Dating back to their origins in the early 1990s, the Ottawa Senators have seen a number of stars and superstars leave for other teams for various reasons. As you comb through their past, Ottawa has never been able to draft, develop, and retain a star player for their entire career, and rarely beyond their second NHL contract. Of course, it has happened again this week with the trade of Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers, leaving Senators fans once again wondering why stars always depart Canada’s national capital.
Now, in fairness to the Senators, there are many teams in the NHL that haven’t been able to keep players for their entire careers. After all, even Michael Jordan famously put on a Washington Wizards uniform at the end of his NBA career. And Wayne Gretzky wore four different NHL jerseys. But most teams have at least one star who has remained with that organization for the entire run of their career, and most, if not all, teams have retained a star for the entire duration of their third NHL contract. Yet, for whatever reason, Ottawa struggles to do that consistently, and it has to be concerning going forward, as their current star players will be looking for a third contract in the near future.
Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza are two stars who were drafted and developed by the Senators and then signed a third contract with the Senators. They might, in fact, be the only two who did so, but even in Spezza’s case, he was traded to the Dallas Stars with one year remaining on that third contract after he’d asked for a trade. And that is a common theme for the Senators during their tenure in the NHL.
Now, in fairness to Ottawa, their first 10-12 years in the NHL were marked by financial difficulties, which often meant trading away star players when they became unaffordable. This became particularly apparent in their early 2000s trade of star Alexei Yashin to the New York Islanders. Yashin wanted a big payday, and Ottawa opted to move him on his way, taking back Zdeno Chara, the second overall pick (which became Spezza), and Bill Muckalt. The deal was a massive win for Ottawa, but it did start a trend of stars either being moved out or moving on their own.
The story was similar for Marian Hossa, Chara, Wade Redden, Dany Heatley, Alfreddsson, Spezza, Erik Karlsson, and Mark Stone. Not all of those players were drafted by Ottawa, but most were developed into premier assets in Ottawa, and none of them stayed for the long haul.
Now, the interesting part is that they all left for different reasons. For some, it was money; for others, it was opportunity. But at the end of the day, the Senators have never held onto that star player for the long haul, unless you count defenseman Chris Phillips, who had a nice career but was hardly a star.
So all of that leads us to this week and the Brady Tkachuk saga, which has now ended with a trade to the Florida Panthers. Tkachuk reportedly asked for a trade at some point this summer, and the Senators moved quickly to facilitate the transaction to avoid distraction. Much will be made of Tkachuk’s request and the potential reasons behind it, which could range from family considerations to geographical ones. In any event, Tkachuk joins a long list of Senators stars who left quite early in their careers for other teams.
In some cases, the stars who left went on to find great success. Stone, Hossa and Chara went on to win Stanley Cups with their respective teams. By contrast, other former Sens stars hit rock bottom, in particular Heatley, who never came close to matching his production in Ottawa, played just six seasons in the NHL after a trade to the San Jose Sharks, and saw his NHL career end at just 34 years of age. Redden was another former Senators star who was essentially banished to the AHL because of his contract and rode the bus for a few seasons before eventually retiring.
The most notable star to leave Ottawa was Alfredsson, who departed after an illustrious Senators career at age 40. Now, Alfredsson was a special case, having signed multiple extensions with Ottawa, but he joined the Red Wings in July 2013 because he viewed it as an opportunity to chase a Stanley Cup. This has been true of several other stars as well, as the Senators have seen their window of contention run its course, forcing the team to move out their stars. This was the case with both Stone and Karlsson, as they were approaching free agency and Ottawa was about to enter a rebuild. It’s hard to fault the team for looking to recoup assets in either case, and in the Karlsson case, they were able to get an absolute haul for their three-time Norris Trophy winner.
At the end of the day, Ottawa’s far from the only team to have contentious endings with their star players, but they do seem to have an issue keeping them into their 30s, which may or may not be the worst thing, depending on how you look at it. Sure, the players’ legacies may not be cemented in Ottawa because they played for other teams as long or longer than they played for Ottawa. However, the Senators recouped assets for many of these players and didn’t overpay them through their 30s.
That likely doesn’t give many Senators fans peace of mind, as they’ve had to watch countless stars leave for greener pastures. This week’s Tkachuk trade reminded them of that. With many stars still in the fold in Ottawa, the team and the fans will be hoping that the likes of Tim Stützle and Jake Sanderson hang around for the long haul to take the team to new levels of success. One thing that should give Senators fans some silver lining is that most of the players who have left Ottawa in recent memory have done so because the team was closing its competitive window, and for right now and the near future, Ottawa’s window should remain wide open.
