Daniel Alfredsson says leaving Ottawa's coaching staff for Toronto was more about his growth as a coach, not about rejecting the team he captained for over a decade. 

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Tuesday that Alfredsson had joined Jim Hiller's staff as an associate coach. This is a big turn for the franchise icon who held strong numbers at the Canadian Tire Centre. His exit from the team came just after his contract as a Senators assistant coach expired on June 30.

He spoke to the reporters on Wednesday on a video call from Sweden. Alfredsson said he had already decided on what he wants. Even before the offer came that he would not be returning to Ottawa. 

Alfredsson also talked about the possibility of becoming Ottawa's head coach one day. "In my dreams, would I have loved to stay and become the head coach of Ottawa? Maybe," he said on the video call, as reported by TSN. "But that's all it is. Nobody stays as a coach forever in one spot; no matter how popular you are, you've got to perform.”

“For me to get better as a coach, this is the path I knew I had to move to at some point. They don't hand out jobs easily in the NHL; it's a tough job to get, and when I had this opportunity, I felt it was the right one for my coaching career, without a question." 

Alfredsson also made it clear that the door was never open to staying in Ottawa long-term as a head coach. He said the path he chose was "the path I knew at some point I had to move”. 

Senators owner Michael Andlauer also talked about the move in a statement of his own. He said he wished Alfredsson did not join a divisional rival, but that the door would always remain open for a return to Ottawa. 

Alfredsson's playing career with the Senators

Alfredsson's history with the Senators started long before his coaching tenure. He was drafted 133rd overall in the sixth round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. Although he was an afterthought pick, he still went on to win the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1995-96. 

He spent 17 seasons in Ottawa, as the team captain from 1999 to 2013, and led the Senators to their only Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2007. In this series, they lost in five games to the Anaheim Ducks.

He then retired as the franchise's all-time leader in goals with 426, 682 assists, and 1,108 points across 1,178 games. The Senators then retired his No. 11 in December 2016.

They made him the first player in the recent franchise history to receive that honor, and he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2022. 

After he closed his playing career in Detroit, Alfredsson eventually returned to the Senators as an assistant coach and worked for three seasons before this week's move to Toronto.

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Written by

Aadhya Nalla

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason