The2010–11 Ottawa Senators season was the team's19th season of operation in theNational Hockey League (NHL).[1] The Senators posted a regular season record of 32 wins, 40 losses and 10 overtime/shootout losses for 74 points, failing to qualify for theStanley Cup playoffs for the second time in three seasons. After falling to last place in theEastern Conference by the end of January, the Senators started a rebuild, trading away several veterans for draft choices. Head coachCory Clouston was fired at the end of the season.
Early in the off-season, the Senators signed several players including summer development camp attendeeColin Greening on April 28 andBinghamton Senators forwardRyan Keller on May 19, as well as goaltenderMike Brodeur on May 26. After some media speculation, the Senators also bought-outJonathan Cheechoo's contract on June 29 after he cleared waivers, making Cheechoo a free agent.[2]
At theEntry Draft, the Senators traded their first-round pick to theSt. Louis Blues for defencemanDavid Rundblad, who had been the Blues' first-round pick (17th overall) in the2009 Draft. Having now previously traded their first, second- and fifth-round picks, the Senators pickedJakub Culek in the third round (76th overall),Marcus Sorensen in the fourth round (106th overall),Mark Stone in the sixth round (178th overall) and Bryce Aneloski in the seventh round (196th overall).
Throughout July, the Senators made various signings. On July 13, they signed Swiss forward and2004 Senator draft pickRoman Wick to a one-year, entry-level contract, and re-signedDerek Smith to a one-year contract. On July 22, they re-signed forwardCody Bass to a one-year, two-way contract and forwardMike Hoffman to a one-year, entry-level contract.
On August 5, the Senators re-signed Binghamton defencemanGeoff Kinrade to a one-year, two-way contract as well as signing forward and local prospectCorey Cowick to an entry-level contract. Cowick was an assistant captain with Ottawa'sOntario Hockey League (OHL) team, theOttawa 67's, and was the Senators' sixth-round pick at the2009 Draft.
Of the four RFAs, all re-signed with the Senators. Winchester and Foligno each signed two-year deals on July 1 and July 21, respectively. Campoli and Regin both filed for arbitration, however they each re-signed before it reached that point. Regin signed a two-year deal on July 29, while Campoli signed a one-year deal on July 30.
Of the six UFAs, none re-signed with the Senators. On July 1, the first day of free agency, Volchenkov signed with theNew Jersey Devils while Cullen signed a three-year deal with theMinnesota Wild.[5] On August 2, Sutton signed with theAnaheim Ducks in a two-year deal.[6] Donovan did not sign with any NHL team. St. Pierre and Hennessy both signed with teams overseas.
In early June, anOttawa Sun article reported that starcentreJason Spezza was "unhappy" and that there were "indications [he] may have asked for a trade."[7] Though purely speculation, the article prompted various other Ottawa sports media sources to issue their own perspectives. Theories ranged from conjuring up various trade rumours, noting the similarity to the previous year'sDany Heatley trade demand, or to suggesting that it was just "lazy rumor mongering."[8][9] Meanwhile, theSun received criticism for its journalistic integrity to the point where they had to defend accusations that they were "anti-Spezza"[10][11] This did not stop speculation, however, which was emboldened by silence both from Spezza and general managerBryan Murray.
Spezza finally broke the silence during his annual Celebrity Classic golf tournament on July 20:
I just want to clear up a lot of the talk going on, at no point did I ever demand a trade to Bryan Murray. At the end of the year, I was pretty emotional and upset. I was upset at losing, I was upset at the response I got. I talked to Bryan about it, I see it in the newspapers every year, they talk about me, and I said, if you want to move me, you can move me. I wanna be here, but if he thinks it's best for the team and the city, then he can move me. He told me he wasn't going to move me. To be honest I was happy about it, cause I like being here in Ottawa. It seems like every year it's been talk of "should I get traded, should I not get traded?" My priorities are here in Ottawa, I want to win in Ottawa. It was just a whole lot of hearsay that was going on. I had prior conversations with Bryan, I talked to[head coach] Cory [Clouston], we were all clear on what was going on.
