The Ottawa Senators are approaching their 35th anniversary as an NHL club. Over their history, there have been some not-so-good trades and some home-run-hitting trades. So, over that 34-season span, which ones are considered the best? Let’s take a look at the top five best:
5. Ullmark for Korpisalo, Kastelic, & 2024 1st-round pick
Is putting this trade here premature? Potentially, but even for what it is, the Senators were left in a much better position by making the trade, and today, they still look better for it. At face value, Ottawa traded for a Vezina-winning goaltender from the Boston Bruins who still has one year left on his contract; they easily got the best player.
The season prior, Ottawa had committed to Korpisalo being their starting goalie in free agency, giving him a 5-year, $4M AAV contract. To that point, he had never been a bona fide starter, with the most games he’d played in a season being 39. He had two seasons with an above-.900 save percentage. When he played for Ottawa, he had developed the nickname “Fourpisalo” and was notorious for letting in a goal on the first or second shot of the game.
In the trade, Ottawa retained $1 million a season for the rest of his contract, which is a pittance with the rising cap. The Senators also moved Mark Kastelic, who was destined to be nothing more than a 4th-line centre with the Senators but has found a nice role with the Bruins. Funnily enough, the Bruins got their 1st-round pick back in this deal, as Ottawa acquired it from the Red Wings in the Alex DeBrincat trade.
Ullmark had a down season, the worst of his entire career, including junior levels. He had left the team for mental health reasons and was able to get the help he needed. Upon his return, he went 14-4-3 with a .904 SV%. He was Ottawa’s best player by far in the playoffs, posting a .932 SV%. Ullmark has a lot more to give and will be back to form with all of the support systems in place this coming season.
4. Kyle Turris for David Rundblad & 2012 2nd-round pick
At the time, this was seen as a serious gamble for a player who had underperformed. Turris was selected 3rd overall in the 2007 draft and had only tallied 46 points in 137 games. Rundblad had just finished a historic season in the SHL, putting up 50 points in 55 games, which is still the second-highest point total by a defenceman in the league ever. Some believed that the Phoenix Coyotes won the trade easily with Rundblad’s potential. However, that was not the case, as Rundblad was never able to get a foothold in the NHL and only played in North America for four seasons before leaving for Europe.
Turris, on the other hand, immediately became a producer in Ottawa, playing up to his potential. In 407 games, Turris had 274 points, with his highest in 2014-15 with 64 points. He was one of the most clutch players when it was crunch time for the Senators, with multiple game-winning goals in the playoffs. He also played a very responsible two-way game. Turris was eventually traded to the Nashville Predators in the three-way trade for Matt Duchene.
3. Craig Anderson for Brian Elliott
One of the rarer trades you’ll ever see, a goalie-for-goalie swap with the Colorado Avalanche in 2010-11. The Senators were in the doldrums of the league, in last place in the Eastern Conference, and had a struggling starter in Brian Elliott. Elliott, to that point, was 13-19-8 and sporting a .894 SV%. The Senators made the decision to move away from the goalie they’d developed. Anderson was struggling himself, with an .897 SV%.
Anderson, a year prior, however, had finished 4th in Vezina voting, 9th in Hart voting, and was an All-Star. It was clear the Avalanche had taken a step back. Elliott continued to struggle on the Avalanche the rest of the season. Anderson, on the other hand, posted an insane .939 SV% in his 18 starts for Ottawa, pulling them out of 1st overall contention.
Elliott was able to find success on the St. Louis Blues the following season and finished with a very respectable career. Craig Anderson ended up becoming the greatest goaltender the Ottawa Senators have ever had. Over his 10-year career with Ottawa, he finished with 435 games played, 202 wins, and a .914 SV%. He finished 4th in Vezina voting in 2012-13 and sits 3rd all-time in playoff SV% with a .929.
