2008–09 Ottawa Senators season

2008–09 Ottawa Senators
Division	4th Northeast
Conference	11th Eastern
2008–09 record	36–35–11
Home record	22–12–7
Road record	14–23–4
Goals for	217
Goals against	237
Team information
General manager	Bryan Murray
Coach	Craig Hartsburg (Oct.–Feb.) Cory Clouston (Feb.–Apr.)
Captain	Daniel Alfredsson
Alternate captains	Dany Heatley Chris Phillips
Arena	Scotiabank Place
Average attendance	19,081 (99.6%)
Team leaders
Goals	Dany Heatley (39)
Assists	Daniel Alfredsson (50)
Points	Daniel Alfredsson (74)
Penalty minutes	Chris Neil (146)
Plus/minus	Daniel Alfredsson (+7)
Wins	Alex Auld, Brian Elliott (16)
Goals against average	Alex Auld (2.47)

The 2008–09 Ottawa Senators season was the team's 17th season in the National Hockey League (NHL). The team began the season with a new head coach, Craig Hartsburg, and numerous personnel changes after narrowly making the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs. However, the team had a losing record under the new coach and he was fired in February, replaced by Binghamton Senators' head coach Cory Clouston. The team improved its record under Clouston, but not enough to qualify for the 2009 playoffs, ending an 11-year string of qualifying for the playoffs.

Off-season

It was an off-season of numerous personnel changes. Wade Redden, a long-time Senator, signed a contract as a free agent with the New York Rangers. Ray Emery and Brian McGrattan, considered poor influences in the dressing room, were discarded. The Senators re-signed forwards Shean Donovan, Chris Kelly and Antoine Vermette and made several free agent signings, including Alex Auld, Jarkko Ruutu and Jason Smith. After an extended period of negotiations with Andrej Meszaros failed to produce a contract, the Tampa Bay Lightning showed interest in the defenceman, who was a restricted free agent. Unable to provide the draft picks needed to compensate the Senators, a trade was made and the Senators received Filip Kuba, Alexandre Picard and a first-round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft from Tampa Bay.

Highlights

On June 5, it was reported that Wade Redden would not sign a contract paying $3.5 million annually with the Senators. He instead became an unrestricted free agent (UFA) on July 1 and signed a six-year, $39 million contract with the New York Rangers. On June 13, 2008, the Senators named Craig Hartsburg, coach of the Ontario Hockey League's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, the new head coach after having interviewed candidates Bob Hartley and Peter DeBoer. Hartsburg signed a three-year contract with the Senators.

On June 20, the day of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, the Senators placed Ray Emery on waivers and re-signed Chris Kelly to a new four-year, $8.5 million contract. At the draft, the Senators selected Erik Karlsson with their first-round pick (15th overall) and proceeded to select Patrick Wiercioch (42nd overall), Zack Smith (79th overall), Andre Petersson (109th overall), Derek Grant (119th overall), Mark Borowiecki (139th overall) and Emil Sandin (199th overall).

On July 1, the Senators announced that they had signed goaltender Alex Auld to a two-year contract worth $1 million annually. Auld is expected to serve as a backup to Martin Gerber for the 2008–09 season. On July 2, the Senators announced that they had re-signed forward Shean Donovan to a two-year contract at $625,000 per season. The Sens also announced that they have signed forward Jarkko Ruutu to a three-year contract worth $1.3 million per season. On July 5, the Ottawa Senators announced that Antoine Vermette had elected to take the club to salary arbitration. The Senators and Vermette agreed to a two-year deal on July 31. On July 8, the Senators announced that they had signed defenceman Jason Smith to a two-year, $5.2 million contract. On July 16, the Senators announced that they will host the Detroit Red Wings in their official home-opener on October 11. On July 17, the Ottawa Senators and CHUM Radio announced that the club and The Team 1200 had signed a multi-year extension to their agreement to broadcast Senators' games. The original ten-year contract expired at the end of the 2007–08 season. On July 31, the Ottawa Senators and Antoine Vermette avoided going to arbitration by agreeing to terms on a new two-year contract worth $5.525 million. Vermette would make $2.525 million and $3 million for the 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons respectively.

