Ottawa Senators

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Ottawa Senators
Conference	Eastern
Division	Northeastern
Founded	1992
History	Ottawa Senators 1992-present
Arena	Scotiabank Place
City	Ottawa, Ontario
Local Media Affiliates	A-Channel Rogers Sportsnet East TEAM (1200 AM)
Team Colours	Red, Black, White, Gold
Owner	Eugene Melnyk
General Manager	John Muckler
Head Coach	Bryan Murray
Captain	Daniel Alfredsson
Minor League Affiliates	Binghamton Senators (AHL) Charlotte Checkers (ECHL)
Stanley Cups	none
Conference Championships	none
Division Championships	1998-99, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2005-06

The Ottawa Senators are a professional ice hockey team, based in Ottawa, Ontario. They began playing in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a 1992 expansion team, and are the only major league team in the Canadian capital.

[edit] Franchise history

[edit] The Original Ottawa Senators Franchise

The Original Ottawa Senators logo, 1918-34

The original Ottawa Senators existed from 1893 until 1934 (using various team names), winning ten Stanley Cups. The team lasted one more season (1934-35) as the St. Louis Eagles before folding.

[edit] 1992 expansion

The NHL's planned 1992 expansion had several strong contenders, but starting in 1989, original owner Bruce Firestone put together an energetic bid to revive NHL hockey in Ottawa, employing the last surviving original Senator to win a Stanley Cup, Frank Finnigan, as its public face. Firestone was President & CEO of Terrace Investments, a local commercial real estate development company. (Current Senators COO Cyril Leeder was President of Terrace, and Bell Sensplex Executive Director Randy Sexton was V-P).

The revived Senators were awarded one of the two expansion slots (along with the Tampa Bay Lightning) and both would begin play in 1992. The Senators' bid had been considered something of a long-shot, particularly in the face of a financially much stronger bid from Hamilton, Ontario, and ran into financial trouble almost at once, as Firestone had trouble borrowing money to meet the $50-million expansion fee. Firestone had to pay for the whole stadium and the streets and roads leading to the arena. In 1995-96, the Senators moved from the Ottawa Civic Centre to the Palladium (later renamed the Corel Centre and now Scotiabank Place), on January 15, 1996.

[edit] Beginning of a new era

Unfortunately, as with the Lightning's campaign — which many felt similarly won over a stronger St. Petersburg, Florida bid because it was going to be managed by former NHL great Phil Esposito, also its first president — good public relations could not disguise the lack of talent. The modern-day Senators played their first game in the Ottawa Civic Centre, a small and spartan arena by NHL standards, seating only 10,500, and beat the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Montreal Canadiens 5-3 in the opener. Sadly, Finnigan died before the team started play, and the win against the Habs was one of the few tastes of glory the new Sens would experience; as they would have the worst record in the league that year, winning only 10 games with 70 losses and 4 ties (24 points) in the 1992-93 season. As often happens to a sports expansion team, the Senators and their fans would suffer through four more last-place finishes.

[edit] Rod Bryden era

For several years management had trouble securing financing for the construction of an arena. The team received no financial help from government, neither provincial nor federal^{[citation needed]}, including a refusal by the Ontario government to pay for a new $40-million highway interchange. On August 17, 1993, Bruce Firestone resigned after missing mortgage and development payments and was replaced by Rod Bryden, a founder of SHL Systemhouse. A year later he managed to borrow enough to pay for a $188-million arena called the Palladium.

Although widely acknowledged as a well-designed arena, in the years since construction the Palladium arena has been criticized for being remote. It is located in the far west end of Ottawa, and is a long trip from many other areas, especially in the east or the Outaouais, which is the area around Hull, Quebec. Difficulties are compounded by frequent traffic jams before and after games. With no financial help from the government to improve the existing interchange, the team built interchanges and a new bridge that goes over the highway out of its own pocket.

Over the years, the arena has become one of the driving forces for development in Kanata. What was once an arena surrounded by farmland is a growing commercial and residential area.

