The 1992-93 Ottawa Senators Were Historically Bad

Published on July 18th, 2024 8:04 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


The Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning joined the NHL for the 1992-93 season.

Teams that were already in the league were allowed to protect two goaltenders and 14 position players in the expansion draft, which led to some very slim pickings for the Senators and Lightning.

Both teams were terrible when they started, but the Senators were HISTORICALLY awful, setting multiple records for futility in their first season in the league.

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The 1992-93 Ottawa Senators finished with a record of 10-70-4.

Their home record was 9-29-4, and they managed to win just ONE game on the road, finishing the season with an away record of 1-41-0.

The Senators' top 5 picks in the expansion draft were: Peter Sidorkiewicz, Mark Laforest, Brad Shaw, Darren Rumble and Dominic Lavoie.

Alexei Yashin was taken #2 overall in the 1992 NHL Draft. He would turn out to be a very good NHL player, but he wouldn't play in the NHL until the following season.

The Senators were left with a hodgepodge of discarded NHL talent that was absolutely shelled for the duration of the season.

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The Senators would set three notable records during their 1992-93 season:

1. Longest home losing streak ever (11 games)
2. Longest road losing streak ever (39 games)
3. Fewest road wins in a season (1)

The leading point scorer on the team was Norm Maciver, who finished the season with 63 points.

Daniel Berthiaume had the lowest GAA on the team (4.30) and Sidorkiewicz had the most wins (8).

Dave Archibald had the best plus/minus on the team with a minus 16.

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Over the course of the season, the Senators would score just 202 goals while giving up 395.

The Senators had a power play percentage of just 14.73%, while their penalty kill was 75%.

The Senators' "top" goaltender, Peter Sidorkiewicz, had a save percentage of just .856 and a GAA of 4.43.

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These were truly tragic numbers.

Some will say that the Senators team the next year was even worse, as they allowed more goals (over 400).

The Senators from 1992-93, however, were historically bad, and no other team tops them.