Further, he expressed regret that the issue had become public at all. "Me and Bryan have talked since then and probably our conversation should have stayed between us", he said. "We probably wouldn't even be talking here today. But it happened and it's a reality." His statement largely settled the rumour, apart from some minor speculation (again byOttawa Sun columnists) that Spezza had in fact demanded a trade similar to Heatley.[13] However, sources confirmed with Spezza's team members that the situation was "not even close to the Dany situation."[14]
On June 18, the Senators announced that they would play eight pre-season games, which includes three home games, four road games and one neutral site game. The Senators faced theToronto Maple Leafs three times, and had home-and-home sets against theMontreal Canadiens andNew York Rangers.[15] The Senators also played in the 2010Kraft Hockeyville game inDundas, Ontario, against theBuffalo Sabres. The game was played on September 28, 2010, at the J.L. Grightmire Market Street Arena.[16]
The Senators' regular season schedule was announced on June 22, 2010. The Senators opened the season at home against the Buffalo Sabres on October 8, 2010. The Senators end the season on the road against theBoston Bruins on April 9, 2011.[17]
The Senators' goal for the season was to return to the playoffs for the 13th time in 14 seasons. Media predictions were mostly negative.The Hockey News predicted in their2010–11 Yearbook that the Senators will finish tenth in the Eastern Conference, thereby missing the playoffs.[18]The Hockey News writer Adam Proteau predicted the Senators will finish ninth in the Conference.[19] TheLas Vegas Hilton SportsBook set the odds at 40–1 that the Senators will win the Stanley Cup.[20]
Within a few days of each other, two of the Senators celebrated milestones in wins. On October 22,Daniel Alfredsson scored a hat trick to reach 1,000 points in his career in a win against theBuffalo Sabres. On October 26,Sergei Gonchar played in his 1,000th game in his career. The game saw the Senators set a new team record for fastest two goals.Erik Karlsson andAlexei Kovalev scored only nine seconds apart, breaking the record of ten seconds set in 1995. The Senators defeated thePhoenix Coyotes 5–2.[21]
On November 13, 2010, the 14-year-old daughter of Assistant CoachLuke Richardson died. The team, on a four-game road trip, returned to Ottawa for a "celebration of life" memorial service held atScotiabank Place on November 17. Five-thousand and six-hundred mourners attended the service, including former NHL playersPaul Coffey,Wendel Clark,Doug Gilmour andTie Domi.[22] The team flew out after the ceremony for a game against theCarolina Hurricanes that night. Richardson took a personal leave from the club. He returned to his duties with the Senators in January.[23]
Another player reached the 1,000-point plateau on November 22 when Alexei Kovalev scored at the 10:00-minute mark of the first period. He became the third Russian player to reach the mark. Kovalev later assisted on the game-winning goal as the Senators prevailed over theLos Angeles Kings at home, 3–2.[24]
The Senators set a new modern franchise record starting in the first period of a game of November 29 against theEdmonton Oilers through the game of December 5 against theNew York Rangers. The team went through a scoring drought that lasted 202 minutes and 57 seconds without a goal. The Senators were shut out by theSan Jose Sharks andBuffalo Sabres beforeChris Kelly broke the streak in the second period of a game against the Rangers.[25]
The Senators' poor performances led to constant rumours of a shakeup right through until December. The rumours were heightened in January after the team went on a lengthy losing streak. OwnerEugene Melnyk, who had remained silent during much of the streak, finally broke his silence in an exclusive interview with theOttawa Sun.[26] He made it clear that, despite rumours in the media to the contrary, general managerBryan Murray and Head CoachCory Clouston would be allowed to finish out their contracts and would not be replaced mid-season.[27] Melnyk also assured the team's fanbase that a "plan [was] now in motion" to return the Senators to the status of Stanley Cup contenders, and that "difficult decisions" would be made in the coming months.[28]
Those "difficult decisions" began on February 10, 2011, when the club traded long-time centre and fan favouriteMike Fisher to theNashville Predators for a first-round and a conditional draft pick.[29] The trade was met with mixed reaction from the Senators' fanbase. Some viewed it as an important step in the team's rebuilding process, while others were outraged at the loss of a player who was adored within the community. That outrage was most palpable when a local Ottawaradio station suggested that Fisher's new wifeCarrie Underwood was largely responsible for his move to Nashville, and subsequently banned the play of her music. Underwood is acountry music singer who is based in Nashville, where Fisher had recently begun living during the off-season.
Following the Fisher trade, the Senators traded another lifetime Senator, forward Chris Kelly, to theBoston Bruins in another move which was met with mixed reaction.[30] The team shed salary by tradingJarkko Ruutu and the under-achieving Alexei Kovalev, both of whom were to becomeunrestricted free agent at season's end, to playoff contendersAnaheim Ducks andPittsburgh Penguins, respectively.[31]
Struggling goaltender Brian Elliott, a pendingrestricted free agent, was sent to theColorado Avalanche in exchange for goalieCraig Anderson, who had also been struggling through an inconsistent season.[32]Anderson, scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, was auditioned for a possible contract extension by the organization.[33] Ottawa later acquired goaltenderCurtis McElhinney on waivers on February 28. WithPascal Leclaire's injury status unknown and future with the team in doubt, the Senators finished their schedule with a vastly different goal-tending tandem than they had begun the season with.
Following speculation that longtime Senators defenceman and looming unrestricted free agentChris Phillips would be dealt as part of the rebuilding process, the club instead signed him to a three-year extension on February 27, the day before the trade deadline. With a group of inexperienced young defencemen expected to stock the Senators' blueline in2011–12, Phillips' experience was deemed an important asset. DefencemanChris Campoli was traded on deadline day to theChicago Blackhawks for forwardRyan Potulny and a conditional second-round draft pick, as Ottawa's rebuilding process continued.
For the rest of the season, the Senators rotated call-ups from Binghamton. On March 21, after 11 games with Ottawa, Craig Anderson was signed to a four-year extension by GM Murray. After media speculation on the future of Murray within the organization, Murray re-signed as general manager on April 8 to a three-year extension.[34] After the final game of the season on April 9, Murray dismissed Cory Clouston and his assistant coaches.[35]
bold – qualified for playoffs;y – Won division;z – Placed first in conference (and division) AT – Atlantic Division,NE – Northeast Division,SE – Southeast Division
Binghamton qualified for the Calder Cup playoffs for the first time since 2005. After nearly being eliminated in the first round by theManchester Monarchs, the Senators defeated thePortland Pirates in the second round and swept theCharlotte Checkers in the third round series to advance to the team's first-everCalder Cup Final. The Senators defeated theHouston Aeros in six games to win the Calder Cup championship. GoaltenderRobin Lehner was named the playoffs' Most Valuable Player and received theJack A. Butterfield Trophy.[162]
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