[edit] Ottawa's turnaround

Two major events occurred for the Sens in January 1996: Jacques Martin became their head coach, and the team moved into its new arena — the 18,500-seat Palladium in Kanata, Ontario, a suburb of Ottawa. While Ottawa finished the 1995-96 season with a poor record, it marked the start of a remarkable franchise turnaround. Daniel Alfredsson became the first Senator to win the Calder Memorial Trophy, the NHL Rookie of the Year Award. Alfredsson, selected 133rd overall in 1994, was also selected to play in the 1996 NHL All-Star Game. The Senators made the playoffs for the first time in 1997. They clinched the seventh seed on the last game of the regular season thanks to a late goal from Steve Duchesne against Dominik Hasek, then of the Buffalo Sabres, giving the Senators a 1-0 win. The Senators then faced the Sabres in the first round of the playoffs and lost in the full seven games. In game seven despite holding a lead, Alexei Yashin would score on his own net allowing Buffalo to tie and eventually win the game.

The Senators won their first playoff series in 1997-98, defeating the New Jersey Devils in six games. Despite defeating the heavily favoured Devils in the opening round, the Senators' lack of depth and experience was easily exposed in the second round against the team that became that season's Stanley Cup runner-up, the Washington Capitals, who quickly disposed of the Sens in five mostly one-sided games.

Ottawa has made the playoffs every year since their original visit. However, they have had limited success, winning only five series in their nine trips to the postseason. They had several consecutive losses to the Maple Leafs, leading to a heated rivalry between the two teams, added to by their geographic proximity in Ontario. A very difficult period for the team was between 1998 and 2001 when the Senators were swept by the Sabres and Maple Leafs, and lost another series to the Leafs all in the first round.

Ottawa was locked in a contract dispute with then-captain Alexei Yashin during 1999-2000. Yashin, who earned the nickname "Cashin" for his actions, held out for the entire season, but the NHL ruled that he remained committed to the Senators for another season. The regular season was successful as they finished with 93 points, in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. However, they had a quick playoff exit after losing in six games in the first round to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

[edit] New millennium

Yashin played during the 2000-01 season, but was stripped of the captaincy before 00-01, and was traded in the following off-season to the New York Islanders for Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt, and the Isles' second overall pick, which the Sens used to draft Jason Spezza. The Senators lost again to the Maple Leafs in the first round, this time in a 4-0 sweep, where they were repeatedly stymied by Leaf goaltender Curtis Joseph.

The Senators finished 2001-02 with 94 points, in third place. In the playoffs, they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in 5 games, limiting the Flyers' high-powered offence to just 2 goals for the franchise's second playoff series win, but fell again to their arch-nemesis, the Maple Leafs, in a tense seven-game affair.

Ottawa's jerseys (from top-left clockwise: Home, Away and Third Jerseys).

The Senators filed for bankruptcy on January 9, 2003, after a long history of debt. They continued regular season play after getting some emergency financing from the NHL. Despite the off-ice problems, Ottawa won the Presidents' Trophy in 2002-03, finishing with a league-best 113 points, making them the first canadian team to have won it since 1989, when the Calgary Flames won it. In the playoffs they defeated Yashin and his Islanders and Philadelphia before coming within one game of making it into the Stanley Cup Final series, falling to the eventual champions, the Devils. In September 2003, the team was purchased by pharmaceutical magnate Eugene Melnyk.

On March 5th 2004, in the game between the Ottawa Senators and the Philadelphia Flyers, The record was set for the most penalty minutes in a game by both teams at 419 penalty minutes. Five Brawls broke out in the last 2 minutes of the game. It took the officials until 90 minutes after the game was over to sort out the penalties. By the end of the game Philadelphia had 213 penalty minutes and seven men left on the bench, while Ottawa finished with 203 penalty minutes and six men left.

In the first round of the 2004 NHL playoffs, the Senators lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 4th time in 4 series against the Leafs. However, the Toronto goalie who came out laughing was now Ed Belfour, not Joseph. By now, Ottawa had developed a strong rivalry with their Ontario cousins and there was a great deal of pressure on the team to finally defeat their archrivals. Two days after the Senators' loss, coach Jacques Martin was fired, and goaltender Patrick Lalime was later traded to the St. Louis Blues. Martin had been coach of the Senators for eight and a half years. He was widely respected, earned a 341-255-96 regular season record with the Senators, had led the team to eight consecutive playoff appearances, and was widely credited with changing the team into a league leader. However, after losing eight of twelve playoff series, including all four series in five years versus the Leafs, team management felt that a new coach was required for playoff success. On June 8, 2004, a mere day after their expansion brethren, the Tampa Bay Lightning, drank from Lord Stanley's Mug for the first time ever, Bryan Murray became the team's fifth head coach.

