Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said Tuesday that coach D.J. Smith and his entire coaching staff will be back for the 2023-24 season.

The announcement comes two weeks after a change of ownership. New majority owner Michael Andlauer accepted Dorion's recommendation to bring back Smith, who has not made the playoffs in his four-year tenure in Ottawa.

"In dealing with Michael, he said the general manager runs the hockey operations and he decides the coach and my recommendation was for D.J. and his staff to be back," Dorion said in Nashville, Tennessee, site of Wednesday's draft.