Ottawa Senators Tickets

Canada’s capital finally got an NHL team back in 1992. The current franchise is the second team to use the Ottawa Senators name. The original Senators were founded in 1883 and played in the NHL from 1917 to 1934. The team won 11 Stanley Cups, including multiple Cups from the era when NHL clubs played teams from other leagues. Although the current Senators are a different franchise from the original club, banners commemorating the original club’s 11 Stanley Cup titles hang in the rafters of the Canadian Tire Centre.

The Senators played their first season in 1992-93 and made the playoffs for the first time in the 1996-97 season under coach Jacques Martin. In the late 90s, the Senators made a key trade: they moved Alexei Yashin — who had previously sat out a season because of a contract dispute with the team — to the New York Islanders for star defenseman Zdeno Chara and a second overall pick, which they used to draft Jason Spezza.

Spezza joined Daniel Alfredsson, who became the Senators’ captain in 1999. Before the 2005-06 season, the Senators acquired Dany Heatley from the Atlanta Thrashers. The trio of Heatley, Alfredsson, and Spezza formed one of the deadliest lines in the NHL. They led the Senators to their first Stanley Cup Final in 2007, but they were defeated by the Anaheim Ducks

After Alfredsson left the team in 2013, star defenseman Erik Karlsson assumed his role as the Senators’ captain. Karlsson had become one of the best defensemen in the league since joining the Senators in 2009. Karlsson won the Norris trophy after the 2014-15 season, in which he scored 20 goals and 66 points. In 2017, Karlsson — while dealing with a serious foot injury — led the Senators on a surprise run through the playoffs. He scored 18 points in 19 games before the team was eliminated in the Eastern Conference Final by the Pittsburgh Penguins.