2010 – 11 Ottawa Senators season The 2010 – 11 Ottawa Senators season will be the 18th season in the modern Senators ' history . Off - season . Early in the off - season , the Senators signed several players including summer development camp attendee Colin Greening on April 28 and Binghamton forward Ryan Keller on May 19 and goaltender Mike Brodeur on May 26 . After some media speculation , the Senators also bought out Jonathan Cheechoo ' s contract on June 29 after he cleared waivers , making Cheechoo a free agent . At the Entry Draft , the Senators traded their first - round pick to the St . Louis Blues for defenceman David Rundblad , who had been the Blues ' first - round pick ( 17th - overall ) in the 2009 Draft . Having now previously traded their first , second , and fifth - round picks , the Senators picked Jakub Culek in the third round ( 76th - overall ) , Marcus Sorensen in the fourth round ( 106th - overall ) , Mark Stone in the sixth round ( 178th - overall ) , and Bryce Aneloski in the seventh round ( 196th - overall ) . Throughout July , the Senators made various signings . On July 13 , they signed Swedish forward and 2004 Senator draft pick Roman Wick to a one - year , entry - level contract , and resigned Derek Smith to a one - year contract . On July 22 , they resigned forward Cody Bass to a one - year , two - way contract and forward Mike Hoffman to a one - year , entry - level contract . Having fired their goaltending coach Eli Wilson in January , the Senators signed former goaltender Rick Wamsley as goaltending coach on July 27 . His most recent job was interim head coach of the St . Louis Blues ' AHL affiliate , the Peoria Rivermen . He had at one time been Pascal Leclaire ' s goaltending coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets . On August 5 , the Senators resigned Binghampton defenceman Geoff Kinrade to a one - year , two - way contract as well as signing forward and local prospect Corey Cowick to a entry - level contract . Cowick was an assistant captain with Ottawa ' s OHL team the Ottawa 67 ' s and was the Senators sixth - round pick at the 2009 Draft . The Senators entered the off - season with four restricted free agents ( RFA ) : Chris Campoli , Nick Foligno , Peter Regin , and Jesse Winchester . The team also had six unrestricted free agents ( UFA ) : Matt Cullen and Andy Sutton acquired via late 2009 – 10 season trades ; Shean Donovan and Anton Volchenkov , as well as Binghamton players Martin St . Pierre and Josh Hennessy . Of the four RFAs , all resigned with the Senators . Winchester and Foligno each signed two - year deals on July 1 and July 21 respectively . Campoli and Regin both filed for arbitration , however , they each resigned before it reached that point . Regin signed a two - year deal on July 29 , while Campoli signed a one - year deal on July 30 . Of the six UFAs , none have resigned with the Senators . On July 1 , the first day of free agency , Volchenkov signed with the New Jersey Devils while Cullen signed a three - year deal with the Minnesota Wild . On August 2 , Sutton signed with the Anaheim Ducks in a two - year deal . While Donovan remains unsigned , it is unlikely he will return to Ottawa due to salary cap limitations . St . Pierre and Hennessy both signed with teams overseas , St . Pierre with HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk and Hennessy with HC Lugano . In terms of acquisitions , the Senators made a notable move in signing former Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Sergei Gonchar to a three - year deal in the early morning hours of July 1 . Other free agency acquisitions include forward Corey Locke , decenceman and enforcer Francis Lessard , forward David Hale , and decenceman André Benoit . In early June , an Ottawa Sun article reported that star centre Jason Spezza was " unhappy " and that there were " indications [ he ] may have asked for a trade . " Though purely speculation , the article prompted various other Ottawa sports media sources to issue their own perspectives . Theories ranged from conjuring up various trade rumours , noting the similarity to the previous year ' s Dany Heatley trade demand , or to suggesting that it was just " lazy rumor mongering . " Meanwhile , the Sun received criticism for its journalistic integrity to the point where they had to defend accusations that they were " anti - Spezza " This did not stop speculation though , which was emboldened by silence both from Spezza and GM Bryan Murray . Spezza finally broke the silence during his annual Celebrity Classic golf tournament on July 20 : Further , he expressed regret that the issue had become public at all . " Me and Bryan have talked since then and probably our conversation should have stayed between us , " he said . " We probably wouldn ’ t even be talking here today . But it happened and it ’ s a reality . " His statement largely settled the rumour , apart from some minor speculation ( again by Ottawa Sun columnists ) that Spezza had in fact demanded a trade similar to Heatley . However , sources confirmed with Spezza ' s team members that the situation was " not even close to the Dany situation . " Pre - season . On June 18 , the Senators announced that they will play eight games during the pre - season , which includes three home games , four road games , and one neutral site game . The Senators will face the Toronto Maple Leafs three times , and will have home - and - home sets against the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Rangers . The Senators will also play in the Hockeyville 2010 game at Dundas , Ontario against the Buffalo Sabres . The game will be played on September 28 , 2010 at the J . L . Grightmire Market Street Arena . Regular season . The Senators ' regular season schedule was announced on June 22 , 2010 . The Senators open the season at home against the Buffalo Sabres on October 8 , 2010 . The Senators end the season on the road against the Bruins on April 9 , 2011 . Playoffs . The Senators will attempt to return to the playoffs for the 13th time in 14 seasons . " The Hockey News " predicts in their 2010 - 11 Yearbook that the Senators will finish 10th in the Conference , missing the playoffs . The " Las Vegas Hilton SportsBook " has set the odds at 40 – 1 that the Senators will win the Stanley Cup . Farm teams . The Senators signed Kurt Kleinendorst to a two - year deal to be head coach of Binghamton . He was previously the head coach of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program ' s Under - 18 team , which won the Under - 18 world championship in 2010 .