With only a week left of regular season games for the Senators, and with the playoff teams in the East starting to finalize, I decided that now would be a perfect time to create a list of 10 reasons people should cheer for the Ottawa Senators, or at least 10 things you should know about this team. Tired of the negativity thrown on the team since December; I still have faith that this group of guys can get it done in the post-season.

10. The Early Years … Expansion.

Hockey returned to the nation’s capital in 1992 after a 58-year absence, but it was nothing to cheer for. Although the Senators won their team opener against the future Stanley Cup winning Montreal Canadiens 5-3, they went on to lose 70 games that season; managing only one road win all season long. Their record that season had cemented them as dead last, with a 10-70-2 record, and made the Senators known as the “joke” of the National Hockey League.  They continued to place dead-last in the league for the team’s first four consecutive seasons. It wasn’t until 1996-1997 when the Senators finally grabbed the seventh playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, led by star centre Alexei Yashin, and a young Calder-Trophy winning rookie named Daniel Alfredsson, who both had 70-point seasons. They would scare the Northeast Division winning Sabres, pushing the series to a game seven, before the inexperience of the new Senators finally took its toll.

9. Ownership Stability, Finally …. Eugene Melnyk.

The Ottawa Senators were almost taken away twice from the nation’s capital due to ownership and financing problems. Developer, first owner, and founder of the modern-day Senators, Bruce Firestone, struggled to come up with the $50 million USD expansion fee, but the Ottawa Senators, along with the Tampa Bay Lightning, were awarded expansion teams on the condition that they were to develop a new arena fit to NHL standards. It was because of this condition that Mr. Firestone left the Senators, after being one of the forces to bring the team back to the nation’s capital. The Ontario Government refused to help out their new NHL team, demanding that Firestone pay for the highway infrastructure and the building on his own; leading him to estimate a $80 million USD loss. It was then he sold the team to Rod Bryden who was finally able to get financing for the Palladium arena (now known as Scotiabank Place).

 In 2003, Bryden declared bankruptcy due to the loss in the energy business and threatened Senators fans that if they didn’t buy season tickets that the team would be lost. This came in the same season that the Senators won their first President’s Trophy, beating out the Dallas Stars for first overall, and battled to a game seven against the eventual Stanley Cup winning Devils team. With the heartbreaking loss, Sens fans were left wondering if the team would return for a new season.

 On August 26th, 2003, current owner Eugene Melnyk came to the rescue of the Senators and pulled them out of bankruptcy while promising the fans that the team would not leave the nation’s capital. He purchased both the Senators and Scotiabank Place, and is willing to do “whatever it takes to bring the Stanley Cup home.” Thanks to Melnyk, the Senators are now able to spend to the NHL salary cap and keep its superstars for years to come.

8. Goodbye one era, Hello another …. Alexei Yashin Dispute.

Alexei Yashin was the first draft pick of the Ottawa Senators, going second overall in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. He arrived to Canada for the 1993-1994 season, debuting in the same game as Alexandre Daigle. Yashin overshadowed Daigle, scoring 79 points in his rookie season which ended up earning him a Calder nomination. He continued his dominance in the following seasons, eventually leading Ottawa to its first playoff run in 1997. He quickly became a star in Ottawa, and his talent was noticed when he scored the winning goal to bring Ottawa its first playoff series victory against the New Jersey Devils in 1998. Soon after he was named the Senators’ captain, and in 1998-1999 he set a personal record for points in a season with 94. He was the runner-up for the Hart Trophy and was named to the second All-Star team for the Eastern Conference, even though the Senators were swept in the first round by the Buffalo Sabres.

 The Senators were originally wary of backing Yashin, choosing Daigle over the Russian centre and signing Daigle to one of the largest rookie contracts in history. This started many nasty contract disputes between the Ottawa Senators and Alexei Yashin. The team was first hesitant to give him a 5-year $4 million salary from day one. Eventually, Yashin wanted the same salary as Daigle, which caused friction between the captain and the fans of the Ottawa Senators.

 Yashin pledged a $1 million donation to the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa; the NAC’s largest single donation. Yashin made a condition that the NAC were to pay his parents a $425,000 consultation fee. The NAC refused the donation and strained his relationship further with the Sens fans and media. However, it wasn’t until after the 1998-1999 season that the Senators had the last straw with their captain; Yashin refused to honour the last season of his contract and demanded a $3.9 million raise to the like of Joe Sakic and Steve Yzerman. The Senators quickly refused to listen to Yashin, who then, on advice of his agent Mark Gandler, demanded a trade from the team. The Senators stood their ground and suspended Yashin, stripping him of his captaincy and handing it to a young superstar in the making: Daniel Alfredsson. The NHL had its full support for the team suspension of Yashin, who tried to sign with a team in Switzerland, but was stopped by the International Ice Hockey Federation. When an NHL arbitrator refused to allow Yashin to become a free agent, he returned in the 2000-2001 season for the last year of his contract.

