Top Five ‘What-Ifs’ in Ottawa Senators History
Despite three Eastern Conference Finals appearances, one Eastern Conference Championship, and a Presidents’ trophy, the Ottawa Senators have never been able to grab an elusive Stanley Cup championship. Each failure along the way brings forward new questions of what could have been if things happened a bit differently.
Having begun watching hockey during the 2002/2003 regular season, I know many avid Senators fans have had no shortage of heartbreak over the years. I know my first came that same season when Jeff Friesen of the New Jersey Devils ended the Senators’ hopes of Stanley cup glory in game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals. A moment that left me devastated as a young fan. I remember reflecting on that game thinking: “What-if Hossa never hit the post? Would the Senators be champions?”.
I think it is fun to speculate on these ‘what-if’ scenarios and what could have been in an alternate reality. So, I have taken it upon myself to compile a list of five ‘what-if’ scenarios that I believe would have had the biggest impact on the Senators’ franchise and the ability of the Ottawa Senators to win Stanley Cup championships. For this list, I avoided alternate draft picks because it is too easy to say Ottawa would win if they drafted Pavel Datsyuk instead of another player. Keep in mind that some of these scenarios stem from unconfirmed rumours.
Warning: This list will likely leave you punching the air multiple times over if you are a fan of the Ottawa Senators.
#5: Peter Forsberg for Alexandre Daigle
With the first overall selection in the 1993 NHL draft, the Ottawa Senators were poised to select the next French-Canadian superstar, Alexandre Daigle.
Daigle was considered a can’t-miss prospect at the time of the draft so it was no surprise that he walked out of the building as an Ottawa Senator. As it turns out, Daigle was very much a can-miss prospect, never scoring more than 51 points in a season during his career. This is not a terrible point total, but it is not what is expected of a franchise-altering number one pick.
Recently, I have started to see discussion and speculation that another Canadian team made an offer for the first-overall pick from the Ottawa Senators. This team was the Quebec Nordiques.
The Quebec Nordiques were in a state of financial turmoil during the early 1990s. It makes sense that the Quebec Nordiques, looking to increase revenues, would target the next French-Canadian superstar.
The rumour speculates that the Quebec Nordiques offered the Ottawa Senators a package deal that included Peter Forsberg, for the right to draft Alexandre Daigle.
I am not certain this deal would have turned the early 1990’s Ottawa Senators into an immediate contender, as those teams had a lot of issues. However, I do believe that the late 90’s teams that included a young Daniel Alfredsson and Alexei Yashin would have benefited tremendously from the addition of Peter Forsberg. Forsberg also had 106 points in the 2002/2003 season that saw the Senators finish as Presidents’ trophy winners.
What-if the Ottawa Senators pulled the trigger on this deal?
#4: Keeping Zdeno Chara over Wade Redden
Following the 2005/2006 NHL season, the Ottawa Senators were in a difficult situation regarding their stud defensemen. Both Zdeno Chara and Wade Redden were on expiring contracts and it became increasingly evident that there was only room to sign one of them.
The Senators’ General Manager at the time, John Muckler, decided to keep Wade Redden over Zdeno Chara. At the time, it stung to lose the presence of Zdeno Chara on the blueline, but the sting was mitigated by the Ottawa Senators making a run to the Stanley Cup finals in the 2006/2007 season.
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It wasn’t until the decline of the team in the years following 06/07 and the decline of Redden as a player, that fans started to ask themselves what the team might have looked like if Chara was still anchoring the blueline.
After all, Chara has been a defensive force for the Boston Bruins all the way through this past decade and has just now started to regress heavily. Comparatively, Wade Redden began to regress almost immediately and ended up departing Ottawa via free agency in 2008, just two years after deciding to keep him over Chara. Chara also won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011.
What-if the Ottawa Senators decided to keep Zdeno Chara over Wade Redden?
#3: Game Seven
Game seven, when everything is on the line. One win and you advance, one loss and your season is over. The Ottawa Senators have participated in 6 playoff series’ that have reached the fabled game seven plateau. Ottawa has managed to win a grand total of zero. This is what happened last time the Ottawa Senators played a game seven. 2017 NHL playoffs, Eastern Conference finals, double overtime, ticket to the Stanley Cup finals on the table.
I apologize for putting Ottawa Senators fans through that moment again. I did warn you at the beginning of this piece. I strongly considered titling this slide “What-if Chris Kunitz Didn’t Exist?” but decided against it. The reason that this is included in a list of top ‘what-ifs’ in Ottawa Senators history is because of a moment at the 0:15 second mark of that video.
