Soon after the end of the 2004-05 NHL lockout on Aug 23, 2005, "marvelous talent" Marian Hossa, whose 45 goals for the Senators in 2002-03 were a team record at the time, plus had graded fifth in the league in 2003-04 with 36, was traded with defenseman Greg de Vries to the Atlanta Thrashers for earlier first round draft pick Dany Heatley, he requested a trade out of Atlanta to quaver his personal demons associated with Atlanta after his involvement in a car crash that proved fatal for a teammate Dan Snyder, who was on the wheel driving with Heatley at the time.
Since then Heatley regained the All-Star form he displayed in his rookie year on a line with Alfredsson and young centre Jason Spezza, who led the American Hockey League in scoring through the lockout. On October 5th, 2005, Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley became the first players to score the victorious goals for a shootout in NHL History on Oct 5, 2005; they both gained against Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Ed Belfour. To honor them, their sticks were subsequently sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Besides this Dany Heatley also set a team record with the longest consecutive point-scoring streak at 22 games. The team set a record scoring three short handed goals in one game in a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb 2, 2006. Antoine Vermette and Mike Fisher both of them scored short handed within the same penalty in the second period and team captain Daniel Alfredsson scored the third short handed goal in the third period.
Dany Heatley also became the first Ottawa Senator in franchise history to mount 100 points on April 13, 2006, setting a record of two assists during a 5-4 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers plus only after five days he became the first to reach the 50-goal mark and the fifth player to do so in the league in the 2005-06 season. He finished with exactly 50 goals. Dominik Hasek recorded his 300th career win in a 5-1 win, stopping 34 of 35 shots on Oct 15, 2005.
Daniel Alfredsson Scored an assist against the Toronto Maple Leafs on April 15, 2006 and this record made him the second player in franchise history to reach 100 points. Heatley and Alfredsson at present both hold the team record for most points in a season with 103. Jason Spezza also set a club record with 71 assists despite missing 14 games due to an injury.
In the meantime, Wade Redden stood as the first Senator to complete first in the plus/minus category with a 35 despite missing 17 games due to a sprained ankle and personal reasons. He ended the season tied with Michal Rozsival of the New York Rangers. Andrej Meszaros scarcely missed on being the first rookie to win the plus/minus title with a 34 rating. There was a time when he led the NHL with 39.
After their latest playoff failure, Eugene Melnyk who owns the team, comforted fans in an open letter, by saying that the teams will not only win the Stanley Cup in the future, but, once they had it, they would, he boasted, "hoard" it year after year. The Senators lost four players to free agency; defencemen Zdeno Chara (he signed a 5-year deal with the Boston Bruins), Brian Pothier (he signed with the Washington Capitals), goalie Dominik Hasek, (he signed a 1 year deal, 750,000bonuses if Hasek goes to the Cup finals with the Detroit Red Wings), and forward Vaclav Varada who has signed with HC Davos of the Swiss Elite League) on July 1st, 2006. The team also replaced Hasek with Carolina Hurricanes starting playoff goaltender Martin Gerber, and signed defenseman Joe Corvo. Shortly after this they traded star forward Martin Havlat and centre Bryan Smolinski to the Chicago Blackhawks for Tom Preissing, Josh Hennessy, Michal Barinka and a second-round draft pick in 2008. They are also estimated to sign Russian centre Alexei Kaigorodov to a rookie contract. They signed D Jamie Allison, Re-signed Antoine Vermette, Chris Neil and Peter Schaefer to avoid arbitration, and to keep their 2nd line together, excluding Neil. They signed Chris Kelly and Spezza for 2 years, and Christoph Schubert.
Senators have two jerseys whereas in 2000 the third jersey of the Ottawa Senators was introduced. It was all black with colored stripes of red, white, and gold. And on the gold strip were black arrows following each other around the jersey. The same striping pattern went on the sleeves too. The logo is the same as on the home jersey, a Roman's head looking out.
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