2008 – 09 Ottawa Senators season The 2008 – 09 Ottawa Senators season was the Senators ' 16th season . The team started the season with a new coach Craig Hartsburg and numerous personnel changes after narrowly making the playoffs in 2007 – 08 . However , the team had a losing record under the new coach and he was fired in February , replaced by Binghamton Senators coach Cory Clouston . The team improved its record under Clouston , but not enough to qualify for the playoffs , ending an eleven - year string of qualifying for the playoffs . Off - season . It was an off - season of numerous personnel changes . Wade Redden , a long - time Senator , accepted a contract with the New York Rangers . Ray Emery and Brian McGrattan , considered bad influences in the dressing room were let go . The Senators re - signed forwards Shean Donovan , Chris Kelly and Antoine Vermette and made several free agent signings , including Alex Auld , Jarkko Ruutu and Jason Smith . After an extended period of negotiations with Andrej Meszaros failed to produce an agreement , the Tampa Bay Lightning showed interest in the defenceman , who was a restricted free agent . Unable to provide the draft picks needed to compensate the Senators , a trade was made and the Senators received Filip Kuba , Alex Picard , and a first - round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft . Highlights . On June 5 , it was reported that Wade Redden would not sign a $ 3 . 5 million per year contract with the Senators . He instead became an ' unrestricted free agent ' ( UFA ) on July 1 and signed a six - year , $ 39M contract with the New York Rangers . On Friday , June 13 , 2008 , the Senators named Craig Hartsburg , coach of the Sault Ste . Marie Greyhounds , the new head coach after interviewing Bob Hartley and Peter DeBoer as candidates . Hartsburg signed a three - year agreement with the Senators . On June 20 , the day of the NHL Entry Draft , the Senators placed Ray Emery on waivers and re - signed Chris Kelly to a 4 - year , $ 8 . 5 - million contract . At the draft , the Senators selected Erik Karlsson with their first - round pick ( 15th overall ) and proceeded to select Patrick Wiercioch ( 42 overall ) , Zack Smith ( 79 overall ) , Andre Petersson ( 109 overall ) , Derek Grant ( 119 overall ) , Mark Borowiecki ( 139 overall ) , and Emil Sandin ( 199 overall ) . On July 1 , the Ottawa Senators announced that they have signed goaltender Alex Auld to a two - year contract worth $ 1 million per season . Auld is expected to serve as a backup to Martin Gerber for the ' 08 - ' 09 season . On July 2 , the Ottawa Senators announced that they have re - signed forward Shean Donovan to a two - year contract at $ 625 , 000 per season . The Sens also announced that they have signed forward Jarkko Ruutu to a 3 - year contract worth $ 1 . 3 million per season . On July 5 , the Ottawa Senators announced that Antoine Vermette had elected to take the club to salary arbitration . The Senators and Vermette would agree to a two - year deal on July 31 . On July 8 , the Senators announced that they had signed defenceman Jason Smith to a two - year , $ 5 . 2M contract . On July 16 , the Senators announced that they will host the Detroit Red Wings in their official home - opener on October 11 . On July 17 , the Ottawa Senators and CHUM Radio announced that the club and The Team 1200 have signed a multi - year extension to their agreement to broadcast Senators ' games . The original 10 - year contract expired at the end of the ' 07 - ' 08 season . On July 31 , the Ottawa Senators and Antoine Vermette avoided going to arbitration by agreeing to terms on a new 2 - year contract worth $ 5 . 525 - million ( US ) . Vermette will make $ 2 . 525 - million for the ' 08 - ' 09 season , and $ 3 - million in the ' 09 - ' 10 season . On August 29 , in a deal similar to the Alexei Yashin trade in 2001 , former first - round pick Andrej Meszaros was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for Filip Kuba , Alex Picard , and a first - round pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft ( obtained by Tampa Bay in an earlier deal with the San Jose Sharks ) . Meszaros was a restricted free agent demanding $ 1 million more per season than the Senators were willing to pay . After Tampa threatened to offer Meszaros an offer sheet with picks as compensation on August 28 , the Senators decided to make a deal with Tampa . Meszaros signed a six year , $ 24 million dollar contract on August 30 with the Lightning . On September 2 , the Senators made a deal with the Vancouver Canucks , and traded their defenseman Lawrence Nycholat for a center / right wing Ryan Shannon . On the same day , they signed another former - Canucks player , Brad Isbister , who was a unrestricted free agent . On September 27 , a veteran defenseman Luke Richardson re - signed a 1 year , two - way with the Ottawa Senators for a second season . Pre - season . On October 2 , the Senators