2. Yashin for Muckalt, Chara, & 2001 2nd overall pick (Spezza)
A blockbuster in one of the truest senses of the word. Yashin had already sat for the entire 1999-2000 season for refusing to report to the team because of a contract dispute. The Senators didn’t want to be without one of their star players another year, and a decision needed to be made. The rest is history, with the Senators sending Yashin to the New York Islanders for a haul that included the 2nd overall pick. Yashin signed a 10-year deal with the Islanders and was still productive for the most part, posting 290 points in 346 games. However, just six years after signing, the Islanders bought out Yashin, and he never played an NHL game again.
The haul the Senators got was substantial, though. Muckalt didn’t become much of anything for the Senators in the single season he played, with 8 points in 70 games. Outside of that, however, the Senators acquired the tallest NHL player in league history and a legitimate top-pairing defenceman for the Senators over the four seasons he played for the team. He finished second and fourth in Norris voting in 2003-04 and 2005-06. The Senators were tasked with choosing between the hulking Slovak and Wade Redden, and unfortunately, they chose incorrectly by re-signing Redden. Chara went on to sign with Boston and become one of the best two-way defencemen of the last two decades, even winning a Norris in 2010-11.
The Senators used the 2nd overall pick to select Jason Spezza, who became the team’s #1 centre from 2003 until 2013. Over that decade-long period, Spezza was one of the best offensive players in the league, with multiple 30-goal seasons, four 80+ point seasons, and even finding himself finishing 6th in Hart voting in 2011-12. Spezza was a key part of the iconic ‘pizza’ line in Ottawa that featured Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson. Spezza still sits second in all-time team scoring and will go down as one of the best Senators of all time. Spezza was traded to the Dallas Stars in the summer of 2013-14, and unfortunately, that trade would definitely not find itself on a list like this.
#1: Karlsson & Perron for Tierney, Balcers, DeMelo, Norris & four picks
Arguably the greatest trade in Senators history because of everything that it brought to the Senators from the San Jose Sharks. Though included, both Balcers and Perron didn’t end up becoming anything significant for the organization. The Senators packaged the 2019 2nd and their own 3rd-round pick to move up in the 2019 draft and select Mads Søgaard, who is no longer with the organization. The 2021 2nd-round pick was used to draft Zach Ostapchuk, who was used to acquire Fabian Zetterlund last season.
Chris Tierney played in 277 games for the Senators and never really reached the potential his game showed early on. In his first season with the Senators, he totalled 48 points and dropped off after that, becoming a free agent in 2021-22. Dylan DeMelo is still considered to be one of the players that ‘got away’ for Senators fans. DeMelo showed instant chemistry with sophomore defenceman Thomas Chabot, helping Chabot to his best season of his career. DeMelo was the perfect fit with Ottawa and had the potential to be a mainstay with the club. Unfortunately, the Senators traded him to the Winnipeg Jets in 2019-20 for a 3rd-round pick.
Josh Norris was an impressive prospect at the time, the 19th overall pick in the 2017 draft. Norris potentially immediately skyrocketed once traded to the Senators, with a good World Junior performance, a good college season, and, the year following, an excellent season in the AHL. Norris had the makings of a top-six centre with great goal scoring. His best season with the Senators came in 2021-22, where he amassed 35 goals and 55 points in 66 games. However, with Norris, he could never stay healthy. The most games he’s played in the NHL were 66, and he still struggles. Norris was traded to Buffalo in a deal that included forward Dylan Cozens.
Finally, the 1st-round pick from San Jose became the franchise’s best forward in decades: Tim Stützle. San Jose’s season in 2019-20 was a stark contrast from their season prior, when they were in the Western Conference Finals. To be able to sign Karlsson to the contract they did, the team gutted much of its depth and even resulted in losing Joe Pavelski to free agency, and the rest of its core was aging. Injuries, age, and bad goaltending led to a stark downfall for the team. The Sharks are only now rounding into form after multiple large-scale deals, one of which included trading Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
As for Erik Karlsson, he is still one of the better defencemen in the league. He even had a 101-point season in his last year with the San Jose Sharks and won the Norris. If you ask Senators fans if they would do the trade again, they would all definitely say yes, but some might hesitate because they might think, what could have been if Karlsson had stayed?
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