On August 29, in a trade similar to the Alexei Yashin trade in 2001, former first-round pick Andrej Meszaros was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Filip Kuba, Alexandre Picard and a first-round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft (obtained by Tampa Bay in an earlier trade with the San Jose Sharks). Meszaros was a restricted free agent demanding $1 million more per season than what the Senators were willing to offer. After Tampa threatened to offer Meszaros an offer sheet with picks as compensation on August 28, the Senators opted to make a trade with Tampa. Meszaros subsequently signed a six-year, $24 million contract on August 30 with the Lightning. On September 2, the Senators made a deal with the Vancouver Canucks and traded defenceman Lawrence Nycholat for centre/right winger Ryan Shannon. On the same day, they signed another former Canucks player, Brad Isbister, who was an unrestricted free agent. On September 27, veteran defenseman Luke Richardson re-signed on a one-year, two-way contract with the Senators for his second season with the club.

Pre-season

On October 2, the Senators played their first-ever game in Europe, a pre-season exhibition game in Gothenburg, Sweden, against Frolunda HC, which Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson played for before joining the NHL and during the 2004–05 NHL lockout. The Senators finished the 2008 pre-season with a record of 4–2–0–0.

Pre-season

September/October Date Time Opponent Location Score September 20 7:00 pm New York Rangers Scotiabank Place W, 3–2 September 22 7:00 pm New York Rangers Madison Square Garden L, 2–1 September 24 7:00 pm Philadelphia Flyers Scotiabank Place W, 3–1 September 26 7:30 pm Montreal Canadiens Bell Centre L, 5–0 September 27 7:00 pm Montreal Canadiens Scotiabank Place W, 3–1 October 2 1:00 pm Frölunda HC Scandinavium Arena W, 4–1

Regular season

The Senators started their season with a pair of games in Stockholm, Sweden. The Senators played the Pittsburgh Penguins twice at the Scandinavium on October 4 and October 5. The teams split the results, with the Penguins winning the first in overtime and the Senators winning the second. New Senator defenceman Filip Kuba picked up at least one point in each of the Senators' first eight games of the season, setting the NHL record for consecutive team games with assists from the start of a season by a defenceman. The previous mark of seven was set by Brad Park with the Boston Bruins in 1981–82. All points were assists and Kuba did not score his first goal with the Senators until November 13.

Alexander Nikulin, who had been demoted to the American Hockey League (AHL)'s Binghamton Senators, threatened to return to Russia unless he was traded. As a result, he was traded from Binghamton to the Phoenix Coyotes' AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage, for Drew Fata.

For a game on November 22 against the New York Rangers, the Senators unveiled their new third jersey. Marketed as "Back in Black," the jersey is primarily black. The Senators' primary logo moves to the shoulders and the nickname "SENS" is across the front of the jersey.

Prior to that game, the Senators players, the team below the playoff cutoff in the standings for most of October through November, decided to grow moustaches, similar to the playoff beard tradition of teams in the playoffs. The team started growing the moustaches following a loss to the Montreal Canadiens on November 20. The idea originated with Dany Heatley.

On November 27, the Senators waived Luke Richardson, a veteran of nearly 20 years in the NHL. He was not picked up by any other team and subsequently retired. He had not seen much playing time with Senators, and had been a healthy scratch several times in the season.

From December until early January, the Senators took an eight-game road trip as Scotiabank Place was used for the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. The team, already well back of a playoff spot, received intense scrutiny by the media, believing a "shake-up" of some kind was imminent. The team only won one game on the road trip, and on January 7, Owner Eugene Melnyk was compelled to respond to media reports of the imminent firings of general manager Bryan Murray and head coach Craig Hartsburg:

“Contrary to what is being reported today by the media, I have made no decisions with respect to any personnel changes within the Senators organization. Winning remains our No. 1 priority and there is a collective focus by our management, our coaching staff and our players to deliver this to our fans.
I, along with our fans, will do nothing but continue to remain fully committed to our Senators and enthusiastically cheer them on to a successful second half of the season.
This is crunch time. Now, more than ever, is the time to rally behind our team. We don’t surrender half-way through the season.
Every victory from here on in matters. We know it and the fans know it. Period.”

