15 Years Later: Evaluating Dany Heatley’s Impact on the Ottawa Senators
By Zain Bhanji
The Ottawa Senators have certainly experienced their fair share of blockbuster trades involving their own beloved superstars since their return to the NHL in 1992
Fans have seen franchise favourites such as Daniel Alfredsson, Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone, and Jason Spezza come and go from the nation’s capital after leaving tremendous legacies behind them in a city that has always appeared to be so close, yet so far from winning.
After six seasons with the Senators, budding star Marian Hossa had begun to elevate into the same stratosphere of the fan favourite players mentioned above. He consistently put up increasing offensive numbers each year and had quickly become one of the most talented players on the roster at the time. However, Hossa failed to translate his regular-season success into the playoffs in each of the six playoff runs he was a part of in Ottawa. As a result of not getting enough out of their young Slovak star, fans and the media began to point fingers at him when it was suggested that the Senators needed to shake the roster up to make a deeper run in the playoffs after appearing only once in the conference finals in the eight straight post-seasons they qualified for.
Following a contentious contract dispute and a disappointing first-round exit in the season prior to the NHL lockout season in 2004/05, the Ottawa Senators finally pulled the trigger on a trade which saw them part ways with Hossa for an elite sniper who would eventually complete one of the most dominant lines the NHL has seen to date.