Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Alfredsson to play first game in Ottawa as an opponent

Detroit Red Wings v New York Islanders

skates against the New York Islanders at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on November 29, 2013 in Uniondale, New York. The Red Wings defeated the Islanders 5-0.

Bruce Bennett

It’s the day many Ottawa Senators fans circled before the start of the season. The Detroit Red Wings are paying their first visit to Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata and with them comes former Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson.

In case you went into hiding this summer, Alfredsson turned down the Senators to sign with the Red Wings after playing 17 seasons in Ottawa.

He and the team, in particular owner Eugene Melnyk, disagreed publicly about how negotiations went down between the two sides and Alfie ultimately leveled the heaviest verbal slap saying he signed with Detroit because they had a better chance to win the Stanley Cup.

Alfredsson comes into today’s game on a bit of a hot streak. He has three goals and three assists in his last four games including two goals and an assist against the New York Islanders on Friday night.

Meanwhile, the Red Wings have won four of their last five and the Senators have lost five of their last seven and sit in sixth place in the Atlantic Division, nine points behind the second place logjam with Tampa Bay, Montreal, and Detroit.

The Senators have said they’ll pay tribute to Alfredsson during this afternoon’s game (5:30 p.m. ET puck drop). Will he be received warmly as the long-time captain who helped bring the team out of the darkness of the early 90s or as a deserter who fled for more money?

Follow @JoeYerdonPHT