The Ottawa Senators have been up and down over the past five seasons and their moves at each trade deadline indicate how management felt about their chances. Over that span, the Senators leadership has shifted from Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza to Erik Karlsson. Despite this, the club made the playoffs three times over the past five years and a new youth movement has given them hope for the future.
Here’s a look at trades made by the Ottawa Senators over the past five deadlines:
2010 Trade Deadline
In 2010 the Senators were no longer the elite team that made it to the Stanley Cup final in 2007 led by a lethal first line of Alfredsson, Spezza and Dany Heatley. However, at the deadline Ottawa was still a top-10 team in scoring and general manager Bryan Murray was hoping a little help on defence would be enough of a boost to get them back to the Cup final again.
Despite not making any moves on trade deadline day, Murray did haul in veteran defenceman Andy Sutton from the New York Islanders to help a blueline spearheaded by Chris Phillips, Filip Kuba, Anton Volchenkov and Karlsson, who was in the midst of his rookie season.
Sutton averaged more than 19 minutes of ice time in Ottawa, but his presence wasn’t enough for the Senators. Ottawa’s goal differential with him in the lineup was a minus-8 and the Senators lost the division title to the Buffalo Sabres. Ottawa went on to lose in the opening round of the playoffs to the Pittsburgh Penguins, although Sutton averaged 23 minutes of ice time in the series.
Meanwhile, the Islanders parlayed the second round draft pick they got for Sutton into a first round pick and selected Brock Nelson with it.
2011 Trade Deadline
F Ryan Potulny, 2011 2nd rd pick D Chris Campoli, conditional pick
What a difference a year made for the Senators. Ottawa went from pushing the offensively gifted Penguins to six games in the playoffs, including a pair of overtime losses, to having the second-worst record at the trade deadline in 2011. The Senators were just three points from the bottom of the NHL and were legitimately fighting for the first overall pick in the NHL Draft.
As a result the Senators went all-in on a new youth movement at the trade deadline. Although Ottawa made just one move at the deadline, they traded away veteran forwards Alexei Kovalev, Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Kelly and Mike Fisher for draft picks in the days leading up to it. Those picks turned into Max McCormick, Shane Prince, Stefan Noesen, and Jarrod Maidens.
Generally speaking, these picks didn’t work out for the Senators, although that perception may change in time. However, only McCormick and Prince are still in Ottawa’s system.
McCormick has six goals and 14 points in 39 games with the AHL Sens this year and has yet to play in the NHL. Prince has played three seasons in the AHL and has 18 goals and 42 points in 49 games this season. He made his NHL debut in mid-February, playing in two games with the big league club and picking up an assist.
Noessen was sent to Anaheim in the Bobby Ryan trade. Meanwhile, Maidens had to give up on hockey after he was unable to overcome concussion-like symptoms from a hit that he suffered as a 17-year-old.
The Senators also swapped netminders with the Colorado Avalanche in the days leading up to the 2011 deadline. Brian Elliott went to Denver and Craig Anderson came to Ottawa and still serves as the club’s no. 1 goalie four years later.
With their only trade deadline day deal the Senators used their draft pick from the Blackhawks to acquire forward Matt Puempel. Puempel, who made his NHL debut Saturday, had 30 goals in the AHL last season and is third in club scoring this season with 12 goals and 32 points in 51 games.
2012 Trade Deadline
D Matt Gilroy D Brian Lee
For the second-straight season things were completely upside down at the trade deadline. The Senators had gone from a bottom feeder to a playoff team in 2011-12, largely in part to a resurgent offence and the breakout of Erik Karlsson, who went on to win the Norris.
As a result, Ottawa didn’t want to do anything big and wanted see if their new youthful roster was the start of something special. So, they simply swapped one low-end defenceman for another. Gilroy only played 14 games with the Senators and is now in the KHL, while Lee played 42 games over two seasons with the Lightning, but had to retire in 2014 due to knee problems.
Also, with Craig Anderson putting up solid if unspectacular numbers as Ottawa’s No. 1 netminder, the club decided to add some depth to their goaltending situation the day before the deadline. With Robin Lehner just 20 and not ready for the NHL, and Alex Auld acting as Anderson’s backup, Ottawa acquired Ben Bishop for the playoff run from the St. Louis Blues for a second round pick.
2013 Trade Deadline
F Cory Conacher, 2013 4th rd pick G Ben Bishop
At the 2013 trade deadline the Senators were hoping to make the playoffs for the second straight season. Despite sitting a comfortable seven points ahead of the ninth place team, Ottawa was in the bottom five for scoring in the league. So, the Senators sent away some perceived depth in net for more offence up front in the form of Cory Conacher.
Despite making the playoffs and winning the opening round, in retrospect this trade was a colossal loss for the Senators. In fact, we rated the Conacher-Bishop deal as one of the 10 greatest deadline deals ever made because Tampa Bay ran away with it so decisively. Conacher was a huge disappointment in his time in Ottawa, one year after winning the AHL’s MVP award. He picked up just six goals and 25 points over 72 games with the Senators, and logged just over 12 minutes of ice time in a bottom-six forward role.
A year later, Bishop was third in Vezina voting with the Lightning. Anderson and Lehner are both the present and future of Ottawa’s crease, but Bishop would appear to be the best of the three.
Ottawa used the draft pick to select forward Tobias Lindberg, who’s playing in the OHL. The 19-year-old has 26 goals and 65 points in 56 games with the Oshawa Generals so far this season.
2014 Trade Deadline
F Ales Hemsky 2014 5th rd pick, 2015 3rd rd pick
D Alex Grant F Andre Petersson
Last season the Senators were decent, but unspectacular. At the deadline they were four points out of a playoff spot and looking to build on back-to-back playoff seasons. Thus the Senators acquired the offensively talented Hemsky, who had four goals and 17 points in 20 games with the Senators, but the club failed to make the playoffs.
Hemsky left town for Dallas in the off-season and the Senators failed to make the playoffs last season, so this trade didn’t work out very well.
As for Grant and Petersson, both have been unable to grab more than the odd game in the NHL so far in their careers.