The 2011–12 Ottawa Senators season was the 20th season of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). It was considered a rebuilding season for the Senators after an off-season of high player personnel turnover and the hiring of a new head coach. Although the Senators were not expected to make the playoffs, the team qualified eighth. The team lost, however, in the first round to the first-place New York Rangers, although they took the series to a seventh game. Three Senators were nominated for NHL awards: captain Daniel Alfredsson for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, Erik Karlsson for the James Norris Trophy and Head Coach Paul MacLean for the Jack Adams Award. The Senators hosted the NHL All-Star Game and its festivities. Alfredsson was named captain of one of the teams and five Senators played in the Game.
Team business
On May 19, 2011, the Ottawa Senators were awarded the Ottawa United Way Community Builder of the Year Award for over $60 million in charitable fund-raising in the past ten years, support of youth hockey and the founding of the "Do It For Daron" initiative for mental health in honour of Daron Richardson, the daughter of Ottawa Senators assistant coach Luke Richardson, who took her own life in November 2010. On May 20, 2011, the Senators announced the "Rink of Dreams" project to build an outdoor skating rink at Ottawa City Hall. The rink is to cost $1.25 million, $1 million of which would be funded by the Senators Foundation charity.
In December 2011, the Senators officially announced the replacement of the scoreboard at Scotiabank Place. The old scoreboard dated from 1996, and its replacement had been rumoured in the media since the time of the announcement that the All-Star Game would be played in the arena. The new scoreboard, to be supplied by Panasonic, uses four high-definition video screens, plus two LED "rings", one above the scoreboards and one below. While the old scoreboard had video screens, the new screens are much larger in size and have a larger number of pixels per screen. The scoreboard was first used for the December 27, 2011, game against the Montreal Canadiens. For the game, only the four video screens were in place; the LED rings were to be operational for the All-Star Game.
2012 NHL All-Star Game
The Senators were the hosts of the 58th NHL All-Star Game in January 2012. The Ottawa Convention Centre hosted a Fan Fair of fan activities from the Thursday until Saturday. The Rideau Canal had to close due to mild weather, but the Senators' new Rink of Dreams was able to be used in its place. Confederation Park was used for ice sculptures and displays.
In the annual All-Star Game voting, Senators fans voted four members of the team to the All-Star roster: Daniel Alfredsson, Erik Karlsson, Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza. Karlsson led all players in voting with over 939,591 votes cast. Colin Greening was added later by the NHL operations department. Alfredsson was named captain of one team and was able to put the Senators onto his team, except for Greening, who was selected at random for the other All-Star team, coached by former Senator Zdeno Chara. Senators' fans in attendance at the game were thrilled when Alfredsson scored two consecutive goals in the second period, giving him a standing ovation.
Off-season
After firing Head Coach Cory Clouston at the end of their 2010–11 season, the Senators began a search for a new head coach. According to media reports, Bryan Murray interviewed several candidates for the job, including Kurt Kleinendorst (coach of the Binghamton Senators), Dave Cameron (coach of the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors), Craig MacTavish (former coach of the Edmonton Oilers), Paul MacLean (assistant coach of the Detroit Red Wings) and Kirk Muller (assistant coach of the Montreal Canadiens). On June 14, 2011, the Senators announced the signing of Paul MacLean to a three-year contract as the new head coach. On June 23, 2011, Dave Cameron and Mark Reeds were hired as his assistant coaches. Reeds was the head coach of the Owen Sound Attack from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).
The Senators unveiled a new third jersey on October 1, 2011. The new third jersey replaces the "SENS" design third jersey. The New Jersey is primarily black, with horizontal red and off-white stripes in a pattern reminiscent of the original Ottawa Senators jersey of 1926–27. The team will wear the jersey 11 times at home and once on the road. The symbolism of the number 11 corresponds to the number of Stanley Cup championships the original Senators won.