After the Senators drafted him in the ninth round, Elliott stands sixth in all-time Ottawa Senator appearances.
At the 2003 NHL Draft, the Ottawa Senators took a late-round flier on a junior A goalie playing in Ajax, Ontario. They picked him 291st, second-last overall. Against all odds, they hoped the kid might be able to play in the NHL someday, but ninth-rounders rarely do, especially these days when the draft stops after seven rounds.
Twenty years and 542 NHL games later, Brian Elliott's playing career came to an end on Monday when the 39-year-old accepted a job with the St. Louis Blues as a goalie scout and development coach.
Elliott didn't play last season but didn't close the book on anything, either. So let the record show that his playing career did, in fact, end last season. He went out in style with a 32-save shutout against Detroit on April 13, 2023.
Elliott's career record is a highly impressive 279-167-54 with a .909 save percentage and a 2.57 GAA.
After the Senators drafted Elliott, he spent four years at the University of Wisconsin, where he was a Hobey Baker nominee. Elliott served a year and a half in the AHL with Binghamton, then two and a half seasons in Ottawa, before being traded to Colorado straight up for Craig Anderson.
Elliott played 130 games with Ottawa, which is sixth all-time among Senator goalies. The others are Anderson (435), Patrick Lalime (283), Damian Rhodes (181), Ron Tugnutt (166), and Ray Emery (134).
With the numbers Elliott put up in St. Louis in the early 2010s, it's little wonder the Blues, who officially hired him on Monday, still think so highly of him. His .925 save percentage is the best in team history (Minimum 70 games played).