[edit] 2005-06 season and playoffs

On July 6, 2004, during the 2004-05 NHL lockout, the Senators were looking for a goaltender to replace Lalime, so they subsequently signed unrestricted free agent Dominik Hašek to a 1 year deal just over 1 million dollars plus incentives if Ottawa went deep into the playoffs.

Later on August 23, 2005, shortly after the end of the lockout, Marian Hossa, whose 45 goals for the Senators in 2002-03 were a team record at the time, and had ranked fifth in the league in 2003-04 with 36, was traded with defenceman Greg de Vries to the Atlanta Thrashers for former second overall draft pick Dany Heatley, who had requested a trade out of Atlanta to shake his personal demons associated with Atlanta after being involved in a car crash on September 26, 2003 that killed Thrashers centreman Dan Snyder, who was driving with Heatley at the time. Heatley has since regained the All-Star form he displayed in his rookie year on a line with fellow Rookie of the Year Alfredsson and young centre Jason Spezza, who led the American Hockey League in scoring during the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

On October 5, 2005, Alfredsson and Heatley became the first players to score the winning goals for a shootout in National Hockey League History; they both scored against Toronto's Belfour. Their sticks were subsequently sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

On October 15, 2005, Dominik Hašek recorded his 300th career win in a 5-1 win, stopping 34 of 35 shots.

The Senators' arena, Scotiabank Place, its name since January of 2006 since signing with Scotiabank for a 25 year, $25 million contract.

Dany Heatley also set a team record with the longest consecutive point-scoring streak at 22 games. On February 2, 2006, the team set its own record scoring three short-handed goals in one game in a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Antoine Vermette and Mike Fisher both scored short-handed within the same penalty in the second period and captain Alfredsson scored the third short-handed goal in the third period.

Heatley became the first Ottawa Senator in franchise history to reach 100 points on April 13, 2006, recording two assists during a 5-4 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers and five days later became the first to reach the 50-goal mark and the fifth player to do so in the league in the 2005-06 season. He finished with exactly 50 goals, fourth in the league. His 103 points also recorded fourth in the NHL.

On April 15, 2006, scoring an assist against the Maple Leafs, Daniel Alfredsson became the second player in franchise history to reach 100 points. Heatley and Alfredsson now each hold the team record for most points in a season with 103. Jason Spezza also set a club record with 71 assists despite missing 14 games due to an injury. His 71 assists were second-most in the league by a considerable 25-assist margin — Art Ross Trophy-winner Joe Thornton led with 96 in the assist column.

Meanwhile, defenceman Wade Redden became the first Senator to win the NHL Plus/Minus Award, tied with New York Ranger Michal Rozsival, with a +35, despite missing 17 games due to a sprained ankle and personal reasons. Andrej Meszaros narrowly missed on being the first rookie to win the plus/minus title with a +34 rating. At one point he led the NHL with +39.

Ottawa's alternate logo; a more detailed version of the Senators' trademark Roman legionary logo, turned three-quarters instead of at a profile view. The eyebrows and outlines are darkened to black on the jerseys recently.

On April 29, 2006, the Senators defeated Tampa Bay in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, four games to one. Ray Emery became the first rookie netminder since Philadelphia's Brian Boucher in 2000 to win a playoff series, however from brilliant play from Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller, the Senators were defeated by the Sabres in the second round on May 13, 2006, losing the series four games to one. This loss was particularly devastating since the Senators were the highest-seeded team left in the playoffs after the elimination of the Detroit Red Wings by the Edmonton Oilers. Despite the high expectations, however, the Sens dropped the first three games of the series including two at home; ultimately losing on home ice, in overtime, on a short-handed goal scored by Buffalo's Jason Pominville in Game 5 of the series.

Respected hockey broadcaster Bob McKenzie described the Senators' 2005-06 postseason as "an epic failure".

After their latest playoff failure, Eugene Melnyk (the team's owner) comforted fans in an open letter, by saying that their team would not only win the Stanley Cup in the future, but, once they had it, they would, he boasted, "hoard" it year after year.

