Bakke Olsen looking to add another flag to Senators history books

On Monday, the Ottawa Senators inked Eskild Bakke Olsen to a one-year, entry-level contract just weeks after the 24-year-old forward helped Team Norway to their first-ever medal at the IIHF World Championships.

When he heads to Ottawa in the fall for training camp, Bakke Olsen will vie to become the first Norwegian to suit up in a Senators uniform. If Bakke Olsen does reach the NHL with Ottawa, he’ll add Norway to a short but eclectic list of countries that have produced Senators players. 

While the organization has iced many players from traditional hockey nations such as Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Czechia, and Germany, it has also iced representatives from several less common countries.

Australia: Jordan Spence

Current Sens defenceman Jordan Spence was born in Manly, Australia, a suburb of the most populous city down under, Sydney. Though that’s the birthplace listed on hockey cards, lineup sheets, and Wikipedia pages — making him the only Australian-born player in league history — Spence spent most of his childhood on other islands.

Spence was raised in Osaka, Japan, until the age of 13, when his family made the move to P.E.I. Maybe that’s why Spence, who set a career high with seven goals and 31 points this past season, is so adept at defending 2-on-1s — he’s used to being on an island.

Denmark: Mikkel Boedker, Lars Eller, Peter Regin, Mads Søgaard

Four Senators have hailed from Denmark all-time — a remarkable number, considering only 18 Danes have ever played in the NHL. Only Vancouver (Jannik Hansen, Paul Popiel, Philip Larsen, Nicklas Jensen) equals that number across the rest of the league.

Herning’s Peter Regin started the trend after the Senators nabbed him in the third round of the 2004 Entry Draft, though he took four more years to make his NHL debut. 

Brondby’s Mikkel Boedker scored nine goals and 39 points across 91 games in 2018–19 and 2019–20 with the Senators at the tail end of his 12-year NHL career. Just two seasons later, goaltender Mads Søgaard made his NHL debut with the Senators, and in 2025–26, Søgaard and Lars Eller became the first Danish teammates to play for the Senators in the team’s history.

France: Stephane Da Costa

When he signed with the Senators after completing his NCAA career with Merrimack College in the spring of 2011, Stephane Da Costa became just the sixth France-born player in league history. The forward played 47 games with the Senators over four seasons, compiling seven goals and 11 assists. He also scored 44 goals and 132 points with then-AHL affiliate Binghamton across 159 games.

Jamaica: Graeme Townshend

More than 30 years after his NHL career ended, forward Graeme Townshend remains the only NHL player to ever hail from the small island nation of Jamaica. Townshend and his family moved from Jamaica to Toronto at the age of four. After a four-year NCAA career, he spent time with the Bruins and Islanders before concluding a 47-game NHL career in Ottawa with a 14-game stint during the 1993–94 season.

Latvia: Kaspars Daugavins, Rudolfs Balcers, Sergejs Žoltoks

The Senators also boast an overrepresentation of Latvian NHLers amongst their alumni ranks. The second-leading Latvian scorer in NHL history, Sergejs Žoltoks (Sergei Zholtok), spent two productive seasons with Ottawa in the middle of a 588-game career. Žoltoks tragically died at 31 of heart failure during a game in Belarus during his first season back in Europe after his NHL career. 

On March 11, 2013, another Latvian made their mark on the franchise. In his sophomore season with the Senators, winger Kaspars Daugavins attempted one of the most creative shootout dekes in hockey history. Though he was stopped by Tuukka Rask, the attempt lives on in the memory of Sens fans worldwide.

A third Latvian, Rudolfs Balcers, was acquired from the San Jose Sharks in the megadeal that sent Erik Karlsson to San Jose and Josh Norris, Chris Tierney, Dylan DeMelo, and the draft pick that became Tim Stützle to Ottawa. The winger scored six goals and 17 points in 51 games with Ottawa.

Poland: Peter Sidorkiewicz

Born in the small Polish town of Dąbrowa Białostocka in 1963, Peter Sidorkiewicz moved to Oshawa, Ont. with his family at the age of three. Though he didn’t begin playing hockey until the age of 10, Sidorkiewicz would carve out a 246-game NHL career, including a stint as the Senators starting netminder during their inaugural 1992–93 season.

South Korea: Jim Paek

Born in Seoul, Jim Paek moved to Toronto with his family at the age of one. He became the first South Korean to play a game in NHL history when he broke into the league with the Penguins during the 1991–92 season. After winning back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins, he spent time with the Los Angeles Kings before concluding his 217-game career with the Senators in 1994–95.

Switzerland: Martin Gerber, Julien Vauclair, Roman Wick

Swiss nationals Julien Vauclair and Roman Wick both had brief stints with the Senators. Drafted in the third round of the 1998 Entry Draft, Vauclair played a single game with the Sens on Oct. 23, 2003. Wick’s tenure lasted only six more games, though the 2004 fifth rounder did help the Binghamton Senators to a Calder Cup during the 2011–12 season, the lone one he spent in North America.

Goaltender Martin Gerber, meanwhile, spent parts of three seasons with the Senators, logging a record of 49-36-8, a goals-against average of 2.76, and a save percentage of .908. He was waived by the Senators in March of 2009 and claimed by the Leafs, where he played 12 games before concluding his career with a three-game stint in Edmonton.

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