Per NHL.com:
Sergei Gonchar couldn’t get a deal done to stay in Pittsburgh, and shortly after the market opened Thursday he reportedly got an offer he couldn’t refuse from the Ottawa Senators.
According to various media reports, including TSN, ESPN.com and the Ottawa Sun, Gonchar has signed a three-year contract with the Senators that will pay him $5.5 million annually and includes a no-trade clause.
“Sergei had Ottawa one of his top teams to hopefully speak with,” his agent, J.P. Barry, told the Ottawa Sun. “They showed how much they wanted Sergei to help run the power play in Ottawa and he hoped that they were a team that would step up. He can help them. He’s very excited.”
Gonchar was a Penguin since 2005 after signing a five-year deal to play coming out of the work stoppage. He did not disappoint. For most of his five seasons he was Pittsburgh’s best defenseman and power play quarterback. He contributed 54 goals and 205 assists (259 points) in 322 games in Pittsburgh.
Injuries limited Gonchar to only 87 games over the past two regular seasons, including just 25 in 2008-09, but he played in all but two playoff games and helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 2009 with 14 points in 22 games. He had 12 points in 13 playoff games this past spring.
Gonchar is nine games away from 1,000 for his career. He played 10-plus seasons with Washington before being traded to Boston in 2004, but he played in only 15 games with the Bruins before the work stoppage. He has 202 goals and 482 assists (694 points) for his career.