At the end of the road trip on January 8, the club was 13 points behind the eighth and final playoff spot, held by the Buffalo Sabres. The Ottawa Citizen launched the "Tavares Cup," similar in spirit to the "Daigle Cup" of 1993, to keep track of the bottom five teams in the NHL, all of which had a chance, at least via the draft lottery, to draft the highly rated junior player, John Tavares. At the time of the start of the "competition," the Senators were within the lowest five teams in the League.

Also on January 7, forward Jarkko Ruutu received a suspension of two games for biting in an altercation with a Buffalo Sabres forward on January 6. It was Ruutu's second suspension of the season, after elbowing a Montreal Canadiens forward earlier in the season.

On January 9, 2009, goaltender Brian Elliott was recalled by Ottawa from Binghamton. He had been named the AHL's Goaltender of the Month for December. On January 15, Senators goaltender Martin Gerber was demoted to Binghamton for a two-week conditioning stint; he was placed on waivers and was assigned to Binghamton on January 27. Elliott started six games in a row and remained with Ottawa.

On January 29, less than a month after previous comments to the media about the Senators, Eugene Melnyk responded to media speculation about possible organization changes with another memorable quote:

“Anybody that says we should blow up this organization should get their own bomb and go blow themselves up.”

At the time, the Senators remained near the bottom of the League in 29th place, with the lowest goal-scoring record in the NHL.

However, only three days later, on February 2, head coach Craig Hartsburg was fired, ending his tenure with the Senators at only 48 games. Following a 7–4 loss to the Washington Capitals on February 1, Hartsburg had called out his team for not playing hard. Binghamton Senators' head coach Cory Clouston was elevated to head coach of Ottawa for the balance of the season. Clouston became the fourth head coach to coach the Senators in a year, prompting the media to dub the players as "coach-killers." Assistant Coach Curtis Hunt was also let go (he became the Binghamton head coach) and recently retired defenceman Luke Richardson joined the coaching staff as an assistant.

On February 12, former head coach John Paddock (who had moved on to coach the AHL' Philadelphia Phantoms) weighed in on the firing, stating that at some point that GM Bryan Murray would be held accountable:

“I think now he's next in line. We were 14 games over .500 when I was fired. They're seven under now. Somebody needs to take responsibility for that. Whether the coaches he hired and fired were good or not, they're his players and they're either not playing good or can't play, one or the other.” He was then asked which was the case: “The players are not very good, that's the problem.”

Paddock apologized to Murray via e-mail. Murray commented, "I'm disappointed and a little bit surprised by it. I'm not sure what purpose he was trying to achieve doing that. He sent me an apology. The only complaint I ever had with John was that I didn't think he worked hard enough at getting himself ready and getting the team ready to play games."

Late in February and early in March, as the season neared the trade deadline, the team still held out hold of making the playoffs although the team remained over ten points out of a playoff spot, as the team was winning more often with Clouston. The Senators began making roster deals, sending Dean McAmmond and a 2009 first-round pick for Chris Campoli and Mike Comrie. By the NHL trade deadline day of March 4, Murray admitted to the media that the club would be "sellers" and had given up hope of making the playoffs. On March 4, Antoine Vermette was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets for goaltender Pascal Leclaire and a draft pick. Martin Gerber was put on waivers three times and was finally picked up by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Although the club improved its record under new coach Clouston, including a 10–5–0 record in March, it was not enough to salvage the season. On March 31, following a loss to the Florida Panthers and a win by the Montreal Canadiens, the club was officially eliminated from playoff contention for the first time since 1996.

Although eliminated, the team continued to play well, including a nine-game win streak on home ice. By April 8, the team's record under Clouston was 19–10–3 and he was rewarded with a two-year deal to continue coaching the Senators.

Divisional standings

Northeast Division

		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	z – Boston Bruins	82	53	19	10	274	196	116
2	Montreal Canadiens	82	41	30	11	249	247	93
3	Buffalo Sabres	82	41	32	9	250	234	91
4	Ottawa Senators	82	36	35	11	217	237	83
5	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	34	35	13	250	293	81

