The Ottawa Senators have their last dance on The Grand Allee on Tuesday.
They became the latest in a long line of National Hockey League to make a quick visit Quebec City as the team closes out its five-day stay by facing the Montreal Canadiens at the Centre Videotron on Tuesday night.
It has been 30 years since the Quebec Nordiques packed their bags, moved to Denver and became the Colorado Avalanche, but hockey fans in Quebec City still hope that sometime down the road the NHL will see fit to a return to a place where the passion for the game runs hard.
The 18,000-seat arena, which opened in 2015, was built with the hopes that someday that commissioner Gary Bettman would see fit to convince the owners that it made sense for the NHL to return to Quebec, but we’ve seen expansion just about everywhere else.
The Senators announced these two exhibition games last spring in what the organization called an attempt to grow their market in La Belle Province.
Senators owner Michael Andlauer has insisted on calling this Ottawa-Gatineau’s team since he purchased the franchise with his partners two years ago and this is an extension of that initiative.
The Senators have one of the lowest season-ticket bases in the NHL and they need more fans to cross the river, especially if the deal for a new arena at LeBreton Flats gets completed.
Yes, Quebec City is more than a four-hour drive from the national capital region, but the Senators’ regional games on TSN/RDS are carried from this viewing region all the way to Newfoundland.
On many nights, large portions of the viewers are in Quebec. Hence, this is another way to grow the brand.
The whole project got off to a rocky start when the club’s marketing department came up with the genius idea to have Spartacat, the club’s beloved mascot, wear a jersey split between Ottawa and the colours of the Quebec Nordiques.
That set off a firestorm in Ottawa, the place the Senators call home, because Quebec City has always been held up as a threat for possible relocation — especially in the years after the club struggled at the gate while missing the playoffs.
After the death of owner Eugene Melnyk in 2022, it was revealed that Bettman held talks with the Quebec government about moving five regular-season games to the Videotron Arena.
It also didn’t help that Andlauer noted in French that if the league can play regular-season games in Sweden, it could also play in Quebec City.
Apologies came from every corner, including Andlauer and club president Cyril Leeder, for the gaffe.
Judging by the reaction to this trip, the Senators have been well received in Quebec City.
The players have been out in the community at a local food bank, signed autographs behind the historic Fairmont Chateau Frontenac hotel and were greeted by a red carpet at the rink.
Bonding before the season also is important. The 31 players who made the trip likely will suit up for the Senators at some point or another this season.
This was a dream come true for alternate captain Thomas Chabot, as he had the chance to play two games just 30 minutes from where he grew up in Saint-Marie-de-Beauce. He purchased 70 tickets for family and friends for both games.
He also had the opportunity to head back to his old grade school on Monday morning with some of his teammates in tow.
“I never thought I was going to play in Quebec City with the Senators,” Chabot said after a skate in Ottawa last Thursday.
That was nice for Chabot, but what did it mean for the franchise?
There were several Ottawa jerseys in the stands against the Devils. Even though the visit by the Habs was listed as an Ottawa home game, the expectation was that the rink would be largely made up of fans wearing the colours of Bleu, Blanc et Rouge worn by the Canadiens.
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The attendance was announced at 12,159 for the club’s 2-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday. You would think a market starving to get the NHL back would be able to sell out two pre-season games to send a message to Bettman.
The question that will linger is: Did these five days and two games really help the Senators grow the market?
We’ll never really know, unless busloads of fans from Quebec City wearing Ottawa jerseys show up at the Canadian Tire Centre regularly throughout the season or the club has a sudden rush for season-ticket holders who are willing to make the trek 41 times a year.
Somehow that seems doubtful, but never say never. I guess you don’t know if you don’t try.