Ottawa Senators sink to lows unseen since mid-'90s

On April 13, 1996,Ironicby Alanis Morissettetopped the Canadian singles charts, Christian Jaros turned 11 days old in Koice, Slovakia, and the NHL team he would one day play defence for finished a season that would go unrivalled for poor performance, both on the ice and in the stands, until now.

To say the Ottawa Senators' 2018-19 campaignhas been a disappointment is like saying there are two or three blue jerseys at Canadian Tire Centre when the Leafs come to town.

For Sens fans, things started trending downward before the season even got underway, when theylosttheir beloved captain, generational talent Erik Karlsson. Owner Eugene Melnykthendoubleddown on a promisedrebuild, only to tradeaway the team'sremaining top scorers.

An Uberloadof playersgot caught on tape criticizingtheir coaches, and plans for a new arena on LeBreton Flats crumbled.

Oh, and the team lost a heck ofa lot of hockey games along the way.

The Senators finished the season with 47 regulation losses and just 29 wins for a dismal64 points, marking their worstseason since they racked up just41 points in 1995-96 also the last time they finished dead last in the league.

It was also the last time the Senators missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons until now.

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The Sensdidn't only fall flat in the scoring department: you need to look all the way back to 1993-94 the modern-era team's second season in the NHL when Ottawa allowed 397 goals in 84 games to find a goals against record worse than this season's 302 in 82 games.

'Never want to be in last place'

At a season-endnews conference Monday, interim head coach Mark Crawford said the team's defensive play and competitiveness need the most work.

"Obviously it was a difficult year ... but in some ways it was a real awakening, maybe, of our organization as well. Because you had the worst of the worst, probably, and I thought you saw a lot of what the future has in store," he said, citing the success ofrookies like Brady Tkachuk, and the leadership of older players like Zack Smith.

"You never want to be in last place, so I think that's something we can definitely learn from and not let happen again," Tkachuk said in a locker room interview.

"It definitely sucks for all of us. All of us want to win, and all of us are competitors and all pro."

"We knew we were going to do a lot of mistakes we're a young group of guys and we were willing to live with it, but obviously I think we all got our first year out of the way for most of the guys, and I think everybody's looking forward to having a good summer and doing what they have to do for them to come back next year and have a good year," added defenceman Thomas Chabot.

Poor attendance

It was a poor year up in the stands, too: 2018-19 sawfewer fans at the arena now known as Canadian Tire Centrethan ever before.

In fact, the average attendance of 14,533, as compiled by HockeyDB.com, is the lowest it's been sinceyou guessed it1995-96, when the team attracted an average of 13,252 fans (the Senators moved to their current home from the smaller Civic Centre that January).

This season, crowds dipped as low as 10,648for a Feb. 12 game against the Carolina Hurricanes during a snowstorm.They topped out at 18,600 fans for two March games against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Consider this comparison: In 2013, with an average crowd of 19,408, the Senators placed sixth in the league in attendance. Now, a mere six years later, they're in 27th place.