The Ottawa Senators have long used rookie tournaments as an evaluation tool for their prospects. In the late 1990s, they began hosting the tournaments in nearby Gatineau, and later Ottawa, to identify young players who should be invited to their main training camp — or even make their opening night roster.
That was the case for Mike Fisher, Martin Havlat, Anton Volchenkov, and Andrej Meszaros, who each used the Senators’ rookie tournament to make a strong case for themselves before earning a spot on the Senators around the turn of the 21st century.
1999: Mike Fisher
Mike Fisher was drafted 48th overall in 1998, but didn’t wait too long to start making an impact with the Senators. After a standout rookie camp and tournament in 1998, Fisher would need to expand on his efforts in 1999 to make the Senators, with a year still remaining of junior eligibility.
“This year, I want to be considered for making the team, not just making an impression,” said Fisher after two rookie tournament games at the Robert Guertin Arena in Hull. “This year, there are a lot of opportunities at centre on this team.”
Fisher impressed at rookie camp and was an obvious choice for the Senators’ main camp, where he eventually made the team. Fisher was one of just three second-rounders from 1998 to be on an NHL opening night roster in 1999, along with Canucks defender Artem Chubarov and Canadiens forward Mike Ribeiro.
2000: Martin Havlat
When Martin Havlat scored three goals at 19 years, 329 days old in an 8-1 rout of the Atlanta Thrashers on March 14, 2001, he set a franchise record for the youngest player in Senators franchise history to score a hat trick. That record lasted more than 20 years, until it was broken by Tim Stützle.
Back in the fall of 2000, a 19-year-old Havlat solidified his spot in the Senators’ main training camp thanks to another hat trick — this one in a 7-5 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning during the finals of a four-team rookie tournament which also included entries from the Montreal Canadiens and Florida Panthers. The rookie tournament that season was again held at the Robert Guertin Arena in Hull.
Havlat became the second Senators forward in as many seasons to progress from rookie camp to the opening night roster. The skilled winger would finish third in Calder Trophy voting that season thanks to a 19-goal, 42-point output. Overall, he’d play five seasons with the Senators, scoring 105 goals and 235 points in 298 games.
2002: Anton Volchenkov
Anton Volchenkov burst onto the scene in Ottawa in September 2002. The 21st overall pick in the 2000 NHL Draft, Volchenkov had played professionally for Krylya Sovetov Moscow in the Russian Superleague during the 2001–02 season, captaining the Russian World Junior team to a gold medal and helping their World Championship squad to a silver medal along the way.
“He doesn't speak English, but Russian Anton Volchenkov's physical play speaks volumes,” wrote the Citizen’s Ken Warren during the Senators’ rookie camp. Volchenkov turned heads before the rookie tournament had even begun — both in the seats and on the ice, as his peers looked to avoid his devastating open-ice hits.
During the rookie tournament, again hosted at Robert Guertin Arena in Hull, Florida Panthers prospect Kyle Bruce tried to take Volchenkov out with a hit behind the net, but the hit attempt had an unfortunate outcome, as Bruce was sent to the hospital in an ambulance after running into Volchenkov’s shoulder and suffering a serious concussion.
Volchenkov would make the team out of camp, score three goals and 16 points across 57 games in his rookie season, and get into 17 of 18 playoff games as well, as the Senators fell in seven games to the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals.
2005: Andrej Meszaros
After the lockout, the Senators rookie tournament was held between the Civic Centre (now TD Place Arena) and the Corel Centre (now Canadian Tire Centre). In 2005, five teams participated: Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Florida, and Carolina.
Two Senators stood out during the camp: 21-year-old forward Patrick Eaves, a Hobey Baker Award finalist the season prior with Boston College, and 19-year-old defender Andrej Meszaros, who had come over to North America to play a season with the Vancouver Giants in 2004–05 after being drafted 23rd overall by the Senators in 2004.
It was clear to see why the Senators had so much faith in Meszaros to make their squad right from the get-go: the two-way defender had a good first pass, made the right reads, and joined the rush when needed. He made the team at training camp and played in all 82 games, finishing tied for third in the league for plus-minus, behind teammate Wade Redden.
Meszaros was even named to Slovakia’s Olympic squad and played in all six games in Turin, contributing a pair of assists as the Slovaks finished with a perfect 5-0 record in Group B, though they bowed out to the eventual bronze medalists Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.