If you watch the video back, you will see that a dangerous blueline pass from Sheary to Schultz was very nearly picked off by Viktor Stalberg. It was the end of a long shift, so I am not sure if he would have certainly busted in on a breakaway and sent the Ottawa Senators to the Stanley Cup finals. For the sake of this list, he would have.
I decided to make #3 Game Seven, instead of just this one game because there is undoubtedly many moments that might have shifted the Senators onto the other side of history in other game sevens. If any of these previous game sevens had gone the Senators’ way, maybe this team has a Stanley Cup ring by now.
What-if the Ottawa Senators could win a game seven?
#2: Cody Ceci for Taylor Hall
A now-famous tweet from Bob McKenzie broke the news of a trade that shook the hockey world on June 29th, 2016. Taylor Hall had been traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Adam Larsson.
Trade is one for one: Adam Larsson for Taylor Hall.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 29, 2016
The New Jersey Devils would pull off a heist in this deal. Taylor Hall is a superstar forward in the NHL. In the 2017-18 season, he scored 93 points in 76 games, good for a Hart Trophy as the most valuable player in the league.
TSN’s Darren Dreger would shed light on a trade that fell through between the Edmonton Oilers and the Ottawa Senators that would have seen Taylor Hall in a Senators jersey.
“These two clubs came real close to making a pretty big trade not that long ago and just couldn’t get it done, and that trade was Taylor Hall for, I think they finally got to a place where Ottawa was willing to consider Cody Ceci, so it would have been Hall for Ceci, but it had to be cleared in Ottawa through ownership and before they could get clearance Hall got traded to New Jersey for Larsson.” – TSN’s Darren Dreger to TSN1260’s Dustin Nielson on January 4th, 2018
This deal would have been massive for the Ottawa Senators. Imagine the 2017 playoff run with Taylor Hall supplying top-line firepower. Who knows if it would have been enough to get past the Pittsburgh Penguins but it would have increased the odds a lot in my opinion. Cody Ceci would remain in Ottawa until July 1st, 2019 when he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in return for Nikita Zaitsev and Connor Brown. Ceci would often draw the ire of fans for his frequent defensive blunders.
What-if the Senators traded Cody Ceci for Taylor Hall?
#1 Dominik Hasek Injury
The 2005/06 Ottawa Senators were poised to make a deep playoff run. They finished the regular season 1st in Eastern Conference with a 52-21-9 record. This roster was absolutely stacked. Dany Heatley scored 50 goals for the first time in his career while amassing 103 points. Daniel Alfredsson had 103 points. Jason Spezza had 90 points to fill out the big-three of this roster. This roster also had depth on offence. Martin Havlat was nearly a point per game despite missing 58 games. Mike Fisher, Antione Vermette, Peter Schaefer, and Patrick Eaves all scored 20 or more goals.
On defence, this roster had the most talented defence corps this franchise has seen to date. It included the likes of Wade Redden, Zdeno Chara, Chris Philips, Anton Volchenkov, and Andrej Meszaros.
To top it all off, a legendary hall of fame goaltender, Dominik Hasek. Hasek had a .925 save percentage during the regular season. The team was showing no signs of slowing down their dismantling of the league.
That was until the 2006 Winter Olympics.
During the first game of the tournament, Dominik Hasek played just six minutes against Germany before leaving with an injury. He never played another game for the Ottawa Senators.
Without their legendary goaltender, the powerhouse Senators limped into the playoffs winning only 3 of their last 10 games. Ray Emery would step up with a valiant effort in goal, getting the Senators to the second round where they would lose against the Buffalo Sabres in 5 games.
The team that placed second in the Eastern Conference behind Ottawa in the regular season, the Carolina Hurricanes, would go on to win the Stanley Cup.
Next. Ottawa Senators: Defence Outlook 2020-21. dark
This one is a definite #1 for me because of how well this team was built. They seemed to have everything that a championship team needs. I don’t mean to cast all of the blame on Ray Emery either, he played admirably given the shot to team morale that comes with losing a legendary goaltender. I truly believe that was the year the Ottawa Senators had the best chance of bringing a Stanley Cup to Ottawa.
What-if Dominik Hasek didn’t get injured in the 2006 Winter Olympics?
An honourable mention goes out to the 2004/05 NHL lockout. The lockout froze NHL play at a time when Ottawa was contending for Stanley Cups every year. Another ticket to the dance could have been the one to get Ottawa a championship.
After ranking the top five ‘what-ifs’ in Senators’ history, now it is time to firmly bury them in the past and look forward to the next generation of Ottawa Senators as the exciting rebuild progresses towards “Unparalleled Success”.