Ottawa Senators

From Free net encyclopedia

Ottawa Senators
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	Image:Alternate-1999.gif
Logo	Alternate logo
Founded	1992
Home ice	Scotiabank Place
Based in	Ottawa, Ontario
Colours	red, black, white
League	National Hockey League
Head coach	Bryan Murray, 2004-
General manager	John Muckler, 2002-
Team Captain	Daniel Alfredsson
Alternate captains	Zdeno Chara Wade Redden
Team Owner	Eugene Melnyk
Most Games	Daniel Alfredsson: 692
Most Points	Daniel Alfredsson: 653
First Game	Ottawa 5-3 Montreal (Ottawa; October 8, 1992)
Largest Win	Ottawa 9-1 New York Rangers (Ottawa; January 24, 2003) Ottawa 8-0 Toronto (Toronto; October 29, 2005)
Largest Defeat	Ottawa 0-10 Calgary (Calgary; January 15, 1994) Ottawa 1-11 St. Louis (Ottawa; February 26, 1994)
Stanley Cups	0

This article discusses the current National Hockey League team. For the original NHL team, see Ottawa Senators (Original).

The Ottawa Senators are an ice hockey team based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They play in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Founded: 1992-93 (franchise awarded December 6, 1990)

Arena: Scotiabank Place (capacity 19,311)

Former Home Arena: Ottawa Civic Centre (1992-1995)

Uniform colours: black, red, white

Logo design: Roman legionnaire

Division titles won: 4 (1998-99, 2000-01, 2002-03, 2005-06)

President's Trophies won: 1 (2003)

Stanley Cups won: none

Rival(s): Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens

Minor league affiliates: Binghamton Senators (AHL), Charlotte Checkers (ECHL)

Nickname: "Sens"

[edit]

Team History

Image:Senslogo1mgs.jpg

[edit]

The original Ottawa Senators

One of the greatest and most famous teams of the early years of hockey, the Ottawa Senators existed from 1901 to 1934 -- winning nine Stanley Cups in that time -- before relocating to St Louis, MO. as the St Louis Eagles for the 1934-35 season.

[edit]

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, using the last surviving original Senator, Frank Finnigan, as its public face. The new-look Senators won one of the two slots (along with the Tampa Bay Lightning) and began play in 1992. The Senators' bid had been considered something of a long-shot, and ran into financial trouble immediately. Firestone had trouble borrowing money to meet the 50 million dollar expansion fee.

[edit]

Beginning of a new era

Unfortunately, as with the Lightning's campaign -- which many felt similarly won its bid over a more favoured St. Petersburg group because it was led by former NHL great Phil Esposito -- 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 arena by professional standards, seating 9,862, and beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-3. Tragically, Finnigan died before the team started play, and the win against the Habs was the last bit of glory the new Senators would see; they were the second worst team in the league, losing 70 games in the 1992-93 season (only the San Jose Sharks had a worse record, which included an NHL record 71 losses) , and suffered through several miserable seasons there after.

[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, including a refusal by the Ontario government to pay for a new $25M highway interchange. On August 17, 1993, Bruce Firestone resigned after missing mortgage and development payments and was replaced by Rod Bryden, a former high tech tycoon. 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 arena has been criticized for being difficult to reach. 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. Difficulties are compounded by frequent traffic difficulties at game time, as well as the isolation of the arena, which makes it difficult for celebrations to continue naturally after the game. Highway improvements are planned.

[edit]

Turnaround

Two major things happened for the Ottawa Senators in January 1996: Jacques Martin became their head coach and the team moved into their new arena, the 18,500-seat Palladium (now known as the Scotiabank Place, seating 19,311) in Kanata, a suburb of Ottawa and now part of the city 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 Trophy. The 1996-97 NHL season saw the Senators make the playoffs for the first time, where they lost a thrilling seven-game series to the Buffalo Sabres.

The Senators won their first playoff series following the 1997-98 NHL season, 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 exposed in the second round against the Washington Capitals who quickly disposed of the Sens in five games.

[edit]

New Millenium

Ottawa was locked in a contract dispute with Alexei Yashin during the 1999-00 NHL season. Yashin (who some fans referred to as 'Cashin' throughout this incident) held out for the entire season, but it was ruled that he still owed the Senators a year. The regular season was successful, as they finished with 93 points, in second place, however a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs ended the playoffs quickly. Yashin played during the 2000-01 season, but was traded in the summer of 2001 to the New York Islanders for Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt, and the Islanders' first round, and second overall, pick, which the Senators 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 Leafs' goaltender Curtis Joseph.

