OTTAWA - Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray announced today the club has re-signed forward Jesse Winchester to a two-year deal.

Winchester, 26, finished his second NHL season with the Senators with two goals, 11 assists and 22 penalty minutes in 52 games. He began the season with the club’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Binghamton Senators, on a four-game conditioning stint, recording two goals and two assists in four games. Winchester suffered a knee injury during a pre-season game against the Montreal Canadiens on Sept. 18. A right leg injury kept him out of another 11 games in January. In his first six NHL playoff games against the Pittsburgh Penguins, he was kept off the scoresheet.

Winchester first signed with the Senators on March 24, 2008, and made his NHL debut five days later against the Boston Bruins, recording two penalty minutes in 14 minutes of ice time. In 129 career games with the Senators, he has five goals, 26 assists and 57 penalty minutes.

Prior to joining with the Senators in 2008, the Long Sault, Ont., native spent four seasons playing for the Colgate University Red Raiders of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Association (ECAC). The 6-1, 215-pound forward played in 143 games over his four-year career at Colgate, scoring 40 goals and adding 74 assists for 114 points while accumulating 158 penalty minutes.

Winchester spent much of his amateur hockey career in the Ottawa area, playing for the Cornwall Colts of the Central Hockey League before attending Colgate. In his final season with Cornwall in 2003-04, he was named most valuable player, scoring 23 goals and adding a league-leading 59 assists for 82 points in 54 games. Prior to playing with Cornwall, he played for the Winchester Hawks of the Eastern Ontario Junior B Hockey League.