Jim Watson was working on Parliament Hill in 1990 as a communications director in the House of Commons Speaker’s office when news
broke the NHL was giving Ottawa a hockey team.
Now the mayor of Ottawa, Watson said he knew back then that landing a National Hockey League team would put Canada’s capital in an
elite group of North American cities, instil a sense of hometown pride and give Ottawa’s economy a shot in the arm.
“There’s just this tremendous sense of pride when you see all of these kids in (Daniel) Alfredsson jerseys or (Erik) Karlsson jerseys.