Ottawa Senators

Three members of the Ottawa Senators' traveling party have tested positive for COVID-19, as Sens radio analyst Gord Wilson revealed his diagnosis on a CTV Television Network broadcast Friday (h/t Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun).

The Sens announced the NHL's first known COVID-19 case when they revealed an unnamed player's condition March 17. Four days later, the franchise said a second unnamed player also had COVID-19.

The Sens and Colorado Avalanche, who also have two unnamed players with COVID-19, are the only known NHL franchises to have confirmed cases as of Saturday.

As for Wilson, Garrioch reported the following:

"The 59-year-old Wilson, who hasn't missed many broadcasts with partner Dean Brown since the club returned to the NHL in 1992, wasn't feeling well for a couple days after the Senators returned from their trip through San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles from March 6-to-12. After speaking to his wife, CTV Ottawa's Patricia Boal, Wilson made the decision to go to Brewer Park coronavirus assessment centre."

Wilson, who received three stents during February heart surgery, spoke with Garrioch about his personal experience with COVID-19, noting the following in part.

"It's a flu like nothing I've ever had," Wilson said. "We've all had the flu, and we've all had bad colds. This is completely different ... completely different. It grips you."

Wilson told Garrioch that he and the rest of his family are self-isolating.

The Ottawa Senators announced Saturday that a second player has tested positive for the coronavirus. 

Per the team's official statement, the unnamed player was part of the Senators' March 7-11 road trip that included games against the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings. 

On Tuesday, the team revealed an unnamed player had become its and the NHL's first announced COVID-19 case. 

The Senators noted that everyone who took part in that California road trip was instructed to self-quarantine on March 13 and remain so for the time being.

Per the team's statement, a total of 52 players, staff, media, guests and flight crew was on the California road trip. From that group, eight people have been tested for the coronavirus, with two positive results. 

According to the latest figures from Christina Maxouris, Steve Almasy and Amanda Watts of CNN.com, only New York (10,356) and Washington (1,524) have had more known cases of coronavirus than California (1,077). 

Per Henrik Pettersson, Byron Manley and Sergio Hernandez of CNN.com, Canada has 736 known coronavirus cases. 

The NHL suspended its season because of the coronavirus pandemic on March 12, one day after the Senators' 3-2 loss to the Kings. 

The Ottawa Senators announced one of their players tested positive for the coronavirus.

The announcement, which came Tuesday, noted the player is in isolation with "mild symptoms."

Following the positive test, the Senators asked the rest of its members to remain in isolation and work with the team's medical staff if needed. What's more, the team started reaching out to anyone the player who tested positive may have been in contact with recently.

According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, this marks the first positive test for an NHL player.

Chris Johnston of Sportsnet pointed out the Senators played at the San Jose Sharks in the SAP Center on March 7, which was after officials in Santa Clara County urged large-gathering events to be canceled or postponed.

A report from Hailey Salvian and James Mirtle (h/t Arash Markazi of the Los Angeles Times) said "It is believed that multiple Senators players are ill and awaiting test results. They suspect that the infection occurred when the Senators used the same Staples Center dressing room as the Brooklyn Nets the day after they played the Lakers."

As of Tuesday, the World Health Organization confirmed there have been more than 184,000 cases of the coronavirus across the globe. There have also been more than 7,500 deaths as a result.

The NHL suspended its season amid concerns about the pandemic, which was one of a number of developments in the sports world. The NBA also suspended its season, the NCAA canceled the men's and women's basketball tournaments, and major events such as the Masters and Kentucky Derby have been postponed.

While this is the first NHL player to test positive, the NBA made headlines when a number of its players tested positive.

The league's hiatus came after Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert tested positive. Teammate Donovan Mitchell did as well, and Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant told Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium he tested positive.

Ottawa Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki stopped an attempted robbery Sunday in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Borowiecki, whose team was in town to play the Vancouver Canucks, described the incident Tuesday to the media:

The 30-year-old blueliner said he confronted a person who had broken into a parked car. Borowiecki took the object the person was allegedly attempting to steal, and the person ran off.

Borowiecki was modest in explaining why he decided to step in: "I'm a mediocre fighter on the ice, but I'm very confident handling myself off the ice. I wasn't too worried about anything that would happen. ... Honestly, I don't think I went above or beyond or anything. It was the right thing to do at the time. I'm happy I was there."

