October 8th 1992. The Ottawa Senators first game in their return to the NHL. It just happened to coincide with my 8th birthday. The Sens, to the surprise of many, went out and beat the Montreal Canadiens (who would go on to win the Stanley Cup) 5-3. It was the highlight of a year without many. In fact there were a lot of year like that to start.
I remember seeing my first Sens game at the Civic Centre later that year. They played the Buffalo Sabres who took this matchup so seriously the rested future hall of famers Pat LaFontaine and Dominik Hasek. It backfired. This was my first taste of live NHL hockey and right away I was on the Sens bandwagon.
Growing up in the Ottawa Valley the majority of hockey fans were split between the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens with a few Bruins, Red Wing or Rangers fans thrown in the mix from the original six days. My family still root for the blue and white and I was branded a traitor by my cousin for jumping ship to the Sens, despite just being a kid. And if people never supported a new franchise how could they ever exist? But I digress...
We now had a home team and this was exciting for the whole area. The franchise was young and had a lot of struggles at the outset but this was a bit of a blessing in disguise. It allowed Ottawa to, eventually, compile a roster of young talent from those high draft picks. Guys that would be part of their core more forward and lead they to a Stanley Cup final appearance in 2007. The likes of Jason Spezza, Wade Redden and Chris Phillips were acquired in these lean years and were an integral part of the organisation for years,
The high-water mark for the franchise was that lone Cup appearance and the team has floated around mediocrity ever since. There are a lot of reasons. John Muckler moved a lot of draft picks in order to build up a contending team in the mid oughts, leaving the prospects cupboard bare, and the like of Zedeno Chara and Wade Redden were lost for nothing in order to try and win a Cup. Then the all time Senator of Senators Daniel Alfredsson jumped ship to the Red Wings as a free agent. This should have been a wake up call to the organisation. Alfredsson has been welcomed back into the fold and all fences seems to have been mended, and rightfully so, but he is now tasked with the thankless task of trying to be held in the same regard as part of management.
The Sens are seen at the third Eastern Canadian team, and with good reason. The Maple Leafs and Canadiens are legendary franchises and massive fans bases, and bankroles. This is where the Sens struggles and issues with Wednesday's TradeDealine are more evident.
A quick look around the NHL at any contender will show how significant the NHL draft is. ie. Pittsburgh, Chicago, Los Angeles, Its how you build and sustain a winner in the cap era. The Maple Leafs had struggled for years but with (finally) competent management, they're staying the course, drafting well, retaining picks and playing the long game. Patience is not a luxury most teams in the NHL can afford.
There are very few big market teams with the money or die hard fan base you see in these cities and this is where the Sens are at a marked disadvantage. They are a small market franchise who have neither the history no financial wherewithal to sustain such a prolonged slump or lack of success. I say this as a Sens fan but a lot of them a fickle. It's not like Toronto or Montreal where the building will be full regardless. They struggle at the gate where things aren't going well and as a result owner Eugene Melnyk is always desperate to make the playoffs and the extra revenue this would bring. Obviously this makes sense from a financial point of view. When you're not a big revenue team every little bit helps and the more successful the team the more money you'll make throughout the year as well. However this short sighted approach can damage the organisation in the long run.
The Sens aren't a cap team and so have to rely on a mix of veterans and younger, less expensive or veteran journeymen to fill the roster. The fact that they're this close to the playoffs mean the mandate from the owner is simple. Get in. Whatever the cost. This is why young prospect Jonathan Dahlen was shipped out for help now in veteran Alex Burrows. And why they added Victor Stalberg for depth. Pierre Dorion fulled this demand and made moves to help added depth to his roster, certainly not an egregious sin, but at what cost?
The Sens have a crop of good young prospects, Logan Brown, Tomas Chabot and Colin White among them, and Dorion has made it clear they aren't going anywhere, but the fact that he's chipping away at some of his other pieces for success today show that profit may be driving things more that what's best for the organisation. Now, this would go over well in the locker room where the guys play for today and the Sens have added help in the short term. The owner is happy with the playoff push but the fact is the Sens as a team may not be able to withstand the kind of patience and lean years that may come along with it in order to build a sustainable winner.