[edit] 2006-07

[edit] Pre-Season

In July 2006, the Senators lost four players to free agency; defencemen Zdeno Chara (who signed a 5-year deal with the Boston Bruins), Brian Pothier (who signed with the Washington Capitals), goalie Dominik Hasek, (who's signed a 1-year deal, 750,000+bonuses if Hasek goes back to the Cup Final with the Detroit Red Wings), and forward Vaclav Varada who has signed with HC Davos of the Swiss Elite League). They replaced Hasek with former Carolina Hurricanes starter Martin Gerber and also signed defenceman Joe Corvo, late of the Los Angeles Kings. A short time later, they traded star forward Martin Havlat and centre Bryan Smolinski to the Chicago Blackhawks for Tom Preissing, Josh Hennessy, Michal Barinka and a second-round draft pick in 2008. On September 12, 2006, the club announced that they signed Russian centre Alexei Kaigorodov to a two-year entry level contract. They signed blueliner Jamie Allison, re-signed Antoine Vermette, Chris Neil and Peter Schaefer to avoid arbitration proceedings. They signed Chris Kelly and Spezza for 2 years each, as well as Christoph Schubert.

[edit] Regular season

Main article: 2006-07 Ottawa Senators season

The Senators' early 2006-07 season was characterized by a struggle to reach .500 (an even win-loss ratio). Game-by-game results are available here.

On January 3, 2007 the Ottawa Senators acquired center Mike Comrie from the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for prospect Alexei Kaigorodov. Ottawa was in need of another centre (due to the loss of Spezza, Vermette and Fisher for an extended period of time), and was eager to shed Kaigorodov, who was suspended for refusing an assignment to the AHL's Binghamton Senators after being sent down, instead opting to play in Russia. Phoenix will continue his suspension, meaning he will not be paid until he returns to the NHL.

Heatley was the representative for Ottawa in the 2007 all-star game for the East, managing a 94.0 MPH slapshot and a goal in the East's 12-9 loss to the West, meanwhile Andrej Meszaros and Patrick Eaves went to the NHL Youngstars competition.

At the annual Senators' super skills competition, Mike Fisher accomplished a 102 MPH slapshot, McAmmond was awarded as the fastest skater, and Vermette managed the team best accuracy in the competition, hitting all 4 targets.

On February 22, 2007, at the HSBC Arena facing the Buffalo Sabres which was also Bryan Murray's 1200th game, a brawl broke out after Senators' forward Chris Neil laid a legal hit on an unsuspecting Sabres' captain, Chris Drury. Drury's helmet was dislodged by the force of the hit and he crashed to the ice, sustaining a concussion and a cut to the forehead which required 20 stitches. Neil did not receive a penalty for the hit but Sabres rookie Drew Stafford immediately went after Neil and the two received 5 minute fighting penalties. Immediately following the next faceoff, a fight broke out involving all 12 players on the ice, including the goalies. Senator goalie Ray Emery fought with both Sabre's goalie Martin Biron and later enforcer Andrew Peters. Even the coaches starting arguing and yelling at each other about the Neil hit. 54 penalty minutes were handed out to the Senators with a total of 118 between the two teams. Both goalies were ejected, receiving game misconducts, as did Peters. The Senators lost 6-5 in a shootout. Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff was fined $10,000 by the NHL for his role in the brawl. In the rematch on February 24, 2007, the Senators won 6-5 in regulation.

[edit] Third sweater

The current home sweater of the Ottawa Senators was originally introduced as a third sweater in 1997, and in 1999 replaced the Senators' original black sweater, which was identical in design to the white sweater still in use today.

The current third sweater was introduced in 2000. It was black with coloured stripes of red, white, and gold. The gold strip is modeled after an ivy length around the jersey. The same striping pattern is found on the sleeves. The logo is the same as on the home jersey, with a Roman soldier at a three-quarters view instead of at a profile view.

[edit] Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Records as of February 20, 2007. ^[1]

¹ Season was shortened due to the 1994-95 NHL lockout.

² Season was cancelled due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

³ As of the 2005-06 NHL season, all games will have a winner; the OTL column includes SOL (Shootout losses).

[edit] Players

[edit] Current roster

As of January 3, 2007. [1]

Goaltenders
#		Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
1		Ray Emery	L	2001	Cayuga, Ontario
29		Martin Gerber	L	2006	Burgdorf, Switzerland

Defencemen
#		Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
2		Lawrence Nycholat	L	2007	Calgary, Alberta
4		Chris Phillips - A	L	1996	Calgary, Alberta
5		Christoph Schubert	L	2001	Munich, West Germany
6		Wade Redden - A	L	1996	Lloydminster, Saskatchewan
7		Joe Corvo	R	2006	Oak Park, Illinois
14		Andrej Meszaros	L	2004	Považská Bystrica, Slovakia
24		Anton Volchenkov	L	2000	Moscow, U.S.S.R.
42		Tom Preissing	R	2006	Arlington Heights, Illinois

