Being a young hockey fan, I can only remember 3 Ottawa Senators captains off the top of my head. However, in a recent article, my colleague Jon ranked the top 5 captains in Nashville Predators history. I’m going to do the same thing, but with the Ottawa Senators
5. Alexei Yashin
Okay, I know this one is extremely controversial. Considering he was basically ran out of Ottawa by the fans. However, Alexei Yashin was Ottawa’s best player at the time, and was considered a great leader. His stats show that he was a polarizing player on the ice. He was a good player, but was not a great captain. I added him to this list out of necessity. Ottawa has only had 9 captains in franchise history, and only 3 served for more than one year. Yashin had a lot of controversy while in Ottawa. For example, the infamous contract issues with the Sens. He was a polarizing player, but his antics made the fan base turn on him. He was a terrible captain, but he was still more significant than others who had dawned the C for the Ottawa franchise.
4. Jason Spezza
Spezza was a longtime Ottawa Senator before being named captain. The Toronto native is arguably the best center in franchise history. However, his short tenure as captain means he can not higher on this list. I believe he was a good captain. He represented the team well, he was a long tenured player. Spezza was there when the Sens went to the finals back in 2007. Spezza was there when the Ottawa Senators was at their best.Spezza however, had massive shoes to fill. He was named captain after another Ottawa legend had left. Considering the circumstances, I believe he was a good captain.
3. Randy Cunneyworth
Cunneyworth is a name I don’t think I’ve ever heard before doing research for this article. However, he is tied for the second longest tenure captain in Ottawa Senators history. Cunneyworth was never a star while he played for Ottawa, never scoring more than 36 points. However, he clearly was doing something right if he is one of the three players in franchise history to have captained the team for more than one year.
2. Erik Karlsson
Arguably the best player in franchise history, Erik Karlsson developed from a nobody prospect to winning 2 Norris Trophies so far. Although Karlsson is currently a shell of his former self, theres no arguing he was the face of the franchise for a long time. Karlsson also learned from a name you will see soon, having lived with him during his rookie season. Karlsson captained the team through low times and high times. Although things did not end well, nobody can deny Karlsson is an amazing player.
1. Daniel Alfredsson
Come on, you can’t say you didn’t expect this. Alfredsson leads the Sens in most offensive statistics and is regarded as one of the best draft steals of all time. Alfredsson wore the C in Ottawa for 14 seasons. He also led the team to their only ever Stanley Cup Final appearance. “Alfie” is a fan favorite and still lives in the Ottawa area after all these years. There isn’t much else to say about Alfie, other than he will eventually be voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Closing thoughts
While doing research for this article, I found that Ottawa had more captains than I originally thought. Like I mentioned above, before this article, I could only name Alfredsson, Karlsson, Spezza and Yashin as former captains.
I also know that Ottawa had “co-captains” for a year. However I did not know that there were 3 co captains. I originally thought it was only two, a little like the Carolina Hurricanes did a few years ago with Jordan Staal and Justin Faulk.
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