Conference standings

Eastern Conference

R		Div	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	z – Boston Bruins	NE	82	53	19	10	274	196	116
2	y – Washington Capitals	SE	82	50	24	8	272	245	108
3	y – New Jersey Devils	AT	82	51	27	4	244	209	106
4	Pittsburgh Penguins	AT	82	45	28	9	264	239	99
5	Philadelphia Flyers	AT	82	44	27	11	264	238	99
6	Carolina Hurricanes	SE	82	45	30	7	239	226	97
7	New York Rangers	AT	82	43	30	9	210	218	95
8	Montreal Canadiens	NE	82	41	30	11	249	247	93
8.5
9	Florida Panthers	SE	82	41	30	11	234	231	93
10	Buffalo Sabres	NE	82	41	32	9	250	234	91
11	Ottawa Senators	NE	82	36	35	11	217	237	83
12	Toronto Maple Leafs	NE	82	34	35	13	250	293	81
13	Atlanta Thrashers	SE	82	35	41	6	257	280	76
14	Tampa Bay Lightning	SE	82	24	40	18	210	279	66
15	New York Islanders	AT	82	26	47	9	201	279	61

bold – qualified for playoffs, y – division winner, z – placed first in conference (and division)

AT – Atlantic Division, NE – Northeast Division, SE – Southeast Division

2008–09 Game log
October: 4–5–1 (Home: 1–4–1; Road: 3–1–0) Game R Date Score Opponent Attendance Recap Record Points 1†S OTL Sat October 4 3–4 Pittsburgh Penguins 13,699 0–0–1 1 2S W Sun October 5 3–1 @ Pittsburgh Penguins 13,699 1–0–1 3 3 L Sat October 11 2–3 Detroit Red Wings 20,182 1–1–1 3 4 W Fri October 17 6–3 Phoenix Coyotes 20,179 2–1–1 5 5 L Sat October 18 2–4 Boston Bruins 19,318 2–2–1 5 6 L Wed October 22 1–3 Florida Panthers 19,952 2–3–1 5 7 L Fri October 24 3–4 Anaheim Ducks 19,762 2–4–1 5 8 L Sat October 25 2–3 @ Toronto Maple Leafs 19,232 2–5–1 5 9 W Mon October 27 5–2 @ Buffalo Sabres 18,690 3–5–1 7 10 W Thu October 30 2–1 @ Florida Panthers 13,567 4–5–1 9
November: 4–5–3 (Home: 4–1–1; Road: 0–4–2) Game Date Opponent Score Location Attendance Record Points Recap 11 November 1 Tampa Bay Lightning 3–2 (SO) Tampa 16,104 4–5–2 10 12 November 4 Washington Capitals 2–1 (W) Scotiabank Place 18,485 5–5–2 12 13 November 6 Philadelphia Flyers 4–1 (W) Scotiabank Place 18,938 6–5–2 14 14 November 7 Carolina Hurricanes 2–1 (L) Raleigh 15,206 6–6–2 14 15 November 11 Montreal Canadiens 4–0 (L) Montreal 21,273 6–7–2 14 16 November 13 New York Islanders 3–1 (L) Scotiabank Place 19,061 6–8–2 14 17 November 15 New York Islanders 3–2 (L) New York 13,722 6–9–2 14 18 November 17 New York Rangers 2–1 (SO) New York 18,200 6–9–3 15 19 November 20 Montreal Canadiens 3–2 (SO) Scotiabank Place 20,475 6–9–4 16 20 November 22 New York Rangers 4–1 (W) Scotiabank Place 19,619 7–9–4 18 21 November 27 Toronto Maple Leafs 2–1 (W) Scotiabank Place 19,703 8–9–4 20 22 November 29 New York Islanders 4–2 (L) New York 13,108 8–10–4 20
December: 5–7–1 (Home: 4–1–1; Road: 1–6–0) Game Date Opponent Score Location Attendance Record Points Recap 23 December 3 Atlanta Thrashers 5–1 (W) Scotiabank Place 17,215 9–10–4 22 24 December 6 Pittsburgh Penguins 3–2 (W) Scotiabank Place 19,561 10–10–4 24 25 December 8 Florida Panthers 4–3 (OT) Scotiabank Place 17,947 10–10–5 25 26 December 10 Chicago Blackhawks 2–0 (L) Chicago 21,614 10–11–5 25 27 December 12 Washington Capitals 5–1 (L) Washington 17,973 10–12–5 25 28 December 13 Tampa Bay Lightning 2–0 (W) Scotiabank Place 18,446 11–12–5 27 29 December 16 Atlanta Thrashers 4–1 (L) Scotiabank Place 18,746 11–13–5 27 30 December 19 New Jersey Devils 5–1 (L) Newark 13,242 11–14–5 27 31 December 20 Dallas Stars 5–4 (W) Scotiabank Place 19,486 12–14–5 29 32 December 23 Philadelphia Flyers 6–4 (L) Philadelphia 19,578 12–15–5 29 33 December 27 Calgary Flames 6–3 (L) Calgary 19,289 12–16–5 29 34 December 28 Vancouver Canucks 3–0 (L) Vancouver 18,630 12–17–5 29 35 December 30 Edmonton Oilers 3–2 (W) Edmonton 16,839 13–17–5 31
