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After 17 seasons with the Ottawa Senators - 13 as team captain - Daniel Alfredsson officially said goodbye to the only NHL home hes ever played in. Alfredsson, who was at Ottawas Royal Health Centre on Thursday to help promote his charitable focus on mental health awareness, also explained his reasons for choosing to sign with the Detroit Red Wings. "To Ottawa, to the always loyal Sens fans, to the Sens organization - thank you from the bottom of our hearts," said Alfredsson, who was welcomed into the room with cheers from attending fans. "When I did my last contract for four years ending in the (2012-13) season, I was asked to help the team manage the salary cap by adding on a extra year to my contract," he said in an opening statement. "I agreed. Each side fully expected I would retire and not play the 2012-13 season." However, after the 2012 season, I told the Sens I wanted to play another season. I also asked to look at a possible extension this upcoming season at a fair amount to balance out the two years for both of us. They agreed. Sadly, the contract negotiations went nowhere. But I played out the season as I had promised and I believe this past season, in my view, was a very special one." Alfredsson became an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and was free to talk to teams in a limited capacity mandated by the NHL. "In late June this year, I decided I had it in me to play one more season," he added. "I told management I was willing to return and I reminded them of our agreement from the year before." Alfredsson surprised many a few days later when he signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract with the Red Wings. The Senators, unable to come to terms with their longest-serving player, made a blockbuster trade just hours later acquiring winger Bobby Ryan from the Anaheim Ducks. "I respected Bryan (Murray) for everything hes done for this team as a coach and GM," said Alfredsson. "I understand it was hard for them to make it work under my terms." In a follow-up interview with Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun, Murray said he wasnt sure Alfredssons agent J.P. Barry gave his client all the details over the contract negotiations between both sides. "I can say this: Im disappointed," Murray told The Sun after hearing what was said at the news conference. "It seems Alfie isnt totally informed of what went on. That had to do with J.P. - didnt tell me the truth during the week. He kept saying I cant get in touch with Alfie. I will get back to you with a number. "He never got back to me. I never heard back from him after the phone call on Tuesday (July 2). Alfie called me himself on Thursday night to tell me that he was leaving. I said to J.P. during the earlier conversations I cant pay you $7 million. Thats what they asked for for the year. "I offered $4.5 million. I said, Both of us hopefully are flexible and we will talk. (Barry) said he would get back to me. I just took for granted that would happen and it never happened. I never heard back. I have not J.P. since the $7 milliion (demand in New York) Saturday meeting we had. It was $12 million for two years and $7 million for one. Thats disappointing." Barry - one of the games most prominent player agents - responded to Murrays remarks, telling TSN on Thursday afternoon that his client had taken below market deals before and that the negotiations were simply done in the best interest of the business at hand. "Shooting the messenger is something I have never believed in nor will I ever," Barry explained. "Its just not productive in our business to make negotiations personal." "I decided not to respond in July when Bryan chose to criticize my role as an agent in this process. It was an emotional day. I get it. "The fact is this was a negotiation concerning impending free agency. We made multiple offers and invited them to negotiate. They provided a number on the weekend prior to July 5 and said this is all they can do due to internal budget restrictions. It wasnt a market offer in our estimation. They wanted Daniel to take a below market deal again after he had done the same several times previously and we didnt feel that was appropriate." Daniel and I spoke every day during the process at length. Essentially, the Senators wanted us to present lower offers to them and that is not how the process works. When a player has impending free agency and the Club wants to keep that player, they need to present their best offer and not ask the player to negotiate against himself. The interview window opened after we couldnt bridge the gap over the weekend and a new opportunity and a new challenge came along. By that time it was simply too late. I wont make any further comments. Its time to move on." NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Ottawa Citizen Thursday afternoon that the league doesnt intend to investigate on whether or not the Senators intentionally circumvented the salary cap with Alfredssons previous contract. "I would say that if negotiations went down precisely as Daniel described (them), that would be a concern," Daly stated in an email to The Citizen. "We havent independently verified that, and at this point we dont intend to." Alfredsson made his NHL debut with the Senators in 1995-96 after being selected in the sixth round of the 1994 draft by Ottawa. He won the Calder Trophy as the NHLs top rookie and went on to play in six All-Star games. Ottawas captain since the 1999-2000 season, Alfredsson is the all-time leader in games played, goals and points for the team. He played all 1,178 games of his NHL career with the Senators, putting up 426 goals and 682 assists. Files from The Ottawa Sun and The Ottawa Citizen were used for this report. 