Top 10 worst moments in Ottawa Senators franchise history

Jeff Friesen game winning goal
Jeff Friesen game winning goal | Al Bello/GettyImages
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9. Historic bad first season goes down in ugly infamy

In 1991, the NHL would bring hockey back to Ottawa with the expansion Senators, but the Senators would have to wait until the 1992-93 season to begin their existence. 1992 marked the first time that the NHL would be played in Ottawa since the original Senators moved in 1934 to St. Louis, Missouri.

The NHL returning to Ottawa for the first time in 58 years brought excitement for Ottawa citizens, but the excitement quickly turned ugly. In one of the worst seasons by a team in NHL history, the Senators finished with putrid 10-70-4 record. Ottawa's record was good for 24 points overall. Five players on the team had a +/- rating of -40 or worse. In another lopsided stat, the Senators were outscored 395 to 202 during the season.

The head coach of the 1992-93 Senators was Rick Bowness. If someone said 17 years later that Bowness would help lead the Dallas Stars to the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals as interim head coach, most would've said absolutely not. Laurie Boschman served as the Senators captain during the historic bad season in 1992-93, and only recorded 16 points on the season. After the 1992-93 season, Boschman never played an NHL game again.

On a bad team, Norm Maciver would lead the team with 63 points, and also led the team with 46 assists. Sylvain Turgeon led the team with 25 goals, but no other player on the team outside of Maciver recorded over 50 points. Goaltender Peter Sidorkiewicz finished the season with a 8-46-3 record with a 4.46 goals against average. For the Senators to be part of one of the worst seasons in NHL history, it will always be ugly for the franchise.

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