January: 3–6–2 (Home: 2–2–1; Road: 1–4–1) Game Date Opponent Score Location Attendance Record Points Recap 36 January 3 Toronto Maple Leafs 3–1 (L) Toronto 19,406 13–18–5 31 37 January 4 New Jersey Devils 4–3 (OT) Newark 14,798 13–18–6 32 38 January 6 Buffalo Sabres 4–2 (L) Buffalo 18,690 13–19–6 32 39 January 8 Boston Bruins 6–4 (L) Boston 16,464 13–20–6 32 40 January 10 New York Rangers 2–0(L) Scotiabank Place 19,029 13–21–6 32 41 January 13 Carolina Hurricanes 5–1(W) Scotiabank Place 18,512 14–21–6 34 42 January 14 Atlanta Thrashers 3–2(W) Atlanta 14,163 15–21–6 36 43 January 17 Montreal Canadiens 4–5(SO) Scotiabank Place 20,413 15–21–7 37 44 January 20 Washington Capitals 3–2(W) Scotiabank Place 20,125 16–21–7 39 45 January 27 New Jersey Devils 4–1(L) Scotiabank Place 18,786 16–22–7 39 46 January 29 St. Louis Blues 3–1(W) St. Louis 18,639 17–22–7 41 47 January 30 Columbus Blue Jackets 1–0(L) Columbus 17,080 17–23–7 41
February: 6–5–3 (Home: 2–3–2; Road: 4–2–1) Game Date Opponent Score Location Attendance Record Points Recap 48 February 1 Washington Capitals 7–4(L) Washington 18,277 17–24–7 41 49 February 3 Los Angeles Kings 1–0(L) Scotiabank Place 18,054 17–25–7 41 50 February 5 Boston Bruins 4–3(L-SO) Scotiabank Place 17,297 17–25–8 42 51 February 7 Buffalo Sabres 3–2(W-SO) Scotiabank Place 18,452 18–25–8 44 52 February 11 Buffalo Sabres 3–1(W) Buffalo 18,690 19–25–8 46 53 February 12 Philadelphia Flyers 5–2(W) Philadelphia 19,679 20–25–8 48 54 February 14 Minnesota Wild 5–3(W) Minnesota 18,568 21–25–8 50 55 February 16 Nashville Predators 2–0(W) Nashville 14,681 22–25–8 52 56 February 17 Colorado Avalanche 3–2(L-OT) Denver 15,237 22–25–9 53 57 February 19 Vancouver Canucks 5–2(L) Scotiabank Place 19,716 22–26–9 53 58 February 21 Montreal Canadiens 5–3(L) Montreal 21,723 22–27–9 53 59 February 24 Carolina Hurricanes 4–2(W) Scotiabank Place 16,541 23–27–9 55 60 February 26 San Jose Sharks 2–1(L) Scotiabank Place 17,791 23–28–9 55 61 February 28 Toronto Maple Leafs 4–3(L-OT) Scotiabank Place 20,050 23–28–10 56
March: 10–5–0 (Home: 7–1–0; Road: 3–4–0) Game Date Opponent Score Location Attendance Record Points Recap 62 March 3 Calgary Flames 6–3(L) Scotiabank Place 18,865 23–29–10 56 63 March 5 Edmonton Oilers 4–2(W) Scotiabank Place 17,904 24–29–10 58 64 March 7 Buffalo Sabres 6–3(W) Scotiabank Place 18,444 25–29–10 60 65 March 9 Toronto Maple Leafs 2–1(W) Scotiabank Place 18,898 26–29–10 62 66 March 11 Tampa Bay Lightning 3–2(W-OT) Scotiabank Place 19,231 27–29–10 64 67 March 12 Boston Bruins 5–3(L) Boston 17,022 27–30–10 64 68 March 14 Pittsburgh Penguins 4–3(W-SO) Pittsburgh 17,132 28–30–10 66 69 March 17 Buffalo Sabres 4–2(W) Scotiabank Place 20,053 29–30–10 68 70 March 19 Montreal Canadiens 5–4(W) Scotiabank Place 20,500 30–30–10 70 71 March 21 New York Islanders 5–2(W) Scotiabank Place 19,751 31–30–10 72 72 March 22 New York Rangers 2–1(W) New York 18,200 32–30–10 74 73 March 25 Carolina Hurricanes 2–1(L) Carolina 17,146 32–31–10 74 74 March 28 Atlanta Thrashers 6–3(L) Atlanta 17,053 32–32–10 74 75 March 29 Tampa Bay Lightning 3–0(W) Tampa Bay 16,427 33–32–10 76 76 March 31 Florida Panthers 5–2(L) Florida 15,247 33–33–10 76
April: 3–2–1 (Home: 2–0–1; Road: 1–2–0) Game Date Opponent Score Location Attendance Record Points Recap 77 April 2 Boston Bruins 2–1(L) Boston 17,565 33–34–10 76 78 April 4 Philadelphia Flyers 4–3(W-SO) Scotiabank Place 19,557 34–34–10 78 79 April 6 Montreal Canadiens 3–2(W) Montreal 21,273 35–34–10 80 80 April 7 Boston Bruins 3–2(W) Scotiabank Place 19,053 36–34–10 82 81 April 9 New Jersey Devils 3-2(L-SO) Scotiabank Place 20,151 36–34–11 83 82 April 11 Toronto Maple Leafs 5–2(L) Toronto 19,370 36–35–11 83
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)
@ Indicates away game. S Played at Scandinavium Arena, Stockholm, SE. † First game in Sweden is considered a "home" game.