The Senators finished the 2001-02 NHL season with 94 points, in third place. In the playoffs, they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in 5 games limiting the Flyers high powered offense to a measly 2 goals for the franchise's second playoff series win, but fell again to their nemesis, the Maple Leafs, in a tense seven-game affair. Image:Ottawasenatorsjerseys.PNG 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 President's Trophy in the 2002-03 NHL season, finishing with a league-best 113 points. In the playoffs they defeated the Yashin-led New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers before coming within one game of making it into the Stanley Cup final series, falling to the eventual champions, the New Jersey Devils. In September 2003, the team was purchased by pharmaceutical magnate Eugene Melnyk.

Ottawa has made the playoffs every year since their original visit. However, they have had limited success, having won only four series in their eight trips to the postseason, including several consecutive losses to the Maple Leafs, leading to a heated rivalry between the two teams.

In the first round of the 2004 NHL playoffs, the Senators lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 4th time in 5 years after their goalie, Patrick Lalime, let in two pillow-soft goals in the series 7th game. 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, Jacques Martin was fired and Patrick Lalime was later traded to St.Louis. Jacques Martin had been coach of the Senators for eight and a half years. Martin was widely respected, had a 341-255-96 regular season record with the Senators and had led the team to eight consecutive playoff appearances, and was widely credited with changing the team into a strong league leader. However, after losing eight of twelve playoff series, including four straight to the Maple Leafs, team management felt that a new coach was required for playoff success. On June 8, 2004, Bryan Murray became the team's fifth head coach.

[edit]

2005-06 Season

On August 23rd, 2005, shortly after the end of the 2004-05 NHL lockout, Marian Hossa, was traded with defenceman Greg de Vries to the Atlanta Thrashers for former first round draft pick Dany Heatley, who had requested a trade out of Atlanta to shake his personal demons associated with Atlanta after causing a car crash that killed teammate 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 Alfredsson and young centre Jason Spezza, who led the AHL in scoring during the lockout.

On October 5th, 2005, Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley became the first players to score the winning goals for a shoot out in NHL History, they both scored against Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Ed Belfour. Their sticks were subsequently sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

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

Dany Heatley became the first Ottawa Senator in franchise history to reach 100 points on April 13th, 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.

On April 15th against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Daniel Alfredsson became the second player in the franchise to accomplish this feat with an assist. Heatley and Alfredsson now 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. Meanwhile, Wade Redden became the first Senator to finish first in the plus/minus category with a + 35 despite missing 17 games due to an injury and personal reasons.

Andrej Meszaros narrowly missed on being the first rookie to win the plus/minus title with a + 34 rating.

[edit]

Jerseys

[edit]

Third Jersey

The Third Jersey of the Ottawa Senators was introduced in 2000. It was black with coloured strips of red, white, and gold. On the gold strip were black arrows following each other around the jersey. The same stripping pattern went on the sleeves too. The logo is the same of the home jersey, a Roman's head looking out.

[edit]

Season-by-season record

CQF = Conference Quarter Finals, CSF = Conference Semi Finals, CF = Conference Finals

Logo	Season	GP	W	L	T	OTL	PTS	GF	GA	PIM	Finish	Playoffs
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	1992-93	84	10	70	4	--	24	202	395	1716	6th in Adams	Out of playoffs
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	1993-94	84	14	61	9	--	37	201	397	1710	7th in Northeast	Out of playoffs
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	1994-95¹	48	9	34	5	--	23	117	174	749	7th in Northeast	Out of Playoffs
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	1995-96	82	18	59	5	--	41	191	291	1553	6th in Northeast	Out of playoffs
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	1996-97	82	31	36	15	--	77	226	234	1087	3rd in Northeast	Lost in CQF
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	1997-98	82	34	33	15	--	83	193	200	1091	5th in Northeast	Lost in CSF
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	1998-99	82	44	23	15	--	103	239	179	892	1st in Northeast	Lost in CQF
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	1999-00	82	41	28	11	2	95	244	210	850	2nd in Northeast	Lost in CQF
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	2000-01	82	48	21	9	4	109	274	205	1062	1st in Northeast	Lost in CQF
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	2001-02	82	39	27	9	7	94	243	208	1347	3rd in Northeast	Lost in CSF
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	2002-03	82	52	21	8	1	113	263	182	1135	1st in League	Lost in CF
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	2003-04	82	43	23	10	6	102	262	189	1270	3rd in Northeast	Lost in CQF
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	2004-05²	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	2005-06	82	52	21	--	9	113	312	205	1462	1st in Eastern Conference	--
Logo	Grand Totals³	GP	W	L	T	OTL	PTS	GF	GA	PIM	Highest Season Finish	Highest Playoff Finish
Image:Ottawa Senators.gif	14 NHL Seasons	1036	435	457	115	29	1014	2971	3069	15924	1st in League	Conference Finals

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

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

³ Including only newest franchise's NHL years.

