CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE
STADIUM DUDE’S NHL ARENA RANKING: #31
ARENA INFORMATION
- Location: Kanata, Ontario
- Opened 1996
- Capacity 18,652
- Games attended: 9
- Last visited: 2026
ARENA REVIEW
My ex-wife is from Ottawa and has most of her family there. We used to visit annually at the least. For the most part, I liked my in-laws. But I don’t like Ottawa. I don’t like the Ottawa Senators. And relatively speaking versus other NHL arenas, I don’t like the Canadian Tire Centre.
Ottawa is the City that Fun Forgot. It’s a town of people who don’t award Monopoly players landing on Free Parking all the fines collected from the Community Chest and Chance cards because “it’s not in the official rules on the back of the box”. Because the team entered the league in 1992, any Senators fan over 45 rooted for somebody else (likely the Canadiens or the Leafs) and converted, making most Gen X and Boomer Senator fans phonies. And their team has always annoyed me; when they were good, they always seem to have a bunch of whiners and bellyachers. This rating is subject to a lot of negative bias.
Location is Brutal
Located in BF Nowhere (actually, the Western suburb of Kanata), access to and from the rink is on one major freeway with 90%+ of the traffic coming in from the same direction; this makes ingress and (especially) egress a colossal Pain in the Ass, especially on those snowy winter Ottawa nights. The parking lot often feels like the coldest place in Canada, making the dash to and from your car an utter sprint. You really have to drive or Uber as the only other option is a city bus. And there’s not much in and around the arena, making the game a get-in/get-out destination.
The Most Meh Canadian Environment
To top things off, unlike every other Canadian market that sells virtually every seat regardless of the team fortunes, Senators fans will stay home when the team is down. You’ll see empty seats in the building. In fact, in recent seasons, they have sold the lowest percentage of their seats of any team, including teams in the Sun Belt. The in-rink vibe can be somewhat lacking versus other markets. As they say, “It’s a long walk for a ham sandwich”.
The arena itself is “fine”
There’s comfy (if somewhat ratty) seats, easy-to-navigate concourses, and good leg room. The scoreboard is small by modern standards. Sight lines are great, perhaps the arena’s best feature. There are a few bars on the 100-level in which you can enjoy a pre-game or between-period drink. Beer and food selection is pretty average. So once inside, it’s “fine”.
But “fine”, with a poor location and mediocre vibe puts you at the bottom of current NHL venues.
There’s long been talk of moving downtown, just west of Parliament Hill. That looks like that will finally happen. But for a at least a few more years, Senator fans will have to make the trek out to Kanata.
