The Ottawa Senators reportedly passed on Vasilevskiy in the 2012 draft after Vasi's camp tried to reschedule a meeting
Revisionist history is fun sometimes, especially when it involves one of your favourite team's most heated rivals missing out on a generational talent. Such is the case regarding the Ottawa Senators and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Back in 2012, the Senators were reportedly very high on the Russian netminder, who has since gone on to win two Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe Trophy and a Vezina Trophy. It got to the point where the Sens were so intrigued by Vasilevskiy that they reportedly lined up a meeting with the now 27-year-old following the draft combine. A friend of Vasilevskiy's father, Alexander Tyjnych, confirmed that, while the two sides were expected to meet, that meeting had to be pushed back due to Vasilevskiy being under the weather. Here's a snippit from The Athletic's report on the matter:
Tyjnych said Senators GM Bryan Murray asked after the combine if they could interview Vasilevskiy in Ottawa, where the goalie prospect was training. They were going to fly in Russian defenseman Sergei Gonchar to help in the talks. But the day before the scheduled interview, Vasilevskiy went to a water park for a few hours.
" It was a very, very hot day," Tyjnych said. "He was burned. He was so red. So I called Ottawa and said, I'm so sorry, He's feeling bad, maybe some fever. Can we postpone for two or three days?
They said, "OK" but seemed disappointed.
"They never called me back."
I don't think we really need to point out that had the Senators simply swallowed their pride and rescheduled the meeting, the landscape of the Atlantic Division could look very different right now. Nevertheless, the Sens drafted Cody Ceci, and things turned out very well for Vasilevskiy in the end.
