The 1999–2000 Ottawa Senators season saw the Senators drop in the standings, as they finished with 95 points, down from the 103 they registered the previous season. They finished second in the Northeast Division, and sixth in the Eastern Conference. They qualified for the playoffs for the fourth straight season.
This season is remembered by fans as the season that star forward Alexei Yashin decided to sit out due to his contract. He was entering the final year of a 5 year contract that he signed with Ottawa in 1995, however, Yashin wanted a hefty pay raise after his spectacular 1998–99 season, and set a deadline that the Senators had to give him a new contract, or he would miss the entire season. The Senators did not sign him, and Yashin sat out the entire 1999–2000 season.
With the loss of Yashin, Daniel Alfredsson was named captain, and despite missing 25 games due to various injuries, he scored 59 points, behind only Radek Bonk's 60 points in team scoring. Marian Hossa tied Shawn McEachern for the team lead in goals with 29.
The Senators traded goaltender Damian Rhodes to the Atlanta Thrashers as part of a deal during the 1999 NHL Expansion Draft, and acquired Patrick Lalime from the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to split goaltending duties with Ron Tugnutt. Tugnutt had a sub-par season by his standards, and was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins for two-time Stanley Cup champion goaltender Tom Barrasso at the NHL Trade Deadline.
Barrasso was the starting goalie going into the playoffs, however, it was a short stay, as the Senators were eliminated in six games in the first round by their provincial rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Read more about 1999–2000 Ottawa Senators Season: Playoffs, Awards and Records, Roster, Draft Picks, Farm Teams
Famous quotes containing the words senators and/or season:
“We shall have to begin all over again. [Taft hoped that] the Senators might change their minds, or that the people might change the Senate; instead of which they changed me.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“To me a book is a message from the gods to mankind; or, if not, should never be published at all.... A message from the gods should be delivered at once. It is damnably blasphemous to talk about the autumn season and so on. How dare the author or publisher demand a price for doing his duty, the highest and most honourable to which a man can be called?”
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947)