Why Greedy Players Never Win in Ottawa

They never learn do they? Four European primadonna's and all four of them run out of town on a wagon. Seems that greed and ego always trump common sense when it comes to playing for the Ottawa Senators. Say what you want about this franchise, but it only pays players what they're worth not what they, and their agents, think they're worth.

Andrej Meszaros has just learned his lesson the hard way. Had he been a student of history, he would have seen that those before him, Yashin, Chara, and Havlat, rarely get the best of Ottawa GM's when it comes down to contract talk. So, like his predecessor's, he was told to get out.

Meszaros was sent to the Tampa Bay Lightening this week (a team I've come to coin as the New York Rangers' "mini-me") for Filip Kuba, Alexandre Picard, and a first-round draft pick. What Ottawa gains is veteran leadership, size, local talent, and two first round picks in this year's draft. What they lose is inconsistency, give aways, and inaccurate shooting. I call this a good deal!

Now, going back to my earlier point about history. In Ottawa, demands never win out over talent and value. The first time Ottawa Senators' fans were privy to this was during the infamous Yashin debacle. A talented player, whom Ottawa owners and fans believed carried the franchise, who demanded big bucks in return for his years of service. Granted, Yashin's point totals were in impressive, but consider this, only once did he eclipse 100 points and only twice did he score over 40 goals in a season.

His playoff record was even worse: 20 playoff games 12 points. Fast forward to the 1999-2000 season and Yashin is told "thanks but no thanks" and is sent packing to the New York Islanders for Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt, and New York's first round draft pick which turned out to be Jason Spezza. Again, I call this a great deal!!

After Yashin left Ottawa his numbers declined substantially. In his first season on the Island he scored 27 goals and 70 points. A little low for a guy that signed a 10-year, $90-million contract. In each of the following years he would never again eclipse the 25 goal mark, scoring just 16 in his last season on the island before being bought out.

The second member of this list is Zdeno Chara. Chara, a 6'9" Slovak, was essentially seen by players around the league as a giant goon and nothing more. Ottawa, however, saw potential in his size and hard shot from the point. For four years he would quarterback the Senators powerplay scoring a career high 20 goals in the 2005-2006 season. However, what most fans will remember about Chara is he let Jason Pominville skate around him, Wade Redden, and Daniel Alfredsson to eventually score the series winning goal for Buffalo in the 2006 Eastern Semi-finals.

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