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular season

Player GP G A Pts +/− PIM Daniel Alfredsson 79 24 50 74 +7 24 Jason Spezza 82 32 41 73 -14 79 Dany Heatley 82 39 33 72 -11 88 Filip Kuba 71 3 37 40 +4 28 Mike Fisher 78 13 19 32 0 66 Nick Foligno 81 17 15 32 -10 59 Antoine Vermette‡ 62 9 19 28 -12 42 Chris Kelly 82 12 11 23 -10 38 Chris Phillips 82 6 16 22 -14 66 Jarkko Ruutu 78 7 14 21 0 144 Brendan Bell 53 6 15 21 -5 24 Ryan Shannon 35 8 12 20 -1 2 Jesse Winchester 76 3 15 18 0 33 Alexandre Picard 47 6 8 14 -2 8 Brian Lee 53 2 11 13 -2 33 Chris Campoli† 25 5 8 13 +4 12 Shean Donovan 65 5 5 10 -2 34 Chris Neil 60 3 7 10 -13 146 Anton Volchenkov 68 2 8 10 -10 36 Dean McAmmond‡ 44 3 4 7 +2 16 Mike Comrie† 22 3 4 7 -7 6 Christoph Schubert 50 3 3 6 -8 26 Peter Regin 11 1 1 2 0 2 Ilya Zubov 10 0 2 2 -1 0 Jason Smith 63 1 0 1 -3 47 Cody Bass 12 0 0 0 -2 15 Luke Richardson# 2 0 0 0 -3 2 Matt Carkner 1 0 0 0 0 0 Josh Hennessy 1 0 0 0 0 0 Zack Smith 1 0 0 0 0 0

Goaltenders

Regular season
Player GP Min W L OT GA GAA SA SV Sv% SO Alex Auld 43 2449 16 18 7 101 2.47 1141 1040 .911 1 Brian Elliott 31 1667 16 8 3 77 2.77 786 709 .902 1 Martin Gerber‡ 14 839 4 9 1 40 2.86 397 357 .899 1

^#Retired.
^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Senators. Stats reflect time with Senators only.
^‡Traded mid-season.

