Daniel Alfredsson is no longer an Ottawa Senator, he is now a Detroit Red Wing after signing a one year 5.5 million dollar contract. Let that statement sink in for a second. It has the same ring as “Sundin is no longer a Maple Leaf” or “Iginla is no longer a Flame”. But this one is different for many reasons. To begin with, Alfredsson has meant more to the Senators than either Iginla to Calgary or Sundin to Toronto. He has spent his entire career in Ottawa and is so ingrained in the team’s culture that fans have created “The church of Alfie”. It will be interesting to see what becomes of that “church” now that the “saviour” has departed for Detroit.
The second reason why this is different, and why it is so tough for fans to swallow, is the fact that the Senators are arguably more of a contender than the Wings. They have a young core that is constantly improving, and demonstrated that fact by an incredible 2013 NHL season which saw them make it to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs despite every injury imaginable. During this process they demonstrated both the fact that they have to be taken seriously and also that they have excellent organisational depth. In both the cases of Sundin and Iginla, even for a guy like Mike Modano, their teams were not going anywhere.
The ultimate question in all of this is why? Why did Alfredsson leave an organisation with which he has spent his entire career? Why now, when the team looks primed to be a contender once again this upcoming year? It could be the money, which is definitely significant and a number he wouldn’t have gotten in Ottawa. It could be that he has never truly believed in them. This would flashback to his statement during the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in which he essentially said that his team probably wouldn’t come back in the series. Although the statement was honest and probably true it didn’t reflect well on his belief in the Ottawa Senators.
Earlier this year I wrote an article on the fact that the Senators “need to give Alfredsson reason not to retire”.The point I was making in that article was that Ottawa needed to make moves in order to give their Captain one last shot at the cup. As July 5th came closer and closer it did not appear that management was prepared to make the kind of moves needed to make the Senators a favourite or even heavy contender. In fact before signing Clarke Macarthur earlier today movement in Ottawa had been incredibly minimal. GM Bryan Murray did not seem prepared to do what was necessary, and risk jeopardizing a promising future, to make the team dangerous.
I ,like most others at the time of writing that article, believed that the question was whether or not Alfie would retire not whether or not he would return to the Senators. It seemed a given that if Alfie was playing in 2013-14 it would be in Red,Black and Gold. I also mentioned in that article that it wouldn’t make sense for Alfredsson to leave. That it would hurt his legacy more than anything. What happens to his legacy remains to be seen, but at the moment his name is tarnished in the Nation’s capital.
This is why, with the current information available, this move is entirely the wrong one for Daniel Alfredsson. Physically, he can still compete and put up numbers as he did during 2013, both in the playoffs and season. While his career years are behind him he is still a great leader and a decent contributor. He would have remained a living legend in Ottawa and probably would have a had a better shot at winning hockey’s ultimate prize. That appears to be the goal for the Swede as he reaches the end of his career.
Many have brought up trivial factors in both Alfredsson’s decision not to retire and to move to the Red Wings. Alfredsson has already stated that, although he will be happy to represent Sweden, the Olympics didn’t factor in his decision to return. This is most likely the same case with the fact that the Red Wings are hosting the Winter Classic in 2013-2014. At any rate he would have played in an outdoor game with the Senators as they are hosted by the Vancouver Canucks at BC Place this season. Those things are trivial, there must be a bigger story here.
Until that story comes out the narrative is this: Daniel Alfredsson may have tarnished his legacy to join a team who have a marginally better, at best, chance of winning cup. That is a mistake and the kind of mistake you wouldn’t expect Daniel Alfredsson to make.
Thanks for reading – as always feel free to leave comments below and follow me on twitter @IswearGaa. Give the rest of the hockey department a follow while you’re at it – @lastwordBKerr, @BigMick99, and @LastWordOnNHL, and follow the site @lastwordonsport.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? Visit our Join our Team page and be heard!
