Senators Will Retire Daniel Alfredsson’s Number

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At a press conference on Tuesday, the Ottawa Senators announced they will retire Daniel Alfredsson’s number 11 on Dec. 29 at a home game against the Detroit Red Wings, the only other team Alfredsson ever played for.

Owner Eugene Melnyk announced that the organization has founded a new “hockey honoring committee” that serves to identify “past, current and future players who will become an indelible mark on our community.” They set up structured protocols for the first time to identify how they honor their greatest players on and off the ice.

The first nomination review meeting of this committee was held in May, and they unanimously determined that the Senators would retire Alfredsson’s number.

“Daniel is an iconic figure in the history of our franchise. We are very excited to announce that the Senators Player Honouring Committee has unanimously decided that as we embark on the Ottawa Senators 25th season in the NHL, this would be the perfect time to have Daniel’s number 11 raised to the rafters of Canadian Tire Centre,” said Melnyk. “Daniel has consistently demonstrated class and excellence throughout his NHL career so it is only fitting his jersey number be retired to hang alongside the number 8 of legendary Frank Finnigan.”

Senior hockey advisor Bryan Murray put it well during the press conference when he said that the committee’s first task was an easy one. Alfredsson not only served as the team’s captain longer than any player in club history, he’s the franchise’s all-time leader in goals (426), assists (682), points (1,108), shots (3,320), game-winning goals (69), short-handed goals (25), power-play goals (131), hat tricks (8), and many other marks.

Alfredsson said at the press conference that he and his family had moved back to Ottawa from Sweden just the day before. He currently serves as senior advisor of hockey operations for the Senators.

The honoring committee members include Eugene Melnyk, Sheldon Plener, Cyril Leeder, Bryan Murray, Ken Villazor, Bruce Garrioch, Roy MacGregor, Jim McAuley, Sylvain St-Laurent, Dean Brown, Terry Marcotte, Cliff Hammell, Ian Sherman, Murray Costello, Jim Durrell, Geoff Moore and Richard Gray.