Note:

Pos = Position; GPI = Games played in; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/- = Plus/minus; PPG = Power-play goals; SHG = Short-handed goals; GWG = Game-winning goals

Min, TOI = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T,T/OT = Ties; OTL = Overtime losses; GA = Goals-against; GAA = Goals-against average; SO = Shutouts; SA = Shots against; SV = Shots saved; SV% = Save percentage;

Playoffs

The Senators attempted to make the playoffs for the 12th straight season. Prior to the season, a majority of predictions by the media placed the Senators to enter the playoffs as the fourth seed or lower. Some, including The Hockey News' Adam Proteau, placed the team to miss the playoffs altogether. However, if they make the playoffs, Proteau plans to

“Commission a musical mash-up consisting of Alanis Morissette and Paul Anka music – and Tom Green's short-lived professional rap career – and listen to it on repeat for an entire drive from Toronto to Ottawa. And back, even.”

The Hockey News, December 11, 2008

After changing coaches and improving play, the Senators were not able to qualify for the playoffs. On March 31, the Senators were mathematically eliminated from the playoff race.

Awards and records

Records

• NHL record for consecutive team games with assists from the start of a season by a defenseman (8) – Filip Kuba.
• March 5, 2009 – Jason Spezza scored at 0:12 of the first period to set a new Senators record for the fastest goal from the start of a game.
• April 7, 2009 – Team won ninth consecutive home game to set new team record.

Milestones

Regular season
Player	Milestone	Reached
Chris Phillips	700th NHL game	October 4, 2008
Filip Kuba	First assist with Ottawa First point with Ottawa	October 4, 2008
Alex Auld	First game with Ottawa First start with Ottawa First win with Ottawa	October 5, 2008
Alexandre Picard	First goal with Ottawa First point with Ottawa	October 11, 2008
Chris Kelly	100th career point	October 18, 2008
Alexandre Picard	100th NHL game	October 25, 2008
Dany Heatley	291st career point with Ottawa (passing Shawn McEachern for 7th on Senators' all-time point scoring list)	November 6, 2008
Jesse Winchester	First NHL goal	November 6, 2008
Zack Smith	First NHL game	November 29, 2008
Brendan Bell	First goal with Ottawa First assist with Ottawa First point with Ottawa	December 3, 2008
Jason Spezza	Second career Hat-Trick	December 6, 2008
Dany Heatley	500th career point	December 20, 2008
Jason Smith	First goal with Ottawa First point with Ottawa	December 20, 2008
Martin Gerber	100th game in net for OttawaA	January 8, 2009
Mike Fisher	500th regular-season NHL game	January 13, 2009
Peter Regin	First NHL game	January 20, 2009
Peter Regin	First NHL goal	January 29, 2009
Daniel Alfredsson	900th regular-season NHL game	February 1, 2009
Shean Donovan	900th regular-season NHL game	February 14, 2009
Jason Spezza	391st point with Senators (passing Marian Hossa for fifth on Senators' all-time point scoring list)	February 14, 2009
Jason Smith	1,000th regular-season NHL game	February 17, 2009
Daniel Alfredsson	350th NHL goal	March 7, 2009
Jason Spezza	400th point with Senators (passing Radek Bonk for fourth on Senators' all-time point scoring list)	March 11, 2009
Brian Elliott	First NHL shutout.	March 29, 2009

• ^ALater demoted to Binghamton and released on waivers, it was also his last game with Ottawa.

