The Ottawa Senators All-Time Combined Czechia and Slovakia Team Starting Lineup

With the offseason in full swing and many, but not all, free agents off the board, all hockey fans, us included, can’t wait for October. Here at Last Word on Hockey, we have been exploring some different “bests” during the long, hot days of summer. Best players by number for a few teams, top Canadians by position, and top first-round draft picks are some of the select rankings our writers have been exploring. As an ode to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, here for the Ottawa Senators, we are looking at the all-time starting lineups based on nationality. Other teams have started this series as well, such as the Carolina Hurricanes and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Ottawa Senators All-Time Best Czech and Slovak Players

A few parameters to this list to get us started. This will be a starting lineup, so two wingers, one centre, two defencemen, and a goalie. The player must have played in the NHL with the Senators (so not considering prospects). Also, we only considered players since the 1992 reincarnation of the franchise. The assessment comes from the players best performance with, and impact on, the Senators. Hence, not a player’s career if he played with other teams. We have already completed the Swedish, Russian, and American teams and now we continue our series.

The former country of Czechoslovakia and the two countries that formed, Czechia and Slovakia, have had a long tradition of hockey greatness. You need not look further than at the celebrations in Prague after David Pastrnak helped Czechia to the 2024 Men’s World Hockey Championship title. From names like Stan Mikita, Vladimir Dzurilla, and the famous Stastny family, the roots are deep.

Whether it was the Czech Republic’s 1998 Winter Olympic gold medal or Slovakia’s 2002 World Championship, the Senators have had some notable overlap in the great representatives of the (now) two proud nations. There was no specific reason for combining the two nations in our ranking, but it did help complete the lineups. We say lineups, because unlike others in our series, we decided to make a secondary lineup out of our list of honourable mentions. Also, most of the players were born in what was then called Czechoslovakia. Therefore, with all that in mind, let’s get to these lineups.

The Best Forward in Ottawa Senators History from Czech and Slovak Players Marian Hossa

The first player on the list, along with Zdeno Chara, were teammates on the year 2000 team Slovakia. However, despite both missing out on the 2002 title, they are apart of the contingent that made up, what was, a hockey powerhouse for a brief period in the early 200os. But we are here to talk about these and other players’ influence on the Ottawa Senators franchise.

Marian Hossa was a star in the NHL over a 19-year career, and spent his first seven campaigns in Ottawa. Hossa scored 29 or more goals in five consecutive seasons as a member of the Senators. This included his career-high of 45 in 2002-03. That season was a big one for both player and club, as the Sens made it through to the Eastern Conference Final. In total, Hossa had 34 points in 51 career playoff games for the Sens. Hossa was one of the best Ottawa Senators in the history of their franchise thus far and makes our combined team of best Czech and Slovak players.

Radek Bonk

Next, we slide on over to one of the Czechia representatives. Radek Bonk was introduced to the Ottawa Senators as the third overall pick in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. He went on to a ten-year playing career with the Sens, registering 399 points over 689 games. He impressively represented Ottawa in their first eight post-season appearances from 1997 to 2004. Bonk came to Ottawa with high expectations. However, despite his taking a while to take flight, his combined 21 points in 30 games over the 2002 and 2003 playoffs showed he more or less lived up to those expectations. He was a leader and a contributor on a consistently, competitive team.

Martin Havlat

Here we are rounding out our Czechia and Slovakia starting lineup with officially another Czech national. Furthermore, Havlat was a member of the very deep 2003 Sens roster. As a sidebar, there definitely is a common theme amongst our nationality starting lineups. The common theme is the influence of the players’ inclusion on, at least, one of the 2003, 2007, or 2017 teams. Havlat was no exception.

Havlat was a great combination of speed, power, and finishing abilities. And where did his NHL career start? In Ottawa as a 19-year-old. He played his first five NHL seasons as a Senator, scoring 105 goals and 130 assists for 235 points in 298 games. Injuries would prevent Havlat from much stronger career stats. However, when he was on his game, he was a point-a-game player. For example, in 2003-04, at 22, he scored 31 goals and had 68 points in 68 games played.

Zdeno Chara

‘Big Z’ takes the crown as best of either Czech or Slovakian defencemen to represent the Ottawa Senators. He wasn’t with the Senators all that long. Moreover, he was there as he developed into the prime of his career as a perennial Norris Trophy candidate. He didn’t win the Norris as a Senator, that honour would come in 2009 as member of the Boston Bruins. However, he did finish second and fourth in voting in two of his seasons with Ottawa.

In four seasons total, he played 299 games, had 146 points, 554 penalty minutes, and skated 24:40 a game. Additionally, his playoff standing was incredible, appearing in the playoffs in each of his four seasons good, for 45 games. The Sens were unable to string them all together in the same playoff, but Chara saw four series victories in those seasons. Unfortunately, prior to the 2006-07, given the salary needs to pay their star players, the team had a choice. General manager John Muckler had to decide between Wade Redden or Chara. Whatever the exact reasoning, likely influenced by Redden being a Canadian, and playing in the national capital, the choice was made to go with Redden. It’s tough to think what could have been, but Chara’s departure from Ottawa is a classic example of ‘what if.’

Andrej Meszaros

His NHL rookie season came in 2005-06 as a member of the Ottawa Senators. Meszaros came to Ottawa at the right time and was a very consistent contributor during his three seasons with the club. He appeared in 82 games in each of those seasons and was between 35 and 39 points in each as well. In addition, he played 34 playoff games, including being a part of the 2007 roster. In contrast, it seems things weren’t meant to be for Meszaros in Ottawa, despite his undeniable talent as a young defenceman. His contract was due in the summer of 2008, which coincided with the Sens difficult campaign as a team. Ultimately the team traded him to the Tampa Bay Lightning, which was the beginning of a new era for Mezsaros and the Senators organization as a whole.

Dominik Hasek

The two-time Hart and six-time Vezina Trophy winner spent just one injury-shortened season in Ottawa. Moreover, the impact of that injury might have forever altered the direction of the club. The injury occurred during play for the Czech Republic over the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Hasek was unable to play anymore that season, which was ultimately seen as a reason the Sens didn’t do better as Stanley Cup contenders in the 2006 playoffs, rather than a team that fizzled out in the second round to the Buffalo Sabres in five games. In 43 games before the injury, he went an outstanding 28-10-4. His .925 SV% and 2.09 GAA were up to the 2014 Hall of Fame inductees’ usual standards. Despite the lack of a body of work, Hasek’s play during that season, his aura, and the impact his presence had on the direction of the franchise, he deserves inclusion on the all-time (former) Team Czechoslovakia starting lineup in Ottawa Senators history.

Honourable Mentions Ottawa Senators Lineup of the Best Czech and Slovak Players

As we see from the honourable mention lineup, there was lots of potential to select from. The one name here that stands out was Milan Michalek. His influence is noteworthy just based on the fact he was a part of the return package for trading Dany Heatley. His stats weren’t too shabby either in 412 games over seven seasons with the Sens. He scored is career-high 35 goals in 2011-12. In total, he amassed 224 points with the Senators franchise.

For the 12 players in total we mentioned, only three would be considered Slovakian. However, those three were quite influential. It seems the list we put together did include all the best players from either Czech or Slovak who played for the Ottawa Senators. Now, stay tuned as we bring the final installment of the our series, the vaunted Team Canada.

Main photo: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports