Ottawa Senators should honour Craig Anderson when he retires

Craig Anderson’s playing days with the Ottawa Senators will likely be over sooner rather than later and the team should honour him once that day comes.

The Ottawa Senators have relied on Craig Anderson since acquiring him back in 2011 and he deserves to be honoured once his playing days are over.

Sending Brian Elliott to the Colorado Avalanche in a straight swap for Anderson has proved to be one of the smartest trades in the team’s history, with the 37-year-old still holding down the starting role while Elliott moved to the St. Louis Blues the summer after being traded.

Since arriving in the Canadian capital, Anderson has amassed 401 regular season appearances with a further 40 appearances in the post-season.

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Across his spell with the Senators, Anderson holds a 191-151-44 record, with a .915 save percentage and a 2.80 goal against average.

Anderson has been a picture of consistency between the pipes for the Sens and even finished fourth in voting for the Vezina Trophy after the lockout-shortened 2012/13 season.

That season saw Anderson post an astonishing .941 save percentage and 1.69 goals against average – helping to the lead the team to the conference semi-finals.

While Anderson was recognised for his heroics during this season, it was the 2016/17 campaign that was truly his greatest and most challenging.

During the 2016/17 season, Anderson’s wife Nicholle was diagnosed with throat cancer – seeing the veteran goalie spend ten weeks away from the team to be by her side during this most difficult of times.

Despite the personal struggles Anderson was experiencing, he returned to the team in style and helped guide them to within one goal of reaching their first Stanley Cup Final since 2007.

To acknowledge his outstanding accomplishment with the Ottawa Senators during the hardest time of his personal life, which also saw him break the team’s record for most wins by a goaltender, Anderson was awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.

Anderson, despite turning 38 next month, is still the team’s preferred choice in net and looks set to play out his ninth full season with the team in his familiar role.

The Illinois native is a UFA after next season and there will be questions as to whether or not he will continue to play.

If Anderson opts to continue, the Senators should bring him back while their young prospects Marcus Hogberg, Filip Gustavsson and Joey Daccord continue their development.

If, however, he decides that he is ready to leave the game behind, then the Ottawa Senators should give him a fitting tribute due to all the years he has dedicated himself to the team and the accomplishments he has achieved in that time.

Since returning to the NHL in 1992, Daniel Alfredsson is the only player to see his jersey raised to the rafters – with his #11 jersey sitting next to Frank Finnigan’s #8 from the original Senators organisation.

Seeing Anderson’s #41 jersey retired could be a fitting honour for a player that has spent the majority of his career with the team and has been one of the most reliable goalies in the league.

The organisation may not be ready to retire his jersey straight away, with Alfredsson being the only player honoured by the team in this way, but they could honour his number and temporarily take it out of circulation before deciding when the time is right to take it away permanently.

Anderson has experienced virtually everything possible with the Ottawa Senators organisation and there’s no player more deserving of being honoured, once his playing days are up, than him.

Next. Christian Jaros invited to play for Slovakia. dark

What do you think Sens fans? Should the team honour Anderson once his playing days are over? What is your favourite memory of the team’s long-serving goaltender? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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