close

After Sens owner Eugene Melnyk indicated change was on the horizon, Bryan Murray made the first move by stepping down as general manager to take on an advisory role next season.

Pierre Dorion was promoted to take Murray's spot after almost a decade with the franchise, and he's been left with several key decisions.

Those include whether to keep head coach Dave Cameron, who helped lead a remarkable run in the spring of 2015, but couldn't get the team on track this past season.

"It's a group, everybody who's out there every day has to take a little look in the mirror to see what they can improve on," said forward Mark Stone.

"As far as the coaches go, I think as players we just do our job and try to do it to the best of the ability. We didn't do it that well this year."

"We are not playing right now and that hurts, it's definitely well below our expectations," said goaltender Craig Anderson.

Injuries a factor

Dorion also must decide on how to improve a roster that lacks veteran forward depth, which was clear after the team failed to overcome the injuries to Kyle Turris and Clarke MacArthur.

"I think going into the season we thought we had a good chance, I think we had a good team," said captain Erik Karlsson.

"Getting some injuries on some of our key players hurt us more than we think, we didn't really have anything to back in up unfortunately, when times got tough we didn't get everything out of everyone that we needed."

"We couldn't establish an identity, we had issues in different parts of the game, we had injuries, we couldn't seem to get going and keep rolling," said Turris.

"I think changes are inevitable at this point, when you don't make the postseason the season counts as a failure," said defenceman Marc Methot.

"I think with this group, everybody felt that we severely underperformed and again, that leads to changes."

World Championships

A few Senators will keep playing meaningful hockey next month.

Defenceman Cody Ceci and Stone are joining head coach Dave Cameron on Team Canada for the World Hockey Championship in Russia next month. (Cameron will be an assistant coach.)

"[I've known] for about a week now, it was tough to keep it in," said Ceci.

"That was a cool moment for me, getting the call to go. I wasn't sure what was going to happen… I never thought in a million years it would happen this soon."

"I'm excited, it's obviously disappointing when you don't make the playoffs… but I'm excited to keep playing," Stone said.

"It's a new experience for me, I've represented Hockey Canada once but I've never been to Europe to do it."

Defenceman Chris Wideman will be on Team USA.

Prescott, Ont., defenceman Ben Hutton of the Vancouver Canucks is also capping off his rookie year with a spot on Team Canada.