Ottawa Senators officially retire Chris Neil’s No. 25 prior to Friday’s game

The Ottawa Senators officially retired long-time enforcer Chris Neil’s No. 25 and hung the jersey in the rafters Friday. 

Neil’s jersey will join Chris Phillips and Daniel Alfredsson as the third member of the modern-era Senators to have his jersey retired. Neil was drafted 161st overall in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. He made his National Hockey League (NHL) debut against the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 3rd, 2001 and just 27 days later he would score his first NHL goal against the now-defunct Atlanta Thrashers. 

Neil spent 15 seasons with the Senators organization, he posted 112 goals and 138 assists for 250 points in 1,026 career regular season games. Neil became just the 47th player in NHL history to play over 1000 games with a single NHL franchise. Neil is the all-time leader in penalty minutes for the Senators with a whopping 2,522 pims. 

During Neil’s jersey retirement ceremony, former teammate Chris Phillips spoke on Neil’s toughness, ability to fire up the crowd and most importantly how great of a player and person he is. Phillips also spoke on when Neil made his return to the lineup in game 5 of the 2017 second-round matchup against the New York Rangers. Neil logged just 2:26 of ice time but shifted all the momentum to the Sens when he fought Tanner Glass who had been taking runs at Sens players all series long. 

Neil also spoke on what the city of Ottawa means to him, and while the crowd erupted when Neil spoke on his penalty minutes he joked that his proudest achievement was never being suspended throughout his career.

In a touching tribute to his late mother, Neil spoke on his fighting and said, “I always threw my hands up in the air after every fight to pump up the crowd but the real reason I did that was to let mom know I was okay,” — something that Senators fans can cherish a little bit more. In typical Neil fashion, he exited the ceremony via the penalty box.