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Two-time Olympic bronze medallists Savchenko and Szolkowy received 79.02 points to finish ahead of world bronze medallists Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada, who had 77.01 points. Cheap NMD For Sale . The South Africa international, who rejoined the club last month on loan from Tottenham, opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a powerful shot into the roof of the net.TORONTO - If youve played or coached in the NBA long enough, you probably have a tried and tested method for shaking off unsettling losses. A couple days removed from the Raptors most recent defeat, a triple overtime loss to the Washington Wizards, Dwane Casey is still making notes, having reviewed the game tape two or three times since Thursday night. DeMar DeRozan has also watched the tape, hoping to identify areas of weakness in his and the teams performance. However, that form of reflection is not for everybody. Some prefer to look ahead, rather than dwell on the past. "I didnt watch it," Kyle Lowry admitted. "No. We lost. I didnt watch that game." The Raptors overcame a spotty showing on the boards, giving up 18 offensive rebounds, and in the trenches, allowing 80 points in the paint, giving themselves a couple of opportunities to steal a victory in what would eventually become the franchises longest game. In the end, Toronto simply ran out of bullets. By the third overtime period, they were without Lowry, Amir Johnson and Patrick Patterson - all having fouled out - as well as Terrence Ross, who left the game with an ankle injury in the first half. "Its definitely tough, just to watch it and understand how close we came to pulling it [out] but it happens," said DeRozan, who scored 34 points - his third 30-plus point outing in the last five games - in 57 minutes of action. "Its the NBA and youve got to learn from it." For Jonas Valanciunas, who struggled in overtime after sitting out the entire fourth quarter, Thursdays loss was another learning experience, one Casey hopes his young centre wont take too personally. "We all make mistakes," Casey said following practice Friday afternoon. "He made some mistakes down the stretch, hes got to learn from them, not get his head down [or] feel like the weight of the world is on his shoulders [and] play basketball." "Hes 21-years-old, not really good looking but a nice looking guy," he joked. "Why be stressed about anything?" "His role is to go in, have fun, learn, get better, improve and try to play the game the right way. If you make a mistake, okay, learn from it. Dont make the same mistake twice." With a rare four-day break looming, the Raptors have an opportunity to redeem themselves when they host the Golden State Warriors Sunday. Its been nearly three full months since they last saw the Warriors but their 112-103 loss in Oakland on Dec. 3 is not one that can easily be forgotten. "Me personally, I remember it," Lowry said of that game, in which the Raptors surrendered a 27-point lead, the largest collapse in franchise history. "At the end of the day, were a different team, theyre a different team so were just going to go out there and play our game." Just six days prior to the trade of Rudy Gay, Toronto led 88-70 after 36 minutes before the Warriors went off for a 42-point quarter.ddddddddddddSince that night, the Raptors have gone 26-15 while solidifying themselves as one of the leagues best fourth quarter teams, holding opponents to 21.9 points in the final frame, first in the NBA. The Raptors have lost only two games when leading going into the fourth quarter this season. "It was tough, man," DeRozan said, looking back on that night. "I think that game really bothered us afterwards because we had them beat and before you know it, they started raining threes. It sucks to lose like that so we definitely understand that and I definitely think everyone remembers that." Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson accounted for 26 points, on 6-of-7 shooting from three-point range, in the fourth, carrying the Warriors to victory. The Raptors are winless in seven games facing Golden State with Curry in the lineup, allowing 119.3 points in those contests. The all-star guard averages 27.3 points and 8.7 assists against Toronto, his highest marks against any opponent in his career. "You have two of the best shooters in Golden State, probably in the league," DeRozan said of Curry and Thompson. "The way Steph can score the ball at an all-time high is definitely amazing and youve got a guy like Klay that can catch and shoot at will. It makes it tough so weve got to come out [Sunday] night and be aggressive on both ends, make it tough on them." Averaging a combined 41.8 points per game, the Warriors duo of Curry and Thompson is the NBAs highest scoring backcourt, just ahead of Lowry and DeRozan, who average 39.6. Lowry was a full participant in practice Saturday and insists he is good to go against the Warriors after coming down on his right ankle at the end of regulation Thursday. Ross was held out of practice as a precaution, though he did get some work in on the stationary bike, and is considered questionable for Sundays contest. The Raptors, who have won 12 of their last 16 at home, havent lost back-to-back games at the Air Canada Centre since Dec. 1 and hope to avoid doing so against the red-hot Warriors. Golden State, in the middle of a season-long six game road trip, has won five of six. After being held to 83 points and losing to the Bulls by 20 on Wednesday, they scored a season-high 126, dismantling the Knicks by 23 Friday night. "We stopped attacking the basket, settled for jump shots, we tried to play their game and theyre better at it," Casey said of his teams collapse in Oakland. "[We] didnt do a good job of handling their pressure offensively. They made some tough shots, now weve got to go down, attack the paint, make them play defence [and] attack the rim if our jump shots are not falling." ' ' '