The Winnipeg Jets made some news last week when the NHL announced it had decided to consolidate the statistical history of both iterations of the Jets franchise.
The original version of the Jets – who departed following the 1995-96 season – had a colourful history led by the likes of Dale Hawerchuk, Tomas Steen and Paul MacLean. But up until last week, their records were not associated with the Jets 2.0 franchise, because those statistics traveled south to Arizona when the Jets relocated to Phoenix.
But now that the league has decided to merge the two versions of the Jets into one statistical pile, it has us asking a question: Should we consider doing the same thing with the original version of the Ottawa Senators?
The first iteration of the Ottawa Senators were one of the most dominant forces in hockey in the early part of the 20th century. They captured 11 Stanley Cup championships and are often recognized as one of the first true dynasties in professional hockey.
For the purposes of consolidating league statistics, however, we can only count the seasons in which Ottawa was officially part of the NHL – which is the 17-year window from 1917-1934.
In that time frame, the Senators captured four Stanley Cups – in 1920, 1921, 1923 and 1927. They also boasted a roster of future Hall of Famers including Clint Benedict, Cy Denneny, Alec Connell and King Clancy.
They relocated to St. Louis following the 1933-34 season, but left behind a storied legacy of greatness in Ottawa.
When the NHL returned to Ottawa in 1992, they brought back the original Senators name, but the statistical record book was wiped clean. The old stats from Bendict, Denneny, Connell and Clancy didn’t migrate to the new franchise.
What would happen to the record book if we amalgamated the two iterations of the Senators?
Cy Denneny would move into third place in franchise history with 246 goals. The top five in franchise goals would look like this:
Daniel Alfredsson 426
Jason Spezza 251
Cy Denneny 246
Alexei Yashin 218
Brady Tkachuk 213
Denneny’s 25 career hat tricks would dwarf Alfredsson’s current record of eight.
On the goaltending front, Alec Connell would move into third place all-time with 140 wins, trailing only Craig Anderson (202) and Patrick Lalime (146). Where Connell would be the runaway leader is in the shutout category, where his career number of 64 would be more than the top two current goalies Patrick Lalime (30) and Craig Anderson (28) have combined.
Outside of that shutout number, nothing would radically alter the Senators statistical record book. Those four Stanley Cups from the NHL era would officially become ours to embrace – although they are already recognized in the form of banners that hang from the rafters of Canadian Tire Centre.
Consolidating the two franchise record books into one would be a nice nod to history. Just like the Jets, it’s the same nickname in the same city – so it’s not overly confusing.
But unlike the Winnipeg situation, there is a significant time gap at play in our situation.
Whereas there was only a 15-year gap between incarnations of the Jets franchise (1996-2011), the NHL hockey was dormant in Ottawa for 58 years between the two versions of the Senators.
Winnipeg fans of a certain vintage can still clearly remember Hawerchuk’s exploits on the ice. Sadly, we don’t have that luxury with the original version of the Senators.
And maybe that’s an argument against merging the two statistical record books. Too much time has elapsed to form an authentic emotional attachment to the original iteration of the Senators.
Do you have any strong feelings on how we should proceed here?
Please send us an email to [email protected] and let us know what you think. If our fan base truly feels strongly on reclaiming the statistical history of the original Ottawa Senators, we’ll make sure to pursue every possible avenue to accomplish that goal.
Trivia time: Let’s link up the two editions of the Senators franchise with this fun question: Three head coaches of the current edition of the Senators (1992 – present) share the same last name as three head coaches of the original edition of the Senators (1917 – 1934).
Can you name those three common last names? (Liam Maguire is not eligible to answer this question).
Answer at the bottom of this column.
Another season of the Absolute Non Sens Podcast is coming
We had a lot of fun rolling out the Absolute Non Sens podcast last season. Our goal was to ask the players and staff questions about things that had nothing to do with hockey, in an effort to learn more about their unique personalities away from the rink.
We asked Tim Stützle if he dreamed in English or German.
We discovered that Dylan Cozens was forced outside for recess in inhospitable conditions in Whitehorse.
And we chatted with Steve Staios about growing up right above a convenience store in Hamilton.
And we’re very happy to announce the second season of the show – with Tim Hortons as a presenting sponsor – is coming your way in October. We’ll plan to roll out bi-weekly episodes with myself and Jackson Starr as the co-hosts yet again. We’re hoping to kick off the season with a lineup that features the likes of Claude Giroux, Linus Ullmark and William Eklund.
Last season, we asked each guest a standard question: Do you take the Terry Fox or Palladium exit when driving to Canadian Tire Centre. The responses were split pretty much down the middle, which meant it was a perfectly crafted question.
This season – with the help of a new Dr. Pepper fridge in the studio – we’re hoping to ‘pepper’ our guests with some new questions.
If you’ve got a blanket question you’d love hear answered by an NHL player, hit us up with an email to [email protected].
We’re hoping to engage our listeners a bit more this season and reward you for coming up with unique and fun questions that we ask to our guests.
Media roundup: Looking back at some interesting and fun Senators stories you might have missed over the past seven days.
Finnish prospect Kasper Halttunen lived with Nik Matinpalo during training camp and the two binged the Netflix series Quarterback. Our Andrew Wilimek has a fun look at a prospect with a big shot and big upside.
The nerds at The Athletic credit the Senators for becoming one of the best defensive teams in the NHL and give us a better than 50 per cent chance of making the playoffs in a very competitive Eastern Conference.
I doubt you missed this one, but in case you did: Pierre Lebrun caught up with Michael Andlauer at the NHL board of governors meeting last week.
Graeme Nichols of the Hockey News takes a look at how Dylan Cozens had a sneaky good defensive season last year – and could be poised for an even bigger 2026-27 campaign.
Want to learn more about newly acquired goalie Jonas Johansson? Check out this terrific, long-form video feature the Lightning did with him last year.
Trivia answer: The three common last names for head coaches across the two editions of the Ottawa Senators: Boucher, Green and Smith. So yes, there was a namesake for each of Guy Boucher, Travis Green and D.J. Smith back in the day.
George Boucher coached the Senators in their final season in Ottawa in 1933-34.
Pete Green was the longest-serving head coach of Ottawa’s first NHL franchise, as he was behind the bench for six seasons from 1920-1925.
And Alf Smith was head coach for the first version of the Senators for 18 games during the 1918-19 season.