played their first - ever game in Europe , a pre - season exhibition game in Gothenburg , Sweden , against the Frölunda HC Gothenburg team , which Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson played for before joining the NHL and during the lockout . The Senators finished the 2008 pre - season with a record of 4 – 2 – 0 – 0 . Regular season . The Senators started their season with a pair of games in Stockholm , Sweden . The Senators played the Pittsburgh Penguins twice at the Scandinavium on October 4 and October 5 . The teams split the results , the Penguins winning the first in overtime and the Senators winning the second . New Senator defenceman Filip Kuba picked up at least one point in each of the Senators ' first eight games of the season , setting the NHL record for consecutive team games with assists from the start of a season by a defenseman . The previous mark of seven was set by Brad Park with the Bruins in 1981 – 82 . All points were assists and Kuba did not score his first goal with the Senators until November 13 . Alexander Nikulin , who had been demoted to Binghamton , threatened to return to Russia unless he was traded . He was traded from Binghamton to the Phoenix Coyotes ' AHL affiliate San Antonio Rampage for Drew Fata . For a game on November 22 versus the New York Rangers the Senators unveiled their new ' third jersey ' . Marketed as ' Back in Black ' , the jersey is primarily black . The Senator ' s primary logo moves to the shoulders and the nickname ' SENS ' is across the front of the jersey . Prior to that game , the Senators players , the team below the playoff cutoff in the standings for most of October through November , decided to grow moustache s , similar to the playoff beard tradition of teams in the playoffs . The team started growing the moustaches following a loss to the Montreal Canadiens on November 20 . The idea originated with Dany Heatley . On November 27 , the Senators waived Luke Richardson , a veteran of nearly 20 years in the NHL . He was not picked up by any other team and retired . He had not seen much playing time with Senators , and had been a ' healthy scratch ' several times . From December until early January the Senators took an eight - game road trip as Scotiabank Place was used for the 2009 World Juniors tournament . The team , already well back of a playoff spot received intense scrutiny by the media , believing a ' shake - up ' of some kind was imminent . The team only won one game on the road trip , and on January 7 , owner Eugene Melnyk was compelled to respond to media reports of the imminent firings of Murray and Hartsburg : “ Contrary to what is being reported today by the media , I have made no decisions with respect to any personnel changes within the Senators organization . Winning remains our No . 1 priority and there is a collective focus by our management , our coaching staff and our players to deliver this to our fans . I , along with our fans , will do nothing but continue to remain fully committed to our Senators and enthusiastically cheer them on to a successful second half of the season . This is crunch time . Now , more than ever , is the time to rally behind our team . We don ’ t surrender half - way though the season . Every victory from here on in matters . We know it and the fans know it . Period . ” At the end of the road trip on January 8 , the club was 13 points behind the eighth and final playoff spot , held by the Buffalo Sabres . The " Ottawa Citizen " , launched the ' Tavares Cup ' similar in spirit to the ' Daigle Cup ' of 1993 , to keep track of the bottom five teams in the league , all of which had a chance , at least via the draft lottery , to draft the highly - rated junior . At the time of the start of the ' competition ' , the Senators were within the lowest five teams in the league . Also on January 7 , forward Jarkko Ruutu received a suspension of two games for biting in an altercation with a Buffalo forward on January 6 . It was Ruutu ' s second suspension of the season , after elbowing a Montreal Canadiens forward earlier in the season . On January 9 , 2009 , Brian Elliott was recalled by Ottawa from Binghamton . He had been named the AHL ' s goaltender of the month for December . On January 15 , 2009 , Senators goaltender Martin Gerber was demoted to the American Hockey League ' s ( AHL ) Binghamton Senators to a two - week conditioning stint , was placed on waivers and was assigned to Binghamton on January 27 . Elliott started six games in a row and remained with Ottawa . On January 29 , less than a month after previous comments to the media about the Senators , Eugene Melnyk responded to media speculation about possible organization changes with another memorable quote : “ Anybody that says we should blow up this organization should get their own bomb and go blow themselves up . ” At the time , the Senators remained near the bottom of the league in 29th place , with the lowest goal - scoring