"The Ottawa Senators now have a 1-2 punch like no other in the National Hockey League.

Literally.

Unfortunately for the second-lowest-scoring NHL team during the 2010-11 regular season, it will be the direct opposite to the Vancouver Canucks' Daniel and Henrik Sedin or the Tampa Bay Lightning's Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos.

Instead, the Senators announced Tuesday they had signed enforcer Zenon Konopka, who was No. 1 in penalty minutes last season, well ahead of Senators tough guy Chris Neil, who was No. 2.

"I'm pumped and excited to be in Ottawa," Konopka, 30, said in an interview during a break at his summer hockey camp in Ottawa. "I wanted to see what was out there. Ottawa has been on my radar for a few years.

"It has been a long few days figuring it out, but many things pointed to me signing with Ottawa."

Senators general manager Bryan Murray feels the 6-0, 211-pound Konopka, a former Ottawa 67, will be a solid three-dimenional addition to the team.

"He's a big, strong guy, (with) character, competitiveness, wins faceoffs and will play a good role on a team that wants to be competitive," Murray said in an audio interview provided by the Senators.

"No. 1, he's competitive every night. No. 2, he provides leadership on the ice. No. 3, he wins faceoffs and brings that dimension to our hockey club. We hope he can match up and with a couple of others to bring a real feistiness to our lineup. We (also) believe he can kill penalties."

Konopka, a New York Islanders' unrestricted free agent who agreed to a one-year, $700,000 U.S. contract with the Senators, spent 307 minutes in the penalty box in 82 games last season, which far exceeded Neil's 210 minutes in 80 games."