What's The Deal With Ottawa?

Before I get to today's discussion, I'd like to just briefly mention friend-of-the-blog Ricky at BNG, who has been extremely generous enough to accept my concept art and heavily feature my work on his own blog this past week.  He's taken the time to review them and give them his own thoughts, something that is extremely helpful to me.  If you have the time, make sure you check out his blog, as he features some really cool jersey designs and his own insight on them.  Thank you Ricky, and those who support my concept art.

Here's the link to his page.  I've been featured on most of his daily posts for the last week, so scroll down and check it out, and have a peek around while you're there.

http://rmconcepts.blogspot.ca

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Here's a topic that I wanted to bring up after Alfie signed with Detroit, but I wanted to make clear of his intentions before doing so, and watch the aftermath that unfolded.  Sure enough, I was correct, another bad "break-up" with Ottawa and a star player.

This really isn't the first time.  Most fans should remember how ugly it got when Dany Heatley left town.  He still is public enemy #1 I believe.  He had a bad final season in Ottawa, and requested to be traded, withdrawing his No Trade Clause.  Ottawa had no choice but to send him to Edmonton.

Actually, he refused the trade to Edmonton, pissing off two teams at once.  The trade to Edmonton would rid them of a $7million cap hit in Heatley, and bring in Andrew Cogliano, Dustin Penner, and Ladislav Smid.  None of those guys equaled the talent lost by Heatley, but would be a good group of players to retool your secondary scoring with for sure.  Eventually, he got traded to San Jose for Jonathan Cheechoo, Milan Michalek, and a 2nd round pick.  Not bad, but could have been better if he was sent to Edmonton.  Michalek put up good numbers, but less than he was previously in San Jose.  Cheechoo's glory seasons were over, and it didn't take long for him to be bought out and sent packing.  So if I were an Ottawa fan, I'd still have reason to be pissed at Heatley, and clearly I'm not the only one who agrees, as he gets regularly booed anytime he comes to town.

But lets spin the clock even further back, to 2006.  While Zdeno Chara didn't himself cause a big stir in Ottawa, it was the manager's decision to get rid of him in place of Wade Redden that cause resentment among Sens fans.  Chara and Redden were the premier defence pair in the league.  After the lockout, Ottawa's finances forced them to choose to keep one or the other.  The rest is history.  Chara signed as a free agent to Boston, was immediately named Captain, improved his individual stats and the team's success every year, and has a Stanley Cup to his name.  Redden's numbers dropped significantly after Chara left, and his next 2 seasons involved non-stop trade rumours, until he was let go by the Senators 2 years later and signed with the Rangers.  Pretty poor decision if you ask me.

But how did Ottawa get a hold of Chara to begin with?  Funny you should ask.

In 1992, Ottawa drafted Alexei Yashin 2nd overall.  He played a year in Russia, then came to Ottawa and joined "rookie superstar" Alexandre Daigle in 1993.  Daigle was supposed to be Ottawa's key to success, but it was Yashin who scored 77 points in his rookie season and came away with the Calder Trophy.  He helped improve the weak club, and eventually lead the young team to the playoffs in 1997.  By 1998, he was a Hart Trophy finalist.  However, it was off the ice where he became loathed by the public.

In 1996, he refused to play until his contract was renegotiated so that he was the highest paid player on the team.  He did deserve it, being paid less than most other players, including Daigle, who at this time was considered a bust.  But thats not a good way to win over fans, and could have waited a year to negotiate his contract once it was over.  But he held out, and soured his reputation with the fans of Ottawa, and sadly this wasn't his first contract issue.  Furthermore, he tried to make it up by donating $1million to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.  However this was refused when it was revealed that he demanded $400,000 in fees to go to his parents.  Lastly, in 1999, the final year of his contract, he held out for the 3rd time hoping for renegotiation.  He was suspended by the team without pay after he refused to report to the team.  He unsuccessfully requested a trade, before trying to sign in Switzerland, which was vetoed by the IIHF until the dispute was settled.  Since he owed the team 1 more season, he came back the next year to play, being booed regularly in any arena, but worst in Ottawa.

In 2001, he was traded to the Islanders, for the draft pick that gave Ottawa Jason Spezza, and for (you guessed it) Zdeno Chara.  To make the trade even worse for the Islanders, Mike Milbury (you know he'd be involved here somewhere) signed him to a grossly overpaid 10 year-$87.5million deal.

So whether it be because of finances, poor management decisions, or the disagreements between player's and staff, Ottawa has sure had a hard time keeping it's star players, but thats not too uncommon.  What is uncommon is how each event seems to blow up in their face, and adds a new player to the fans' "Most Hated" lists.  Unfortunately, the way everything unfolded, I wouldn't be surprised if Alfie's reception when he visits Ottawa again will be less than smooth.