The team is the second NHL franchise to use the Ottawa Senators name. The original Ottawa Senators, founded in 1883, had a famed history, winning 11 Stanley Cups. The current team began play in the 1992-93 season.

Alexei Yashin was the second overall pick in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. After remaining in Russia for the 1992-93 season with Dynamo Moscow, Yashin arrived in Ottawa for the 1993-94 NHL season, along with Ottawa's other highly touted young draft selection, Alexandre Daigle. Yashin soon eclipsed Daigle as the team's brightest young star, scoring 79 points in his rookie season and earning a nomination for the Calder Memorial Trophy.

Norm Maciver played defence for six teams during his thirteen-year NHL career. For the 1992-93 season, he joined the newly formed Ottawa Senators. In 80 games, Maciver scored 17 goals and 63 points, setting career highs in both categories and leading the Senators in points.

One of the Senators' perennial leading scorers during his tenure with the team, Dana Heatley set franchise records for single-season goals (50) in 2005-06, and points (105) in 2006-07.

Spartacat, the Ottawa Senators' official mascot, made his debut on October 8th, 1992, against the Montreal Canadiens at the Ottawa Civic Centre. Spartacat can be seen swinging through Canadian Tire Centre arena to get the crowd pumped up before games. He has a fierce rivalry with Carlton the Bear, the official mascot of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Craig Anderson only played 24 games in 2012-13 due to a sprained right ankle and the lockout-shortened season, but he finished the year with a franchise record save percentage of .941 and a franchise-record GAA of 1.69.

In game five of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Senators traded goals throughout regulation with the Buffalo Sabres, but Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson ended the series with his goal at 9:32 of the first overtime as the Senators won by a final score of 3-2. Afterwards, a six-storey likeness of Alfredsson was hung on the Corel building.

On September 14, 2013, Jason Spezza was named the eighth captain in Senators' franchise history, replacing long-time teammate Daniel Alfredsson, who had joined the Detroit Red Wings as a free agent.

Nicknamed the "Shawville Express", Frank Finnigan played for the original Ottawa franchise and was the last surviving member of the 1927 Stanley Cup champion Senators. His #8 jersey was retired on October 8, 1992, at the first game of the new Ottawa Senators, 55 years after he finished his NHL career--the longest wait for a player to have his number retired.

Yashin, while a star for a short time in Ottawa, was a sore spot for the organization. He had a habit of disappearing in the playoffs and sat out the 1999-00 season in an attempt to renegotiate his contract. By trading him away, the Senators got a top defenseman in Zdeno Chara, the 2nd overall pick which turned into a number one center in Jason Spezza, and Bill Muckalt who never scored a goal for the Senators and kept this trade from being a complete heist.