The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Although reading about the origins of the old Ottawa Senators was definitely intriguing, the first thing I actually wanted to know about them was why they left in the first place.

The 1933-34 NHL season would be the last one for the old Senators, as they would relocate to St Louis to play as the Eagles for the next season in hopes of finding greener pastures. That did not happen, and they would fold after their first year in the new city, finishing dead last in the league. The first organized Ottawa hockey club was founded in 1884, and fifty years later, it was gone.

Now tell me if these terms don't sound familiar to you: Small market. U.S. expansion. Escalating player salaries. The last Stanley Cup dynasty for the Senators occurred in the 1920's, when they won the Cup in the years 1920, 1921, 1923 and 1927. At the start of that dynasty, there were a total of four teams in the league. By 1927, there were ten teams, with expansion hitting places such as New York, Boston, Detroit and Chicago. Ottawa was the smallest of all the cities, with a population at the time of just over 100,000 people. The next smallest city in the NHL was Toronto which had a half million citizens. New York would open "the most famous arena in the world", Madison Square Garden, where 16,000 spectators could watch a hockey game. Ottawa had a decent but in comparison, small arena, with the newly constructed Auditorium that would seat about 7,500 fans.

Ottawa had no problem drawing while playing in visiting cities, as they had the reputation of being the best with their many championships, but the crowds back home didn't guarantee sellouts. Compounded with the fact the new teams were offering bigger player contracts than ever before, the Ottawa Senators found themselves selling player contracts to try to make ends meet. That meant shipping off their star players to pay the bills, and replacing them with lesser talent.

The NHL did not consider the implications on a small market like Ottawa when it expanded as quickly as it did. Did they have a responsibility to a city where hockey was founded (along with Montreal), and where the Stanley Cup originated? Sentimentality could not override economics. Add the realities of the Great Depression, and the team was doomed.

I sometimes think what would Ottawa be like today if they kept their team all of these years. Would there have been more championships? More swagger in the city itself? An arena not located in one of the worst possible areas in the city? Hard to say, but fun to debate. I just hope the new Senators will, this time, stick around for good.