Dave Cameron, ex-Senators coach, calls Melnyk's comments 'hurtful'
Cameron, 3 assistant coaches dismissed Tuesday after Sens miss playoffs
Former Ottawa Senators head coach Dave Cameron says he was hurt by public comments owner Eugene Melnyk made about his coaching abilities before he was fired at the end of the team's disappointing season.
"It was hurtful. I didn't think there was any need for it. I felt like I was fired for three weeks, every day," Cameron told a gathering of reporters Thursday morning at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Cameron and three assistant coaches were let go Tuesday after the Senators finished the 2015-16 season eight points out of a playoff spot.
Melnyk was openly critical of the team's performance — and Cameron's decision-making in particular — towards the end of the season, reaching back as far as the team's home opener to call his head coach's lineup construction "stupid."
Cameron's firing was announced Tuesday by Pierre Dorion, who took over as the team's new general manager Sunday after former GM Bryan Murray announced he was stepping down.
Dorion struck a decidedly different tone when he announced the firings.
"They were all good people," Dorion said about firing Cameron and assistant coaches Andre Tourigny, Rick Wamsley and Jason Smith. "It was tough for me to do on a personal level, and on a professional level."
Trying to 'digest' firing
Speaking publicly for the first time since losing his job, Cameron criticized the very public way in which Melnyk voiced his displeasure with the Senators' misfortunes.
"He can evaluate me all he wants, my coaching, he can fire me, I understand all that," Cameron said.
"There's no reason for being hurtful. We're human beings, at the end of the day."
Cameron also said multiple times during Thursday's press conference that he was still trying to "digest" the news of his dismissal.
The 57-year-old became the 11th head coach in Sens history when he was promoted to the job in December 2014, after spending the previous three-plus seasons as an assistant coach.
He has a career NHL head coaching record of 70-50-17, good for a .537 winning percentage.