During the NHL’s free agency frenzy that started last Friday, there were supposed to be two predictable signings.
The first was David Clarkson, a Mimico native, who was rumoured to sign with his hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. He did just that, agreeing to a seven-year deal.
The second was former Senators captain, Daniel Alfredsson, who is as constant to that city as political cartoons in the Ottawa Citizen. He had just played the final year of his contract and planned to put off retirement for at least one more season. A week prior to free agency, all was going according to plan.
That is, until Senators General Manager Bryan Murray bristled at Alfredsson’s initial offer.
Now, after hurt feelings on the part of the Swedish winger, Alfredsson is a Red Wing in Detroit, signing a one-year deal worth $6 million, where he joins former Olympic teammate Henrik Zetterberg.
Some players, like Clarkson, prefer to play in their hometown before retirement. In Detroit, Alfredsson will join eight other Swedish countrymen.
What had to occur in that one week span that could have convinced the longtime captain to jump ship? And what message has Alfredsson sent to the team and fans in Ottawa that is different from other greats who have moved on late in their careers?
Some have said that Murray’s hesitation with Alfredsson’s first offer insulted the 17-year veteran who only then began considering a change of address. Others will say it was always about the money, that Ottawa is not a cap team and that the $6 million that Detroit offered was out of the question. The part that Senators fans will have trouble with is that the captain who became the indisputable face of the franchise seemingly lost faith in his team.
Some will remember his answer to a difficult question after Game 4 in the Penguins series. When asked if he thought his team had a chance of coming back from a 3–1 deficit, he blurted out, “Probably not.”
And when searching for ways to explain his shocking departure, he claimed that the Senators were not ready to win the Stanley Cup just yet, that he made this decision for “selfish reasons.”
“I’m not worried about my legacy. There will be anger and resentment form fans as there should be...but this is all about me,” Alfredsson said via conference call to the media.
Alfredsson won the Mark Messier Leadership Award for 2013.
Not the First
Alfredsson’s is not the only story of a beloved player leaving under complicated circumstances. Who can forget “The Trade” featuring Wayne Gretzky?
Yet other, recent examples are perhaps more alike.
Mats Sundin of the Maple Leafs infamously played out his time in Toronto, refusing a trade that would help the Leafs rebuild around his eventual retirement, claiming he had no interest in being a “rental player.” He would later play one more uneventful half-season with Vancouver and the Leafs are only recovering now.
Ryan Smyth, a longtime Edmonton Oiler like Gretzky, stunned the city and the franchise by not re-singing with the team after the two sides got to within $500,000 of each other in negotiations.
Some forgave his decision to leave, claiming that a small market team could not afford to pay him his market value. Smyth has since returned home to the Oilers, eventually requesting a trade from the Los Angeles Kings.
Then there was the time when it seemed the hockey world willed Ray Bourque out of Boston and into Colorado in a final attempt at his first Stanley Cup in 21 NHL seasons. During his time there, Bourque notoriously agreed to contracts that undervalued him and by extension, placed an imaginary ceiling upon other Bruins players and their perceived values.
Yet very few begrudged the man after watching one of hockey’s best moments, when Joe Sakic handed Bourque the Cup after the Avalanche victory in 2001.
Alfredsson’s place in this history is yet to be determined, but will likely fall somewhere in the middle. One thing that is unique to him, however, is the inspiration, or “bulletin board material” he has provided his old club.
The Senators of 2013 are better than he thinks and his remark that he could not wait for their ascendance to contention could spark the ambitious young team. And he’s done them a favour.
Instead of the “Win It For Alfie” campaign, the Senators can concentrate on improving at their own speed. Besides, only the biggest and most overshadowed trade of the weekend involved four-time 30-goal scorer, Bobby Ryan, coming to Ottawa.
There were whispers that Alfredsson even knew about the potential trade to improve the team, but estimates were that he and Murray were as far as $2 million apart in negotiations.
Next season as a Red Wing, he will remain in the same division, playing the Senators and Maple Leafs a dozen times over the course of their schedule. One can only hope to learn more of Alfredsson in the expected HBO series that precedes his team’s inclusion in next year’s NHL Winter Classic with Toronto.
Will he be received well in a return to Ottawa? Don’t be surprised to see him in Senators management one day.
Murray has repeatedly cited Alfredsson’s insight and interest in team structure. But fans will benefit from knowing that Murray and company had a chance to lock him up and didn’t.
After all, before last week, all was going according to plan.
Joe Pack has written for TheHockeyWriters.com, is a member of the Society for International Hockey Research and has his own blog at www.upperbodyinquiry.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoePack
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