Transactions

• May 29, 2008 - re-signed Jesse Winchester
• June 2, 2008 - signed Peter Regin to entry-level contract.
• June 13, 2008 - signed Craig Hartsburg to a three-year contract.
• June 18, 2008 - re-signed Matt Carkner to a two-year contract.
• June 20, 2008 - placed Ray Emery on waivers. (bought out)
• June 20, 2008 - re-signed Chris Kelly
• July 1, 2008 - signed Alex Auld to two-year contract
• July 2, 2008 - re-signed Shean Donovan
• July 2, 2008 - signed Jarkko Ruutu
• July 7, 2008 - re-signed Greg Mauldin to a one-year, two-way contract.
• July 8, 2008 - signed Jason Smith
• July 11, 2008 - signed Mitchell O'Keefe to a one-year, entry-level contract.
• July 11, 2008 - signed Brendan Bell to a one-year, two-way contract.
• July 11, 2008 - signed Curtis Hunt to a three-year contract.
• July 28, 2008 - re-signed Jeff Glass to a one-year, two-way contract.
• July 29, 2008 - re-signed Josh Hennessy to a two-year, two-way contract.
• July 31, 2008 - re-signed Antoine Vermette to a two-year contract.
• August 11, 2008 - re-signed Geoff Waugh to a one-year, two-way contract.
• August 14, 2008 - signed Zack Smith to an entry-level contract.
• September 4, 2008 - signed Brad Isbister to a one-year, two-way contract.
• September 27, 2008 - re-signed Luke Richardson to a one-year, two-way contract.
• September 27, 2008 - assigned Brad Isbister to Binghamton. Isbister declined and was loaned to EV Zug on October 4.
• October 30, 2008 - re-signed Daniel Alfredsson to a four-year contract extension.
• November 27, 2008 - placed Luke Richardson on waivers. (retired)
• January 22, 2009 - placed Martin Gerber on waivers. (assigned to Binghamton)
• February 2, 2009 - fire Craig Hartsburg as head coach, elevate Cory Clouston to head coach.
• March 4, 2009 - re-signed Filip Kuba to three-year contract extension at $3.7 million per season.
• March 9, 2009 - signed free agent Craig Schira to three-year entry-level contract.

Source: senators.nhl.com

Trades

June 20, 2008	To Nashville Predators 1st-round pick (18th overall) in 2008 3rd-round pick in 2009	To Ottawa Senators 1st-round pick (15th overall) in 2008
June 25, 2008	To Phoenix Coyotes Brian McGrattan	To Ottawa Senators 5th-round pick in 2009
August 29, 2008	To Tampa Bay Lightning Andrej Meszaros	To Ottawa Senators 1st-round pick in 2009 Filip Kuba Alexandre Picard
September 2, 2008	To Vancouver Canucks Lawrence Nycholat	To Ottawa Senators Ryan Shannon
November 1, 2008	To Phoenix Coyotes Alexander Nikulin	To Ottawa Senators Drew Fata
February 20, 2009	To New York Islanders Dean McAmmond 1st-round pick in 2009	To Ottawa Senators Mike Comrie Chris Campoli
March 4, 2009	To Columbus Blue Jackets Antoine Vermette	To Ottawa Senators Pascal Leclaire 2nd-round pick in 2009

Free agent acquisitions

Player	Former team	Contract terms
Alex Auld	Boston Bruins	2 years, $2 million
Jarkko Ruutu	Pittsburgh Penguins	3 years, $3.9 million
Jason Smith	Philadelphia Flyers	2 years, $5.2 million
Brendan Bell	Phoenix Coyotes	1 year
Mitchell O'Keefe	Ferris State University, Iowa Stars	1 year
Brad Isbister	Vancouver Canucks	1 year

Players lost to free agency

Player	New team
Mike Commodore	Columbus Blue Jackets
Wade Redden	New York Rangers
Cory Stillman	Florida Panthers
Randy Robitaille	HC Lugano

Waivers

Player	Former team	New team	Date claimed off waivers
Martin Gerber	Ottawa Senators	Toronto Maple Leafs	March 4, 2009

Draft picks

Ottawa's picks at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa, Ontario.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	Club team
1	15	Erik Karlsson	Defence	Sweden	Frolunda HC (J20 SuperElit)
2	42	Patrick Wiercioch	Defence	Canada	Omaha Lancers (USHL)
3	79	Zack Smith	Center	Canada	Swift Current Broncos (WHL)
4	109	Andre Petersson	Forward	Sweden	HV71 (J20 SuperElit)
4	119	Derek Grant	Center	Canada	Langley Chiefs (BCHL)
5	139	Mark Borowiecki	Defence	Canada	Smiths Falls Bears (CJHL)
7	199	Emil Sandin	Forward	Sweden	Brynas IF (J20 SuperElit)

Farm teams

• Binghamton Senators (American Hockey League)
• Elmira Jackals (ECHL)

The Senators continued their affiliation with the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League (AHL) and added an affiliation agreement with the Elmira Jackals of the ECHL. In previous years, Elmira had accepted players from Binghamton on a player-by-player basis. The new agreement formalized the arrangement of Elmira as the primary affiliate of Binghamton and the secondary affiliate of Ottawa.

See also

• 2008–09 NHL season