The 2021–22 Ottawa Senators season was the 30th season of the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). The Senators attempted to return to the

Stanley Cup playoffs The Stanley Cup playoffs (french: Les séries éliminatoires de la Coupe Stanley) is an elimination tournament in the National Hockey League (NHL) consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series to determine the league champion and the winner ...

after failing to qualify for the past four seasons. The Senators returned to the Atlantic Division after playing in the

North Division Northern Division or North Division can refer to: Sports * Northern Division (Rugby Union) Leagues of England * Queensland Rugby League Northern Division * Southern League Northern Division of the Southern Football League in England * FA Women's P ...

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. On April 6, 2022, the Senators were eliminated from playoff contention when the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL) ...

defeated the

Tampa Bay Lightning The Tampa Bay Lightning (colloquially known as the Bolts) are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. They play th ...

Team business

In July 2021, the team hired

Pierre McGuire Regis Pierre McGuire (born August 8, 1961) is an American-Canadian ice hockey executive who last served as senior vice-president of player development for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously worked as a televis ...

as senior vice president of player development. McGuire, who had most recently been a broadcaster with the

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, had previously been an assistant coach with the Senators. In August 2021, the Senators announced their new

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

affiliation with the

Atlanta Gladiators The Atlanta Gladiators are a professional minor league ice hockey team based in Duluth, Georgia. The Gladiators play in the South Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. They play their home games at Gas South Arena, approximately northeast of ...

. Owner Eugene Melnyk died on March 28, 2022, due to an unspecified illness. In statements in recent years, Melnyk had said that he planned to leave the team to his two daughters Olivia and Anna, when he had been asked if he intended to sell the team, although there has been speculation about ownership changes. The team added an 'EM' patch on the jersey for the rest of the season. In April 2022, the club announced a joint proposal with the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group to host the 2023 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships in Ottawa. The

National Capital Commission The National Capital Commission (NCC; french: Commission de la capitale nationale, CCN) is the Crown corporation responsible for development, urban planning, and conservation in Canada's Capital Region (Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec), i ...

(NCC) resumed the process to redevelop the LeBreton Flats overall site, reserving the site of an arena and asking for preliminary bids on the arena site separately. After a February 2022 deadline to submit bids, the NCC announced that it had received several bids for the site. Local media speculated that the Senators were actively pursuing a bid, authorized by Melnyk shortly before his death. In June 2022, the NCC accepted the Senators' proposal for a new downtown arena and mixed-use development as part of the Lebreton Flats redevelopment. The team will lease the land for their development. Construction is not expected before 2024 after a leasing agreement is finalized and municipal review of the project is completed. The lease agreement is expected to be put in place by autumn of 2023.

Standings

Divisional standings

Conference standings

Schedule and results

Preseason

The pre-season schedule was published on July 21, 2021.

Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on July 22, 2021. On November 15, the NHL announced the postponement of three Senators games due to there being ten Senators players in the League's

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protocol with "evidence of continued spread in recent days", rendering the team inactive until they were cleared to return to practice on November 20, in time to play their November 22 game hosted by the Colorado Avalanche. In the meantime, three games were postponed: at the New Jersey Devils on the 16th, against the Nashville Predators on the 18th, and against the New York Rangers on the 20th.

Player statistics

Skaters

Goaltenders

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Senators. Stats reflect time with the Senators only.
^‡No longer with the Senators.

Awards and honours

Milestones

Transactions

The Senators have been involved in the following transactions during the 2021–22 season.

Trades

Notes: : St. Louis will receive a 4th-round pick in 2022 if Brown plays fewer than 30 games for St. Louis in 2021–22; otherwise no pick will be exchanged. : Boston will receive a 6th-round pick in 2022 if Senyshyn plays at least 5 games with Ottawa during the 2021-22 season; otherwise Boston will receive a 7th-round pick in 2022.

Players acquired

Players lost

Signings

Draft picks

The Senators' top pick was the tenth-overall draft pick in the

2021 NHL Entry Draft The 2021 NHL Entry Draft was the 59th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on July 23–24, 2021, delayed by one month from its normally scheduled time of June due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the later-than-normal finish of the 2020–21 NHL se ...

, Tyler Boucher. The Senators made two trades on day two of the draft, moving up in the selections and ending up with six selections overall. The draft was held July 23–24, 2024 virtually via

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from the NHL Network studio in

Secaucus, New Jersey Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,Ottawa Senators seasons

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Senators 2021 in Ontario 2022 in Ontario