The best player in franchise history could become the next coach of the Senators.

That’s right, Daniel Alfredsson.

The odds of him taking over the reigns? For now, let’s put them at 11 percent.

Make no mistake, if the Boston Bruins fire Claude Julien, his name will jump straight to the top of Ottawa’s list. From there, he becomes a great bet.

If not, the field opens up.

But wide enough to include Alfredsson?

Read on.

New general manager Pierre Dorion is going to start the interview process early next week. He is looking for an experienced NHL coach. He will do the due-diligence thing. He will prepare an extensive list of questions and interview a good number of candidates. Why not pick as many brains as possible, just to see how other hockey people view this team? Its strengths, weaknesses and needs. Who knows, one of them may even blow Dorion away with his qualities?

But if Julien becomes available before the process is finished, everyone else can climb into the back seat.

It would take a good pile of cash to land the coach who won the 1996-1997 Memorial Cup (in Hull) and the 2010-11 Stanley Cup, who is currently pulling in a $2.75 million salary with the B’s. Even through the allure of coming home, other teams will be waiving big bucks. But that is elementary.

Julien, whom Dorion gave his first coaching job almost a quarter century ago with the CJHL’s Ottawa Jr. Senators, is a must-have for the NHL team of the same name. This will not be the time for Eugene Melnyk to cut corners, and after his last three head coaches had no experience with the job, at this level, it appears he hears that message.

“Mr. Melnyk has made it very clear to me that we have the resources to hire whoever the best coach is,” said Dorion. “I come a bit from a scouting background, and we always say we’re going to draft the best player available. Well we’re going to hire the best coach available.”

So where does Alfredsson fit in?

Keep reading.

If Julien is retained, other experienced and successful coaches will come under closer scrutiny.

Marc Crawford is a name the Senators are considering. He finished out of the playoffs his last five seasons in the NHL — with Vancouver, Los Angeles and Dallas — but he won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 1995-96, and a championship with Zurich in the Swiss-A league two seasons ago.

Should the St. Louis Blues lose their first-round meeting with the Chicago Blackhawks and fire Ken Hitchcock, he would be offered a sit-down with Dorion.

John Stevens won a Calder Cup as head coach with the Philadelphia Phantoms then spent four years as the Flyers bench boss, then won a Stanley Cup ring with the Los Angeles Kings, where he has been either a head coach, assistant coach or associate coach for the past six seasons. He’d be worthy of an interview.

And the list goes on.

But Alfredsson?

After one season as the Senators’ senior adviser of hockey operations, the best player in franchise history is currently in limbo. He enjoyed learning the management side of things under previous GM Bryan Murray, but he hated not being able to do more, to help the team find success.

Alfredsson, who put on the skates and ball cap while offering instruction at practice from time to time, is unsure of what next season will bring.

Has he ruled out coaching?

“I have not ruled out anything,” he said after Tuesday’s press conference.

Alfredsson does not meet the criteria for the next Senators head coach. He has no experience, other than with his son’s minor hockey team. But if all the proven NHL bench bosses are unavailable, if Dorion has to take a chance on somebody that doesn’t have the experience … why not gamble on old No. 11?

He’d need to be well surrounded, of course.

How about Jacques Martin, an associate coach in Pittsburgh, and Craig Ramsay, who is greatly respected by every player he has ever coached, as his assistants? Give Martin an associate title to bring him home, if need be,

Those two know how to coach defensive hockey, and Alfie knows a thing or two about offence.

“Ideally, someone with head NHL coaching experience would be great,” said Dorion. “But there could be a candidate that is so special out there, that doesn’t have NHL head coaching experience, and he might be the guy that leads us to the promised land. Then he would be the guy that we will hire.”

The No. 1 choice for the Senators at this point would be Julien. But if the options dwindle, the Alfredsson brand in Ottawa wouldn’t be a tough sell.