DJ Smith finally puts his foot down with Bobby Ryan.

If you want to send a message as a rookie head coach, this is certainly an excellent way to do it. 

According to a stunning report from Ottawa Senators insider Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, it now appears as though Ottawa Senators star forward Bobby Ryan will be made a healthy scratch. Although Ryan has not been the $7.25 million dollar player that he once was for a very, very, long time it comes as no less of a shock to see him made a scratch for the first time in over 12 years. No doubt this has come as a big surprise to Ryan himself and perhaps it will light a fire under a player that has really been nothing but a disappointment in Ottawa for as long as most fans care to remember.

It sounds like 22 year old forward Filip Chlapik will be the man stepping in for Bobby Ryan tonight and I can't imagine there will be a single fan that will disagree with this decision given the level of effort Ryan has displayed in recent years. The move of course was made by Ottawa Senators rookie head coach DJ Smith and in spite of the fact that Ryan has not looked good for the Senators it is a very bold move to make as an inexperienced head coach in the National Hockey League. It is obvious though that Smith has not been happy with the play of Ryan and he made that very clear on Saturday when he spoke to the media regarding the play of his big money forward.

"He's got to get pucks out in our zone and he's got to create some offence for us ... The guys that either produce or are playing hard or working hard get rewarded," said Smith on Saturday. "That's the way we're going to go the rest of the way." 

Well on Sunday Smith put his money where his mouth is and backed up what he said in the media by placing Ryan's butt firmly in the press box for the foreseeable future. According to The Athletic's Hailey Salvian Smith said that he feels the 20 hardest working players on his roster will be in the lineup tonight, which in and of itself may be yet another message to the lackluster Bobby Ryan.