As a follow-up to last week’s entry on the best Ottawa 67’s drafted by the Senators, we’re now delving into the NHL team’s past interest levels in former Gatineau/Hull Olympiques, also a major junior club in their backyard.
Just like the 67s, only four Olympiques have ever been drafted by the Senators, and only nine have ever worn the centurion crest. The 2024-25 Senators will again have two in their lineup this season: veteran Claude Giroux and tough guy Zack MacEwen.
MacEwen has shown he can score in the QMJHL and AHL, but the NHL production dropoff has been fierce, so he doesn’t make this list—not at this time, anyway. As for Giroux, that’s where we begin.
Claude Giroux
If you asked former head coach DJ Smith, he’d have told you he could have used a couple more Claude Girouxs on the team. That was probably the point of the Senators signing David Perron this summer. There aren’t any available Claude Girouxs out there, but a player like Perron is as close as they could get. Giroux’s resume speaks for itself. Not only has he remained productive, but he’s been an extension of the coaching staff, teaching, mentoring, and leading by example.
In just two seasons in Ottawa, he’s already 35th in all-time team scoring with 143 points and surely among the leaders in memorable goals.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Pageau’s offensive stats have never topped out at much more than 40 points but he was a good solider for seven seasons, always playing the game the right way. It would have been fascinating to see what that reliable, powerful motor would have looked like in a bigger body. No one will ever forget Pageau’s four-goal performance against the Rangers in that magical 2017 run to the Conference Final.
Mike Hoffman
It’s certainly easy to be distracted by Ubergate, the feud with the Karlssons, or lack of defensive presence. But Hoffman, one of the fastest players in Sens history, was a top offensive player for the Senators, averaging close to 60 points for three seasons. He finished tied for third in Sens playoff scoring in 2017, including this beauty against Boston.
Ales Hemsky
Based on his productive NHL career, mostly with the Edmonton Oilers, Hemsky could easily be slotted into second place on this list. But his cup of coffee in Ottawa was still hot when he left, so we penalized him for that. Hemsky was here for just 20 games, scoring 17 points. He still has one of the prettiest goals in Senators’ history.
Sylvain Turgeon
After dominating in junior with Hull, Turgeon was chosen second overall in the 1983 NHL Draft. His best seasons were his first three, which included two 40-goal seasons. But he began a slow fade after leaving Hartford. When the Sens got him from Montreal in the expansion draft, he was probably the most well-known Senator in their expansion year.
“Sly” led the club with 25 goals in his first season here, and his numbers here were always solid, but like an early version of Hoffman, his play away from the puck was a concern. The club cut him after training camp in 1995, and he played most of the rest of his career in Europe.
Benoit Brunet and Vitali Abramov are the other former Olympiques who played for the Senators. If you want to include future coaches, Paul MacLean played for the Olympiques too, and later won a Jack Adams Trophy as Sens head coach.
More Olympiques Trivia:
Here’s some Olympiques trivia you can annoy your friends with:
“What year did the Senators draft Giroux from the Olympiques?
Trick question right out of the gate. The answer is 1999 when they selected Alexandre Giroux.
“Why are they called the Olympiques?”
According to CHL.ca, when the City of Hull took over the financially struggling Hull Festivals, a contest was launched in the Outaouais to give the team a new name. The Mayor at the time, Gilles Rocheleau, suggested naming them “The Hull Olympiques,” and it caught on, presumably because Montreal had just hosted the summer games a few months earlier.
“What NHL legend once owned the Olympiques?”
Wayne Gretzky, from 1985-1992.
“What former Senators once co-owned the Olympiques?”
Derick Brassard, from 2020-2023
Related: Mount Rushmore: The Best (And Only) Four Ottawa 67s Ever Drafted by the Ottawa Senators
Related: The NHL Journey of Former Ottawa Senator First-Rounder Colin White May Be Done
Related: Great First Impressions: Ullmark Tours New NHL Home in Ottawa, Stands 10th in New Fan Poll
