2016–17 Ottawa Senators season

Off-season

On April 10, 2016, the day after the final game of the 2015–16 season, general manager Bryan Murray announced his resignation as manager and that he would continue in an advisory role with the club. Assistant general manager Pierre Dorion was elevated to the general manager position. On April 12, the Senators fired head coach Dave Cameron. On May 8, the Senators hired former Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Guy Boucher as their new head coach. On the following day, Marc Crawford was announced as associate coach. On June 15, the Senators hired Rob Cookson as an assistant coach. Cookson had spent the last four seasons as an assistant to Crawford with the Zurich Lions of Switzerland's A-League where he contributed to the team's championship in the 2013-14 season. Prior to this, he was a member of the Calgary Flames coaching staff for 11 seasons from the 2000-01 to 2010-11 seasons.

The Senators changed their ECHL affiliate after their former affiliate, the Evansville IceMen, went dormant for the season due to arena lease issues. On July 14, 2016, the Senators announced an affiliation agreement with the Wichita Thunder.

The Senators announced that they will retire the #11 jersey of former team captain Daniel Alfredsson. The ceremony will take place on Thursday, December 29, prior to the Senators' home game against the Detroit Red Wings. This will be the second jersey to be retired by the modern Senators franchise since they came back into the league. The first jersey retirement ceremony the club held was for the late Frank Finnigan of the original Ottawa Senators, who had his #8 jersey retired prior to the current franchise's inaugural game on October 8, 1992 against the Montreal Canadiens.

On September 26, the Senators announced that they would move their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Binghamton Senators to Belleville, Ontario for the 2017–18 season. The club will be renamed the Belleville Senators.

Pre-season

The Senators played a seven-game pre-season schedule. The schedule included two home games against the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres, three road games against the Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, and Winnipeg Jets, and two neutral-site games against the Toronto Maple Leafs with one taking place in Halifax, Nova Scotia and the other in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Regular season

The Senators opened the regular season at home on Wednesday, October 12 against their provincial rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs. The first away game of their schedule was Monday, October 17 in Detroit against the Red Wings. They will conclude their home schedule on Saturday, April 8 against the New York Rangers. Their last regular season game will take place a day later in Brooklyn, New York against the Islanders.

On December 29, 2016, before a game against the Detroit Red Wings, the Senators retired the #11 jersey of former player Daniel Alfredsson. On January 24, 2017, the Senators honoured Bryan Murray as the first member of their "Ring of Honour" at the Canadian Tire Centre, before a game against the Washington Capitals. On January 25, 2017, the Senators announced a new team president Tom Anselmi, replacing founder Cyril Leeder who steps down as president of the team.

Playoffs

The Ottawa Senators will attempt to qualify for the playoffs after failing to do so in the 2015-16 season. Should they be successful, it would mark the 17th time in the modern franchise's 25-year history they would go to the playoffs. If they're unable to do so, they would miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the lockout-shortened 1994–95 and the 1995–96 seasons.

Statistics

Updated February 27, 2017

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Senators. Stats reflect time with the Senators only.
^‡No longer with team.

Roster

Updated February 28, 2017. Sources: Ottawa Senators, TSN, CBS Sports