The Ottawa native is in his ninth NHL season, all of which have been spent with the Sens. He has two goals and eight assists for 10 points in 28 games, already just one point off his career high of 11 points.

Borowiecki said he received a "nice text" from the woman whose car was broken into. Ironically, she told him she is a "huge" fan of the rival Toronto Maple Leafs.

According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), Vancouver police said no arrests have been made and that they are investigating the situation.

There aren't that many people named Tyler Ennis in professional sports, so it's understandable if casual fans mixed them up on occasion.

It's probably not great if the doctors are the ones switching diagnoses, though.

According to Ian Mendes of TSN, Ottawa Senators forward Tyler Ennis suffered an ankle injury last season as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs but was given the injury information of the basketball player with the same name instead.

"They pulled up my X-ray. And they’re like 'Woah—you’ve got a really bad displaced break here,'" Ennis said while explaining he was surprised by how bad the diagnosis was at first.

"They double-checked and they actually had the image from the other Tyler Ennis, who broke his leg playing basketball overseas," he added. "His break was a lot worse than mine. When they confused our X-rays, I was a little nervous. I thought my recovery was going to take a lot longer."

Mendes noted the hockey-playing Ennis missed less than two months with his ankle injury, while the basketball player missed more than a year with the leg injury he suffered while playing for Fenerbahce in Turkey.

"Wow. Just wow," the basketball player said when told of the mix-up. "The timing of that is just mind blowing. I can only imagine what he was thinking."

Ennis underwent surgery in Turkey and returned to his hometown of Toronto for his rehab process. He understands how the mix-up happened considering he was checking in at a Toronto hospital at the same time his hockey-playing namesake was a member of the Maple Leafs.

He has since recovered and is playing for Toronto's G League team, the Raptors 905.

Ennis was a first-round pick of the Phoenix Suns in 2014 after a successful collegiate career at Syracuse and played for the Suns, Milwaukee Bucks, Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers during his NBA tenure. His last NBA game was in April 2018 as a member of the Lakers.

The Senators forward has appeared in 27 games this season with 11 points on six goals and five assists.

Ottawa Senators forward Scott Sabourin was stretchered off the ice following a collision with Boston Bruins forward David Backes on Saturday at TD Garden in Boston, per ESPN News Services.

Sabourin delivered a hit on Backes as the Bruins forward emptied the puck from his zone, but the two collided awkwardly, with the right side of Sabourin's head connecting with Backes' helmet. Sabourin immediately went limp and suffered another hit to the head from the ice as he fell.

Medical personnel from both teams attended to Sabourin, and Backes was visibly upset following the incident. Both teams also skated off their benches to check on Sabourin's status, per Conor Ryan of the Boston Sports Journal:

Thankfully, Sabourin gave the crowd a thumbs up as he left the rink. The Senators communications department also reported that Sabourin "was conscious and speaking with the attending doctors at the time of leaving the arena." He was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.

Sabourin, 27, is a right wing in his first NHL season. Backes, 35, has played 14 combined years with the St. Louis Blues and B's.

Backes did not return to the game following the hit, with the Bruins citing an upper-body injury.

Boston won 5-2 to move to a 10-1-2 mark.

The Ottawa Senators have found their next head coach, hiring former Toronto Maple Leafs assistant D.J. Smith.

Per an official announcement from the team, Smith agreed to a three-year deal Thursday.

The Senators fired Guy Boucher on March 1 and finished the season with Marc Crawford as their interim coach.

Smith is taking over the franchise after its worst campaign in 23 years. Ottawa's 64 points were its sixth-fewest in 26 NHL seasons and fewest in an 82-game season since 1995-96. The team has missed the playoffs in each of the past two years.

Prior to being hired by the Senators, Smith spent four seasons as a Maple Leafs assistant under Mike Babcock. The 42-year-old has three years of head coaching experience with the Oshawa Generals in the Ontario Hockey League.

Smith won 135 games and made three playoff appearances with the Generals, winning the Memorial Cup during the 2014-15 season.

The Ottawa Senators on Friday announced they had fired head coach Guy Boucher.