The Senators ended up trading Yashin to the New York Islanders in exchange for Zdeno Chara and a pick which ended up being Jason Spezza. This was the biggest trade in Senators history at the time, in which the Senators stood up for “team players” instead of overpaying a “superstar”.

7. The Biggest, Littlest Sens fan …. Elgin.

One of the biggest stories in the 2006-2007 Senators playoff run was a three-year old boy named Elgin-Alexander Fraser. Diagnosed with a rare form of childhood cancer called neuroblastoma when he was just nine months old, Elgin was as big of a Senators fan that you could find. He passed away two hours after the Senators won the biggest game in modern-day franchise history, defeating the Buffalo Sabres in overtime for the Eastern Conference Championship.

Chris Phillips, the Senators alternate captain, and his wife, Erin Phillips, had brought Elgin to a practice a few weeks earlier. One of Elgin’s final wishes was to go to a Senators practice and meet the players. Senators centre Mike Fisher skated over to Elgin and took him for a skate on the ice holding him, and little Elgin-Alexander found his way into the hearts of every Senators fan. The whole team spoke with Elgin, and even Senators tough-guy goalie Ray Emery let Elgin score on him. I had raised money to send him to a playoff game with his family. Mike Fisher would later become close with the Fraser family, visiting Elgin and his parents on a few occasions at their Carleton Place home in Ottawa.

Tumours had grown in little Elgin’s back and were leaking into his lungs, and as he lied on the pillows watching the Senators defeat Buffalo, he lost his vision and relied on his father to whisper the play by play.  He passed away peacefully, watching his favourite team go on to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time. Fisher promised Elgin that he’d bring him the Cup one day. Fisher and Phillips were the pallbearers at Elgin’s funeral.

Mr. Fraser talked to his son on the phone during the visit and asked Elgin to ask Mr. Fisher if the Senators were going to win the Stanley Cup. “OK, Dad, hold on,” said Elgin over the phone.“Mike,” said Elgin, “You’re going to win the Stanley Cup, right?”“We sure are, buddy,” said Mr. Fisher.“Dad, he said yes,” Elgin told his father.

6. What’s old is new again … Bryan Murray.

 Everywhere Bryan Murray goes, success seems to follow him. Look at the Red Wings of the 1990’s, or the Anaheim Ducks of today. The ex-General Manager for both these teams, as well as the Florida Panthers,  he left the Ducks in 2003 to become head coach of the Ottawa Senators. A Shawville native, Murray is a hometown boy looking to win his first Stanley Cup with his home team. He holds the best record of any active coach currently in the NHL. He has the experience and talent to bring the Senators to their first Cup.

Bryan Murray was the head coach of the Washington Capitals for seven years: and brought them into the playoffs each year, winning the Jack Adams Award in 1984. He left the Capitals to become the General Manager of the Detroit Red Wings in 1990, where he had mixed results at first but he had built what would later became the most dominant team of the 90’s. He had another move of teams, and switched to becoming the GM for the Florida Panthers. In 1996, his team made it to the Stanley Cup Finals and he was later named the NHL Executive of the Year. In 2002, he was offered a job with the Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks and stayed there until 2004, eventually building the team that would defeat his Senators last season.

 On February 20th, 2007, Bryan Murray became the fifth coach in NHL history to reach the 600 victories mark. The Senators defeated the Edmonton Oilers in a shootout win for Murray to achieve this mark. In the off-season after a heartbreaking loss in the Finals to the Ducks, a team that was by majority created by him, he replaced John Muckler as the Senators new GM. He appointed his longtime friend, and assistant coach, John Paddock to the Head coach position. However, on February 27, 2008, after two months of mediocrity, he fired John Paddock and assistant coach Ron Lowe and became head coach of the Senators, whose play has already changed in just a month.

5. National Pride on the line … Hometown factor.

During the Finals, only 10% of Canadians (according to a Decima research poll before game 2), were cheering for the Senators. This is a huge difference from both the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers runs, where the whole country was united in the dream of bringing a Stanley Cup home after a decade without. So, why not cheer for the nation’s capital team? Many people used the excuse that the Ducks had more Canadians on their roster, so the Cup would have more time in Canada if Anaheim won. That is the case no longer as the Senators, under Bryan Murray’s leadership, now have the most Canadian players on their roster than any other Canadian team or the favourite Ducks. Although captain Daniel Alfredsson was born in Sweden, he plans to live in Ottawa for the rest of his life and now considers himself more “Canadian than Swedish.”

The Senators, once known as a fast, talented mostly-European team, have had a major facechange since the 2003 run. Looking at just some of the names that have been replaced:

Out: Zdeno Chara, Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, Petr Schastlivy, Karel Rachunek, Martin Prusek…

In: Dany Heatley, Mike Commodore, Cory Stillman, Luke Richardson, Martin Lapointe, Dean McAmmond, Jesse Winchester…

4. Good guy gets his dues …. Martin Gerber.

 Who would have thought that after the team’s backup, Ray Emery, carried the team into the Stanley Cup Finals that he would lose his job to the man that he took it from? And who would have thought that Ray Emery could cause so much drama in just half a season? I don’t think even psychics could have predicted this.

 Martin Gerber was a key part of the reason why the Ottawa Senators were off to the best start in franchise history since re-entering the league in 1992. Gerber’s stellar play catapulted the Senators to first in the NHL, giving the team a 13-1-0 record. While Ray Emery was still recovering from off-season wrist surgery, all eyes were on Gerber and he flourished, giving the Senators the most consistent play they’ve seen in a while from goaltending. It was when Emery was ready to come back when things started to get rough for the goaltenders.

The drama from Emery is well publicized: the hissy fit in practice where he beat up on a water bottle and tossed his stick into the stands, being sent home from practice for being late twice, the fights in practice, and the poor driving habits. While this was all going on, however, the Swiss goaltender, who was quiet and patient behind the scenes, worked harder to prove that he was ready to keep going as the number one guy.

Since the firing of John Paddock, which the Emery situation was a main factor to, Murray has declared Gerber as the unofficial number one. He has said he won’t comment publicly on the goaltending situation, but he has been giving just about every start to the Swiss goalie. Gerber is known as a hardworking guy, a team player, and a quiet guy that only wants to play. He arrives early to practice and is usually the last guy off the ice. The good guy finally gets his chance, after making it to the Finals on three separate teams. Nicknamed “Darth Gerber” by fans for his black mask, it’s time to see where hard-work and patience can get you in today’s NHL. He is the second player in NHL history from Switzerland to win a Stanley Cup.

3. Bebop and Rocksteady, Philichenkov  … Phillips and Volchenkov.

The beginning of the 2006-2007 season was anything but happy for the Senators defense core. Anton “A-Train” Volchenkov was thrown into every trade rumour possible; his confidence still low since the overtime flub in the playoffs early in the series against Buffalo. Chris Phillips was unable to find chemistry with any other defense partner since the loss of Chara, and the Senators were quickly free-falling to the bottom of the standings. After putting Volchenkov with Preissing for seven games, the only Russian Senator got confidence back and forced Murray to give him a chance with Phillips. The Senators started to rebound and made it to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Phillips and Volchenkov became one of the steadiest defensive pairings in the East. Their confidence radiated through the defense, and, through the rest of the team. They became a goaltender’s best friend, Volchenkov leading the shots blocked category in both the regular season and the playoffs by a wide margin of nearly 80 shots. Phillips wasn’t far behind, in the top five for shots blocked by defensemen in the NHL in the regular season and playoffs as well. Both averaging over 20 minutes a game for the Senators, Volchenkov was voted the #5 best defensive defenseman in the NHL by The Hockey News in the off-season.

 Through Volchenkov and Phillips’ leadership, the Senators were able to shutdown Crosby and his young Penguins, the New Jersey Devils, and the President’s Trophy winning team Buffalo Sabres. Both physical defensemen, they have been the perfect replacement for Zdeno Chara on the Senators blue-line. They were the first two Senators to defend team-mates in the February 22nd, 2007 brawl against the Buffalo Sabres and are not afraid to pay the price to help the team win a game.

2. The Cash Line …. Heatley, Spezza, Alfredsson.

The Ottawa Senators have arguably the top line in the National Hockey League. With the NHL looking to find ways to create a more offensive league, if the Senators were to win the Cup it isn’t unimaginable that other teams may try to copy Ottawa’s style of explosive offense.

The CASH line, named after Captain Alfredsson, Spezza and Heatley, combined for 113 goals in the 2006-2007 regular season. In the playoffs, they lead all scorers with 22 points each, setting a record for the Ottawa Senators for most points by a player in a post-season. A dominant force in the regular season and playoffs, they are the primary offense for the Senators. In 2005, the first time the line was put together, the three Senators came together for a league-best 296 points.

Dany Heatley, entering this season after two 50-goal back-to-back seasons, was acquired by the Senators in exchange for Marian Hossa and Greg DeVries. It didn’t take long for Heatley to break records made by the all-star Hossa in Ottawa: Heatley became the first Senator in franchise history to have a 50 goal season; the first player since Pavel Bure in 1999-2000 to have back-to-back 50-goal seasons. His 105 points last season broke another franchise record for most points in a single season by one player, and gave him 5th place for points in the NHL. A dominant winger for the Senators, when he’s hot the offense is unstoppable for this team. Before his shoulder injury in the Red Wings game in January, Heatley held a 208-game consecutive playing streak with the Senators. He signed a contract extension with the Senators on a 6-year contract in September before a game against the rival Maple Leafs, worth $45 million. Jason Spezza was signed the same week to a contract extension.

Jason Spezza started his career with the Senators in the AHL on the farm team, the Binghamton Senators. He believed he was good enough to be a regular on the NHL roster immediately, and was unhappy with this decision by the Senators management. He was the first pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft by the Senators, second only to Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk. He was the third player to represent Team Canada at the age of sixteen at the World Hockey Championships, only Wayne Gretzky and Eric Lindros had done so before him.  

Spezza became a critical part of the Senators 2003 playoff run; a call-up from the minors, he helped win a critical game against the New Jersey Devils, helping push the team back to a game seven. The 2003-2004 season, Spezza finally became a regular on the lineup, where he put up 22 goals for 55 points. In the NHL lockout, he played in the AHL and won the Les Cunningham Award for league MVP. In 2005, Jason “Giggles” Spezza was second in the league for assists, setting a team record with 71. He was also the leading points-per-game player, and lead the league in scoring before being hit by an injury bug. On February 9th, 2008, Spezza scored his first NHL hattrick against the Montreal Canadiens, where Spezza contributed to all 6 of the Senators goals, making it the most productive night of his career. The CASH line combined for nearly 15 points on the night.

 The CASH line is the most powerful offensive line the Senators have had in modern franchise history. While Heatley is seen as the “goalscorer” of the line, and Spezza the “set-up-guy,” both are offensive threats on any given night. When the top line is hot, the Senators are unstoppable.

1. The Face & Heart of the Senators … Daniel Alfredsson

After years of being the scapegoat of the Senators, Alfredsson finally shred the “playoff choker” label in the 2007 Stanley Cup playoffs. The driving force behind the Senators, his leadership is key to the team’s success or failure in the playoffs. He proved to be one of, if not the, most dominant player in the NHL playoffs last Spring, scoring the biggest goal in franchise history against the Buffalo Sabres to send the team to the Stanley Cup Finals. Entering the zone in overtime on a one-on-three rush, he slid the puck through the defense and behind Miller to become the first European-born captain to lead his team into the Stanley Cup Finals. Not bad for a guy that was chosen in the sixth round.

Alfredsson is able to play with any combonation of players, however, he plays his best with Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza. Usually it’s Alfie leading the rush and setting up the play in the opposition’s zone, having the shot from the point on the powerplay, and rushing into the other zone on the penalty kill. His shots are dangerously accurate, and if he’s on, he is almost impossible to contain. One of the best two-way players in the game, he hits, forechecks, backchecks, protects the puck, and has an amazing shot. He isn’t a vocal leader on the team, although he has promised on two separate occassions that the Senators WILL win the Stanley Cup. Alfredsson leads by example, and is a definate bet to be the first modern-day Senator retired to the rafters of Scotiabank Place.

 Alfredsson is an amazing player to watch, and he goes into every game like it’s the most important game of his career. He plays against the other team’s top lines and shutdown pairings, but still finds a way to rack up points. He’s always battling hard, fighting through checks, and never takes the easy way out. He is a thrill to watch, and is the core of the Senators. Even if the game is out of reach, Alfredsson still plays hard and doesn’t stop until the final buzzer sounds. Daniel Alfredsson is one of the most exciting players to watch in today’s NHL, even if he isn’t one of the flashiest.

 Alfredsson’s play in the post-season will help to decide how far this team goes, but expect that he will carry the team on his back until the end, whatever it may be.