Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Welcome back: Kelly returns to Ottawa on one-year, $900,000 deal

Ottawa Senators v New York Islanders

UNIONDALE, NY - FEBRUARY 05: Chris Kelly #22 of the Ottawa Senators skates during an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on February 5, 2011 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

Getty Images

What’s old is new again in the Canadian capital.

Chris Kelly, who broke in with Ottawa 13 years ago and played the first 463 games of his career there, has signed back on with the Sens on a one-year, $900,000 deal, the club announced on Thursday.

“We are excited to welcome Chris back to Ottawa,” said Senators general manager Pierre Dorion in a release. “In our evaluation of our roster we felt that we needed to add another player with the ability to succeed in close situations and on the penalty kill.

“Chris will be able to contribute to both of those while adding another accomplished leader to our group. He understands the type of commitment that is necessary to play at a championship level.”

Kelly left the Sens organization in 2011, when he was traded to Boston. He was a key cog in the Bruins’ Stanley Cup championship -- scoring 13 points in 25 games -- and was a key faceoff man and defensive center in the club’s run to the 2013 final.

Ottawa’s special teams were atrocious last season, especially the penalty kill, which is why Dorion alluded to Kelly’s influence on the PK.

The big question, of course, is how much Kelly has left in the tank. He turns 36 in November, and is coming off a broken femur that cost him almost all of the ’15-16 campaign.