Sens general manager Pierre Dorion confirmed Marc Crawford will take over the NHL's last-place team on an interim basis, saying:

"I want to thank Guy for his three years of service. He is a good person and has been an excellent representative of the Senators. At this point, however, we need a different set of coaching and leadership skills to guide our team through this rebuild. In the interim, Marc will bring a different perspective along with a wealth of head coaching experience."

The rebuilding Senators own a 22-37-5 record through 64 games. Their 49 points are five fewer than the penultimate team (the Los Angeles Kings).

Ottawa traded superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson to the San Jose Sharks during the offseason as a clear pivot toward the future. It continued to sell top assets ahead of Monday's trade deadline by sending Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel to the Columbus Blue Jackets in separate deals. Mark Stone was dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Sens acquired a group of young players and prospects led by Dylan DeMelo, Erik Brannstrom, Anthony Duclair, Josh Norris and Vitalii Abramov in those deals. They have also compiled a substantial haul of draft picks to utilize over the next two years.

Dorion expressed confidence about the team's long-term outlook after the deadline, telling reporters:

"What's encouraging is all of these players are going to be in the prime of their careers and we have no intentions of moving any of them. They are going to be here. I don't know what else to tell you: We have to tell our fans to be patient, but the pot of gold at the end of rainbow is pretty good and pretty big. What we've been able to do in the last 12 months, as far as our rebuild, we've acquired some quality pieces."

Boucher guided the Senators and the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Eastern Conference Final in his first year of coaching each team. He owns a lackluster 191-187-47 career coaching record, however, including a 94-108-26 mark across two-plus seasons in Ottawa.

The 47-year-old Quebec native also owns extensive experience with Team Canada's youth teams at the international level.

Crawford, 58, previously served as coach of the Colorado Avalanche, Vancouver Canucks, Los Angeles Kings and Dallas Stars in a 15-year NHL head coaching career. He led the Avs to a Stanley Cup championship at the end of the 1995-96 season.

He's been a Senators associate coach under Boucher since May 2016.

Several Ottawa Senators players were caught on video mocking one of their coaches as well as their own struggles during an apparent Uber trip in October, courtesy of the Ottawa Citizen (warning: video contains NSFW language):

Matt Duchene, Chris Wideman, Chris Tierney and Thomas Chabot were among those in the vehicle discussing the team's problems.

Ottawa entered Monday with 13 points in 14 games, although the defense (31st in the NHL in goals allowed per game) and penalty kill (29th) were the biggest criticisms in the video.

Much of the criticism is against assistant coach Martin Raymond, who is in charge of the penalty-killing unit. The questions about his preparation might be among the biggest concerns in the video.

"Do you notice that when (Raymond) runs the video, if you actually do pay attention, he doesn't ever teach you anything? He just commentates what's happening," Wideman said.

"Here's the other thing, too. We don't change anything, ever," Duchene added. "So why do we even have a meeting? I haven't paid attention in three weeks."

The Senators are just two years removed from reaching the Eastern Conference Final in Guy Boucher's first year as the head coach, but last year was a major disappointment as the squad finished seventh in its division.

Boucher now has some serious damage control to take care of if he wants to prevent another long season.

The Ottawa Senators selected Boston University left winger Brady Tkachuk with the fourth overall pick in the 2018 NHL draft Friday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas.

Here's a look at some Twitter reaction to the first-round choice:

Tkachuk tallied eight goals and 23 assists for 31 points in 40 games during his freshman season with the Terriers. He was previously part of the USA Hockey National Team development program.

The 18-year-old St. Louis native is the son of five-time NHL All-Star Keith Tkachuk and the brother of Calgary Flames winger Matthew Tkachuk.

Tkachuk told Gabrielle Turi of the BU News Service he planned to spend the offseason getting "a lot bigger, definitely stronger" to potentially compete against older professionals starting in the fall.

"I'd love to be on an NHL roster come October, if I'm ready," he said in May. "If I'm not ready, I'd love coming back to BU and have another year to develop."

He's got all the tools to eventually become a prototypical power forward, a lot like his dad, but it's going to take a couple of years for his body to mature so he can play that type of hockey in the NHL. So it wouldn't be a surprise to see him play another year or two in college.

That said, the Sens will likely at least give him an opportunity to force his way directly into the lineup during training camp and the preseason.

Ottawa finished 25th in goals per game last season, which figures to help his chances of making an immediate jump to the NHL.