record in the league . However , only three days later , on February 2 , head coach Craig Hartsburg was fired , ending his tenure with the Senators at only 48 games . Following a 7 – 4 loss to the Washington Capitals on February 1 , Hartsburg had called out his team for not playing hard . Binghamton Senators head coach Cory Clouston was elevated to head coach of Ottawa for the balance of the season . Clouston became the fourth head coach to coach the Senators in a year , prompting the media to dub the players as " coach - killers . " Assistant coach Curtis Hunt was also let go ( he became the Binghamton head coach ) and retired defenceman Luke Richardson joined the coaching staff as an assistant . On February 12 , former coach John Paddock ( who had moved on to coach the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms ) weighed in on the firing , stating that at some point Murray would be held accountable : “ I think now he ' s next in line . We were 14 games over . 500 when I was fired . They ' re seven under now . Somebody needs to take responsibility for that . Whether the coaches he hired and fired were good or not , they ' re his players and they ' re either not playing good or can ' t play , one or the other . ” He was then asked which was the case : “ The players are not very good , that ' s the problem . ” Paddock apologized to Murray via e - mail . Murray commented " I ' m disappointed and a little bit surprised by it . I ' m not sure what purpose he was trying to achieve doing that . He sent me an apology . The only complaint I ever had with John was that I didn ' t think he worked hard enough at getting himself ready and getting the team ready to play games . " Late in February and early in March , as the season neared the trade deadline , the team still held out hold of making the playoffs although the team remained over 10 points out of a playoff spot , as the team was winning more often with Clouston . The Senators started making some deals , sending Dean McAmmond and a 2009 first - round pick for Chris Campoli and Mike Comrie . By the trade deadline day March 4 , Murray admitted to the media that the club would be ' sellers ' and had given up hope of making the playoffs . On March 4 , Antoine Vermette was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets for goaltender Pascal Leclaire and a draft pick . Martin Gerber was put on waivers three times and was finally picked up by the Toronto Maple Leafs . Although the club improved its record under new coach Clouston , including a 10 – 5 – 0 record in March , it was not enough to salvage the season . On March 31 , following a loss to the Florida Panthers and a win by the Montreal Canadiens , the club was eliminated from playoff contention for the first time since 1996 . Although eliminated , the team continued to play well , including an nine - game win streak on home ice . By April 8 , the team ' s record under Clouston was 19 – 10 – 3 and he was rewarded with a two - year deal to continue coaching the Senators . Player stats . Skaters . " Note : GP = Games played ; G = Goals ; A = Assists ; Pts = Points ; + / − = Plus / Minus ; PIM = Penalty Minutes " Goaltenders . " Note : GP = Games Played ; TOI = Time On Ice ( minutes ) ; W = Wins ; L = Losses ; OT = Overtime Losses ; GA = Goals Against ; GAA = Goals Against Average ; SA = Shots Against ; SV = Saves ; Sv % = Save Percentage ; SO = Shutouts " Retired . Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Senators . Stats reflect time with Senators only . Traded mid - season . Playoffs . The Senators attempted to make the playoffs for the 12th straight season . Prior to the season , a majority of predictions by the media placed the Senators to finish in the playoffs in fourth or lower . Some , including the Hockey News ' Adam Proteau , placed the team to miss the playoffs . However , if they make the playoffs , Proteau plans to “ Commission a musical mash - up consisting of Alanis Morissette and Paul Anka music – and Tom Green ’ s short - lived professional rap career – and listen to it on repeat for an entire drive from Toronto to Ottawa . And back , even . ” The Hockey News , December 11 , 2008 After changing coaches and improving play , the Senators were not able to qualify for the playoffs . On March 31 , the Senators were mathematically eliminated from the playoff race . Transactions . Source : senators . nhl . com Roster . < br > Draft picks . Ottawa ' s picks at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa • Ontario . Farm teams . The Senators continued their affiliation with the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League and added an affiliation agreement with the Elmira Jackals of the East Coast Hockey League . In previous years , Elmira had accepted players from Binghamton on a player - by - player basis . The new agreement formalized the arrangement of Elmira as the primary affiliate of Binghamton and the secondary affiliate of Ottawa .