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Ottawa Senators players the team gave up on too soon

The Ottawa Senators have let several players go who went on to find success elsewhere, raising questions about whether the team moved on too soon.
BySpencer Lazary|
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Mar 31, 2016; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Ottawa Senators forward Mika Zibanejad (93) skates with the puck in the second period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. the Ottawa Senators beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 31, 2016; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Ottawa Senators forward Mika Zibanejad (93) skates with the puck in the second period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. the Ottawa Senators beat the Minnesota Wild 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Every NHL team has a few trades it would love to have back, and the Ottawa Senators are no different. Looking back through the team's history, there are a number of players Ottawa moved on from too early, only to watch them become much bigger pieces elsewhere.

Here are two recent examples of players that the Senators gave up on too early, and it came back to bite them.

Mika Zibanejad

The 2016 trade that sent Mika Zibanejad to the New York Rangers for Derick Brassard is still one of the toughest ones to look back on. Ottawa drafted Zibanejad sixth overall in 2011, and by the time the trade happened, the 23-year-old was starting to look like a legitimate top-six centre, scoring 51 points in 81 games in his last season with the club. The Senators were looking for a more proven player at the time and believed Brassard could help them win right away.

Brassard spent three seasons in Ottawa scoring 100 points in 201 games. However, Zibanejad continued to develop into one of the better centres in the NHL. He eventually became a consistent 70-point player with the Rangers, scoring 667 points in 730 games over 10 seasons. Unfortunately, the Senators made the choice to go with a grizzled veteran over a young, up-and-coming center and paid the price for making the move.

Ben Bishop

The Ben Bishop trade is another one that didn't age particularly well for Ottawa. The Senators had Craig Anderson, Robin Lehner, and Bishop competing for playing time in 2013, and the team was looking for more offence at the deadline. Bishop became the odd man out. Ottawa sent him to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for forward Cory Conacher. Conacher never really found his footing, only playing in 72 games over a season and a half.

Bishop, meanwhile, went on to establish himself as one of the NHL's better goaltenders. The 6-foot-7 netminder became a Vezina Trophy finalist multiple times and helped Tampa Bay reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2015. At the time, Ottawa had a legitimate reason for making the move. The problem was that the return didn't come close to matching what Bishop eventually became. 

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