# 2004–05 Ottawa Senators season

The 2004–05 Ottawa Senators season was the 13th season of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). All games were cancelled due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout, which cancelled play for the entire League. Several of the Senators' players played for teams in European hockey leagues while some played for the Senators' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Binghamton Senators.

## Off-season

On June 8, 2004, Bryan Murray of nearby town Shawville, Quebec, became the team's fifth head coach, leaving the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim where he had previously been general manager.
Like all other NHL teams, the Senators were still eligible to take part in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft and selected Andrej Meszaros in the first round, 23rd overall.
The Senators replaced the traded Patrick Lalime with Dominik Hasek as the Senators' starting goaltender. Due to this signing, centerman Jason Spezza would wear number 19, previously Hasek's number as 39.

## NHL lockout

The NHL Chairman of the Board, Harley Hotchkiss was a key figure in the resolution of the labour dispute. Initially taking a low key role, Hotchkiss was thrust into the spotlight when he was invited by National Hockey League Players' Association President Trevor Linden to a last-ditch meeting in January 2005 to save the season. While that meeting was unsuccessful in saving the season, the two would continue to meet until an agreement was finally reached on July 13, 2005. Hotchkiss' role in the negotiations was prominently mentioned when he was voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2006.
Several Senators played with the team's AHL affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, including newly-acquired goaltender Dominik Hasek, who only practiced with the group, and Jason Spezza, who played most of the season with Binghamton.

## Schedule

The Senators preseason and regular season schedules were announced on July 14, 2004.
2004–05 schedule :
Preseason
GameDateOpponent
1September 25Toronto Maple Leafs
2September 26@ Montreal Canadiens
3September 28Pittsburgh Penguins
4September 29Florida Panthers
5September 30@ Pittsburgh Penguins
6October 2@ Toronto Maple Leafs
7October 9Montreal Canadiens :
Regular season
GameDateOpponent
1October 13Montreal Canadiens
2October 16@ Toronto Maple Leafs
3October 21Toronto Maple Leafs
4October 23Philadelphia Flyers
5October 27@ Carolina Hurricanes
6October 28Los Angeles Kings
7October 30New Jersey Devils
8November 1Boston Bruins
9November 5@ Washington Capitals
10November 6New York Rangers
11November 9Florida Panthers
12November 12Montreal Canadiens
13November 13@ Montreal Canadiens
14November 16@ New Jersey Devils
15November 18Dallas Stars
16November 20Tampa Bay Lightning
17November 24@ Pittsburgh Penguins
18November 26@ Boston Bruins
19November 30@ New York Islanders
20December 2@ Boston Bruins
21December 4Minnesota Wild
22December 6@ New York Rangers
23December 7@ Pittsburgh Penguins
24December 10@ Atlanta Thrashers
25December 11@ Tampa Bay Lightning
26December 13Philadelphia Flyers
27December 16Calgary Flames
28December 18Boston Bruins
29December 19@ Detroit Red Wings
30December 21@ Nashville Predators
31December 23@ Colorado Avalanche
32December 26New York Islanders
33December 28@ Washington Capitals
34December 30Carolina Hurricanes
35January 1Atlanta Thrashers
36January 5@ Buffalo Sabres
37January 6Florida Panthers
38January 8Pittsburgh Penguins
39January 10Toronto Maple Leafs
40January 12@ Vancouver Canucks
41January 14@ Calgary Flames
42January 15@ Edmonton Oilers
43January 18New York Rangers
44January 20Toronto Maple Leafs
45January 22Buffalo Sabres
46January 23@ Chicago Blackhawks
47January 25Pittsburgh Penguins
48January 28@ Carolina Hurricanes
49January 29@ Toronto Maple Leafs
50February 1Washington Capitals
51February 3@ New York Islanders
52February 5San Jose Sharks
53February 7Vancouver Canucks
54February 8@ Buffalo Sabres
55February 10Carolina Hurricanes
56February 15@ Tampa Bay Lightning
57February 16@ Florida Panthers
58February 19@ Montreal Canadiens
59February 21Edmonton Oilers
60February 24Atlanta Thrashers
61February 26Tampa Bay Lightning
62February 28@ Philadelphia Flyers
63March 3Boston Bruins
64March 5New Jersey Devils
65March 7@ Florida Panthers
66March 9@ Atlanta Thrashers
67March 11@ Buffalo Sabres
68March 12@ Toronto Maple Leafs
69March 15Montreal Canadiens
70March 17Anaheim Mighty Ducks
71March 19Phoenix Coyotes
72March 21@ Boston Bruins
73March 22@ St. Louis Blues
74March 24@ Philadelphia Flyers
75March 26Buffalo Sabres
76March 28Washington Capitals
77March 29@ New Jersey Devils
78April 1Buffalo Sabres
79April 2@ Columbus Blue Jackets
80April 6@ New York Rangers
81April 8New York Islanders
82April 9@ Montreal Canadiens :