[edit]

Notable players

[edit]

Current squad

As of April 21, 2006 [1]

Goaltenders
Number		Player	Catches	Acquired	Place of Birth
1	Template:Flagicon	Ray Emery	L	2001	Cayuga, Ontario
30	Template:Flagicon	Mike Morrison	L	2006	Medford, Massachusetts
32	Template:Flagicon	Kelly Guard	L	2004	Prince Albert, Saskatchewan
39	Template:Flagicon	Dominik Hasek (Injured Reserve)	L	2004	Pardubice, Czech Republic

Defencemen
Number		Player	Shoots	Acquired	Place of Birth
2	Template:Flagicon	Brian Pothier	R	2002	New Bedford, Massachusetts
3	Template:Flagicon	Zdeno Chára - A	L	2001	Trencin, Slovakia
4	Template:Flagicon	Chris Phillips (Injured Reserve)	L	1996	Fort McMurray, Alberta
5	Template:Flagicon	Christoph Schubert	L	2001	Munich, West Germany
6	Template:Flagicon	Wade Redden - A	L	1996	Lloydminster, Saskatchewan
14	Template:Flagicon	Andrej Meszaros	L	2004	Povazska Bystrica, Slovakia
17	Template:Flagicon	Filip Novak	L	2005	Ceske Budejovice, Czechoslovakia
24	Template:Flagicon	Anton Volchenkov	L	2000	Moscow, U.S.S.R.

Forwards
Number		Player	Shoots	Position	Acquired	Place of Birth
9	Template:Flagicon	Martin Havlat	L	RW	1999	Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic
10	Template:Flagicon	Tyler Arnason	L	C	2006	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
11	Template:Flagicon	Daniel Alfredsson - C	R	RW	1994	Gothenburg, Sweden
12	Template:Flagicon	Mike Fisher	R	C	1998	Peterborough, Ontario
15	Template:Flagicon	Dany Heatley	L	RW	2005	Freiburg, West Germany
16	Template:Flagicon	Brian McGrattan	R	RW	2002	Hamilton, Ontario
19	Template:Flagicon	Jason Spezza	R	C	2001	Mississauga, Ontario
20	Template:Flagicon	Antoine Vermette	L	C/LW	2000	Saint-Agapit, Quebec
21	Template:Flagicon	Bryan Smolinski	R	C/LW	2003	Toledo, Ohio
22	Template:Flagicon	Chris Kelly	L	C/LW	1999	Toronto, Ontario
25	Template:Flagicon	Chris Neil	R	RW	1998	Markdale, Ontario
26	Template:Flagicon	Vaclav Varada	L	LW/RW	2003	Vsetín, Czech Republic
27	Template:Flagicon	Peter Schaefer	L	LW	2002	Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan
36	Template:Flagicon	Steve Martins	L	C/LW	2005	Gatineau, Quebec
44	Template:Flagicon	Patrick Eaves	R	RW	2003	Calgary, Alberta
45	Template:Flagicon	Denis Hamel	L	LW	2003	Lachute, Quebec

[edit]

Hall of Famers

Roger Neilson (Assistant Coach/Coach)

[edit]

Team Captains

Laurie Boschman 1992-93
Brad Shaw, Mark Lamb and Gord Dineen 1993-94
Randy Cunneyworth 1994-98
Alexei Yashin 1998-99
Daniel Alfredsson 1999-present

[edit]

Retired numbers

8 Frank Finnigan (from the original Senators franchise, RW, 1923-31 & 1932-34)
99 Wayne Gretzky (retired league-wide by the NHL)

[edit]

Ottawa Senators top 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)
2002: Jakub Klepis (16th overall)
2003: Patrick Eaves (29th overall)
2004: Andrej Meszaros (23rd overall)
2005: Brian Lee (9th overall)

[edit]

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in the history of the Senators. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season. Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Player	POS	GP	G	A	Pts
Daniel Alfredsson	RW	629	219	349	568
Alexei Yashin	C	504	218	273	491
Radek Bonk	C	689	152	247	399
Marian Hossa	RW	467	188	202	390
Shawn McEachern	RW	454	142	162	304
Wade Redden	D	629	78	208	286
Martin Havlat	LW	280	96	123	219
Magnus Arvedson	RW	393	92	118	210
Andreas Dackell	RW	401	65	115	180
Alexandre Daigle	C	301	74	98	172