Forwards
#		Player	Position	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
11		Daniel Alfredsson - C	RW	R	1994	Gothenburg, Sweden
12		Mike Fisher	C	R	1998	Peterborough, Ontario
15		Dany Heatley	RW	L	2005	Freiburg, West Germany
16		Brian McGrattan	RW	R	2002	Hamilton, Ontario
19		Jason Spezza	C	R	2001	Mississauga, Ontario
20		Antoine Vermette	LW	L	2000	Saint-Agapit, Quebec
22		Chris Kelly	LW	L	1999	Toronto, Ontario
25		Chris Neil	RW	R	1998	Markdale, Ontario
27		Peter Schaefer	LW	L	2002	Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan
37		Dean McAmmond	LW	L	2006	Grande Cache, Alberta
44		Patrick Eaves	RW	R	2003	Calgary, Alberta
61		Oleg Saprykin	LW	L	2007	Moscow, Russia
89		Mike Comrie	C	L	2007	Edmonton, Alberta

• To see the Senators' individual player pages, click here.

[edit] Team Captains

[edit] Hall of Famers

Builders

• Roger Neilson, Assistant/Head coach, 2001-03, inducted 2002

[edit] Retired Numbers

• 8 Frank Finnigan, RW, 1923-31 & 1932-34 (original Senators), number retired October 8, 1992.
• 99 Wayne Gretzky's number was retired league-wide by NHL on February 6, 2000.

[edit] First-round draft picks

• 1992: Alexei Yashin (2nd overall)
• 1993: Alexandre Daigle (1st overall)
• 1994: Radek Bonk (3rd overall)
• 1995: Bryan Berard (1st overall)
• 1996: Chris Phillips (1st overall)
• 1997: Marian Hossa (12th overall)
• 1998: Mathieu Chouinard (15th overall)
• 1999: Martin Havlat (26th overall)
• 2000: Anton Volchenkov (21st overall)
• 2001: Jason Spezza (2nd overall) & Tim Gleason (23rd overall)
• 2002: Jakub Klepis (16th overall)
• 2003: Patrick Eaves (29th overall)
• 2004: Andrej Meszaros (23rd overall)
• 2005: Brian Lee (9th overall)
• 2006: Nick Foligno (28th overall)

[edit] Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; * = current Senators player

[edit] NHL awards and trophies

Presidents' Trophy

• 2002-03

Calder Memorial Trophy

• Daniel Alfredsson: 1995-96

NHL Plus/Minus Award

• Wade Redden: 2005-06 (shared with Michal Rozsival of the New York Rangers)

Jack Adams Award

• Jacques Martin: 1998-99

[edit] Franchise individual records

• Most Goals in a season: Dany Heatley, 50 (2005-06, 2006-07)
• Most Assists in a season: Jason Spezza, 71 (2005-06)
• Most Points in a season: Dany Heatley, 105 (2006-07)
• Most Penalty Minutes in a season: Mike Peluso, 318 (1992-93)
• Most Points in a season, defenseman: Norm MacIver, 63 (1992-93)
• Most Points in a season, rookie: Alexei Yashin, 79 (1993-94)
• Most goaltender wins in a season: Patrick Lalime, 39 (2002-03)
• Most shutouts in a season: Patrick Lalime, 8 (2002-03)
• Lowest G.A.A. in a season: Ron Tugnutt, 1.79 (1998-99)
• Best SV% in a season: Dominik Hasek, .925 (2005-06)
• Highest +/- rating in a season: Daniel Alfredsson, +42 (2006-07)

[edit] Miscellaneous

[edit] Television broadcasting

Local coverage of the Ottawa Senators can be found on Rogers Sportsnet and A-Channel. National coverage is less frequent; however national broadcasting is usually done by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which has increased the number of Senators games broadcast on Hockey Night in Canada in 2006-07 compared to previous seasons. Five games in 2006-07 are to be broadcast on pay-per-view in the Ottawa area; this started with a game at Detroit on December 12, 2006.

[edit] See also

• List of Ottawa Senators players
• Head Coaches of the Ottawa Senators
• Battle of Ontario
• Spartacat
• List of NHL players
• List of NHL seasons
• List of ice hockey teams in Ontario

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Ottawa Senators

• Official website of the Ottawa Senators