Former Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson was one of more than 100 people who became Canadian citizens at a special ceremony at the World Cup of Hockey Fan Village in Toronto on Tuesday.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the NHL Players Association put on the Sept. 20 ceremony as part of the World Cup of Hockey 2016 Legacy Project. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr both attended the ceremony, while former Team Canada women’s star Cassie Campbell-Pascall was the presiding official.
Alfredsson hails from Gothenburg, Sweden and moved to Ottawa in 1995 to play for the Senators. He played for the team for 17 of his 18 NHL seasons before being traded to the Detroit Red Wings in 2014.
Later that year he signed a one-day contract with Ottawa to be able to retire as a member of the Senators.
The club’s longest-serving captain is now back in Ottawa working as a senior adviser in the team’s hockey operations department.
Alfredsson has also been a spokesman for the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre for years.
His wife, Bibbi Backman, also received her citizenship during the ceremony. The couple’s four children were born in Ottawa and hold dual Swedish-Canadian citizenship.