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More than one NHL team has had a rough offseason so far, and the Ottawa Senators are among them.
The team was forced to deal captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers (keeping him in the Atlantic Division, worse yet) when it became crystal clear that he had no intention of re-signing long-term.
Sure, that stings for the fans — but at least they got 40% off of team merch if they traded in a recently-purchased Tkachuk sweater — but now a bona fide franchise legend seems to be heading to a bitter rival.
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Daniel Alfredsson is almost inarguably the greatest Ottawa Senator of all-time, with the Hall of Famer playing all but one of his 18 NHL seasons in Ottawa.
For the last three seasons, he has been an assistant on the Senators coaching staff, but now he’s leaving to join — of all teams — the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman revealed that Alfredsson is going to become an associate head coach for the Sens’ cross-province rival, and team owner Michael Andlauer formally acknowledged this with a classy statement.
The Leafs made an official announcement of their own.
In the early 2000s, the Senators and Leafs played four playoff series in five seasons against each other, with Alfredsson leading the Senators against Toronto teams led by fellow Swede Mats Sundin.
Sundin is now an executive advisor to Leafs GM John Chayka, which puts the former rivals on the same side.
And for Senators fans? Pain.
There are 31 other teams in the league where I think Senators fans would say, “I hate to see Alfie leave, but I wish him the best.” The Maple Leafs are not one of them.
Still, the NHL schedule is going to be released in about a week, and you can bet that a lot of people will have Toronto’s first visit to Ottawa circled on their calendars.