## Transactions

The Senators were involved in the following transactions from June 8, 2004, the day after the deciding game of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, through February 16, 2005, the day the 2004–05 season was officially cancelled.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details | Ref |
| June 26, 2004 (2004-06-26) | To Los Angeles Kings Radek Bonk | To Ottawa Senators 3rd-round pick in 2004 | |
| June 27, 2004 (2004-06-27) | To St. Louis Blues Patrick Lalime | To Ottawa Senators Conditional 4th-round pick in 2005 | |

### Players acquired

| Date | Player | Former team | Term | Via |
| July 6, 2004 (2004-07-06) | Dominik Hasek | Detroit Red Wings | multi-year | Free agency |
| July 27, 2004 (2004-07-27) | Pat Kavanagh | Vancouver Canucks | multi-year | Free agency |
| August 11, 2004 (2004-08-11) | Jesse Fibiger | San Jose Sharks | 1-year | Free agency |

### Players lost

| Date | Player | New team | Via |
| July 1, 2004 (2004-07-01) | Jody Hull | | Contract expiration (III) |
| July 1, 2004 (2004-07-01) | Curtis Leschyshyn | | Contract expiration (III) |
| July 1, 2004 (2004-07-01) | Rob Ray | | Contract expiration (III) |
| July 1, 2004 (2004-07-01) | Shaun Van Allen | | Contract expiration (III) |
| July 20, 2004 (2004-07-20) | Brad Tapper | Nurnberg Ice Tigers (DEL) | Free agency (VI) |
| July 22, 2004 (2004-07-22) | Andrew Allen | Trenton Titans (ECHL) | Free agency (UFA) |
| July 23, 2004 (2004-07-23) | Serge Payer | Florida Panthers | Free agency (VI) |
| December 16, 2004 (2004-12-16) | Todd Simpson | Herning Blue Fox (Denmark) | Free agency (III) |
| January 17, 2005 (2005-01-17) | Peter Bondra | HK Poprad (Slovakia) | Free agency (III) |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Term | Contract type |
| July 15, 2004 (2004-07-15) | Brian Pothier | 2-year | Re-signing |
| July 15, 2004 (2004-07-15) | Martin Prusek | 1-year | Re-signing |
| August 6, 2004 (2004-08-06) | Chris Phillips | 3-year | Re-signing |
| August 6, 2004 (2004-08-06) | Peter Schaefer | 2-year | Re-signing |
| August 10, 2004 (2004-08-10) | Zdeno Chara | 2-year | Re-signing |
| August 13, 2004 (2004-08-13) | Denis Hamel | 1-year | Option exercised |
| August 13, 2004 (2004-08-13) | Josh Langfeld | 1-year | Option exercised |
| September 8, 2004 (2004-09-08) | Brandon Bochenski | 2-year | Entry-level |
| September 10, 2004 (2004-09-10) | Chris Kelly | multi-year | Re-signing |
| September 15, 2004 (2004-09-15) | Martin Havlat | 1-year | Re-signing |
| September 15, 2004 (2004-09-15) | Vaclav Varada | multi-year | Re-signing |

## Draft picks

Ottawa's draft picks from the 2004 NHL entry draft held on June 26 and June 27, 2004 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
| Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/junior/club team (League) |
| 1 | 23 | Andrej Meszaros | Slovakia | Dukla Trenčín (Slovak Extraliga) |
| 2 | 58 | Kirill Lyamin | Russia | CSKA Moscow (RSL) |
| 3 | 77 | Shawn Weller | United States | Capital District Selects (EJHL) |
| 3 | 87 | Peter Regin | Denmark | Herning IK (Oddset Ligaen) |
| 3 | 89 | Jeff Glass | Canada | Kootenay Ice (WHL) |
| 4 | 122 | Alexander Nikulin | Russia | CSKA Moscow (RSL) |
| 5 | 141 | Jim McKenzie | United States | Sioux Falls Stampede (USHL) |
| 5 | 156 | Roman Wick | Switzerland | Kloten Flyers (NLA) |
| 7 | 219 | Joe Cooper | Canada | Miami University (NCHC) |
| 8 | 251 | Matt McIlvane | United States | Chicago Steel (USHL) |
| 9 | 284 | John Wikner | Sweden | Västra Frolunda (Elitserien) |

## Farm teams

* Binghamton Senators (American Hockey League)
* Charlotte Checkers (ECHL)