Coming off a season where the Senators didn’t make the playoffs for the first time in 11-seasons, season ticket holders knew that changes had to be made. The franchise didn’t expect Dany Heatley to demand a trade out of Ottawa due to minutes under new coach Cory Clouston. On September 12, 2009, the franchise did as asked and traded Heatley to the San Jose Sharks along with a 5th round draft pick for Milan Michalek and Jonathan Cheechoo. The franchise also gets a 2nd round 2010 draft pick. In the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, the Senators selected Jared Cowen with the 9th overall pick. With the 39th pick, they selected Canadian Jakob Silfverberg. The team also signed Alexie Kovalev to a 2-yr $10 million contract. The team resigned seven players, Erik Condra, Erik Karlsson, Chris Neil, Derek Smith, Jeramy Yablonski, Brian Elliott and Matt Carkner. The Senators are currently sitting in 5th place in the Eastern conference with a 34-22-4 record.

Ottawa Senators tickets got instant respectability with the addition of Dany Heatley and Dominik Hasek during the NHL hiatus. But that's not all the fans in the Corel Centre have to brag about. The Ottawa Senators boast one of the deepest pools of young talent in the league and that distinction may pave the way for the Senators to battle their way back to the Stanley Cup playoffs. In any event, Ottawa Senators tickets are clearly on the rise in the NHL.

In a long awaited return, the NHL came back to the city of Ottawa in 1992, with the NHL forking over the Ottawa Senators. The new franchise debuted on October 8th and got ff to a good start by knocking off the Montreal Canadiens 5-3. Ottawa fans expecting big things were disappointed though, as the Senators stumbled and slipped the rest of the way through the season and ended up with a dismal record of 10-70-4. As with most expansions franchises trying to get their feet under them, the misery continued in 1993-94 as the Senators could only mage to reach 14-61-9 and for the second consecutive year were the worst team in the NHL. The silver lining in the dark cloud though, came in the form of Alexei Yashin, who managed to put together a good rookie season by scoring 30 goals.

By 1996-96 the Senators were beginning to shape up. Although they still ended up with the worst record in the league, Ottawa pulled of some impressive upsets, including a win over the defending Stanley Cup winning New Jersey Devils. In addition, rookie Daniel Alfredsson was the winner of the Calder Trophy. Alfredsson, along with Yashin, combined for a good season in 1996-97, bringing Ottawa a 31-36-15 record and the franchises first appearance in the NHL Playoffs, where the Senators dropped a 7 game series to the Buffalo Sabres.

Thus began a run of playoff appearance for the Ottawa Senators that extended from 1997 to 2004. Along the way the franchise won 3 division championships and had their best year in 2003 when the team advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time. After finishing at 52-21-8-1 despite the turmoil created by the ownerships financial problems, the Senators won their first round match up against the New York Islanders in 5 games. After advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals with a series win over the Philadelphia Flyers, Ottawa fell behind by a 3-1 margin in their Conference series with the New Jersey Devils. With their backs against the wall the Senators rallied to win the next 2, setting up a 7th game. In a heartbreaking turn of events the Senators failed to capitalize on a 1-0 lead and lost their chance at a Stanley Cup in a 3-2 loss.

What do Ottawa Senators tickets have to offer NHL fans? First of all there's newcomers Dany Heatley and Dominik Hasek. Heatley is coming off an injury riddled season but is ranked among the top NHL players around. If he's healthy, and stays healthy, Ottawa gets an instant superstar. Hasek, coming out retirement to join the Seantors, played well enough to help the Detroit Red Wings nab a Stanley Cup. His health is a question mark too. If these two key additions can stay on the ice, Ottawa Senators ticket holders can start making plans for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.