Music: {allcanada} Senators ink Adams winner MacLean to extension

Thursday, July 4, 2013

{allcanada} Senators ink Adams winner MacLean to extension

The Ottawa Senators have signed Jack Adams Award winner Paul MacLean to a three-year contract extension, the team announced Thursday.

MacLean has led the Senators to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons as the club's coach. He is 66-48-16, and was named the League's top coach in 2012-13 after leading the injury-ravaged Senators to the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference. They upset the second-seeded Montreal Canadiens before losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round.

"In two years, Paul has made a significant impact on the entire franchise, both on and off the ice," Senators general manager Bryan Murray said in the team's press release. "We feel that under Paul's direction we have been able to develop into a team that is competitive each and every night and we are confident that he is the person we want behind the bench to lead us to our goal of being a championship level team."

He was also a finalist for the Jack Adams in his first season as Ottawa's coach.

Before joining the Senators, MacLean was an assistant to Mike Babcock with the Detroit Red Wings for six years and the Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks for two seasons. They won the Stanley Cup together in 2008.

"Paul represents what we want to become as both a hockey club and as a franchise," Senators owner Eugene Melnyk said in the release. "He is a hard-working coach and an outstanding teacher and mentor of the game. Paul's ability to communicate openly and honestly with our players and prospects has been key to our on-ice success. He came to us with a history of winning and has instilled that same winning mindset with our players and our coaching staff. I am very pleased and proud to extend Paul's contract and look forward to his many future contributions to our team and to our city."