"Paul MacLean has the luxury of time on his side.

On the eve of Friday's official opening of training camp, the Ottawa Senators new coach was bold enough to suggest the team will eventually return to its glory days as a perennial Stanley Cup contender.

Yet he was also shrewd enough to steer clear of short-term absolutes — "I'm not setting any timetables," he said — while providing a general outline of his approach toward team building.

While the ultimate goal is winning the NHL championship, the Senators under MacLean might be akin to a 200-metre sprinter training for Olympic gold in a few years time.

At the beginning, each step along the course will be analyzed again and again until perfected and the coach is fully expecting some hurdles along the way. His advantage is that no one is expecting that gold-medal performance immediately."