2007 Ottawa Senators

[LuckyPierre]

Shocking that the roster with no Chara, Havlat, and Hasek went on the run that it did in 07. Mike Fisher aside, it really was a one line team, and Ray Emery did have the run of his life.

Makes me wonder what the run in 06 might have looked like with the aforementioned three in the lineup.

I give a lot of credit to Carolina in 06, and believe them to be both highly deserving and supremely underrated. They also have seemingly found a way to beat Ottawa year in, year out. That said, I have a hard time seeing the same Ottawa roster as the 07 finals run, PLUS Hasek, Chara, and Havlat, losing to the Canes. Goaltending, special teams, defence, and secondary scoring would have all been fortified.

But hey, shoulda coulda woulda.

 

[Terry Yake]

and now half the 07 sens are on the ducks

 

[TheBradyBunch]

Detroit beats Ottawa in 2007 because once the finals came against Anaheim for whatever reason Heatley and Spezza disappeared. Alfredsson didn't though and played well in the final. But if two thirds of your top line is disappearing that isn't good and I can't see it being any different with Detroit.

This imo, is a weak argument because the whole reason Heatley and Spezza disappeared is due to tactics deployed by the Ducks. Assuming that they would have disappeared against Detroit just because they did against the Ducks misses the entire reason as to why they were so ineffective - it's not because they stopped doing what made them successful, it's because what made them successful in the past was neutralized through structure and physicality from the top of the lineup all the way to the bottom.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

and now half the 07 sens are on the ducks

'12 canucks too

 

[GMR]

The Pizza line vs Datsyuk/Zetterberg would have been a treat to watch for an entire series, not to mention the Hasek vs Ottawa reunion.

Detroit obviously gave Anaheim their best series and challenge that postseason, but Detroit vs Ottawa goes an easy 6-7 games I'm thinking. Detroit's blueline was banged up, missing two of their top 4 (Kronwall and Schneider), so it's not like vs Anaheim where there was basically always a Pronger/Niedermayer on the ice. Additionally, Datsyuk and Zetterberg, while clearly in their prime, were still just on the cusp of peaking - but not quite there yet. I some times wonder if that grueling series and loss to Anaheim helped push them to that next level the following year.

While I think 08 Detroit disposes of 07 Ottawa (and 07 Anaheim,) I think 07 Detroit vs Ottawa would have been a hell of a series and very entertaining with a great display of skill throughout.

Would have been a great story considering Hasek was Detroit's goalie in 2007. Datsyuk and Zetterberg were actually split up midway through the WCF. My gut is the Wings would win. Ottawa was a one line team and had Ray Emery in net. I can't see them winning the Cup over a team with more experience and more firepower throughout the lineup.

 

[Big Phil]

This imo, is a weak argument because the whole reason Heatley and Spezza disappeared is due to tactics deployed by the Ducks. Assuming that they would have disappeared against Detroit just because they did against the Ducks misses the entire reason as to why they were so ineffective - it's not because they stopped doing what made them successful, it's because what made them successful in the past was neutralized through structure and physicality from the top of the lineup all the way to the bottom.

Of course, but Detroit doesn't do that either? There wasn't a whole lot of separation between the 2007 Ducks and Wings. A fluke goal by Niedermayer in Game 5 goes the other way and maybe we aren't talking about a Ducks/Sens Cup final. Considering the Wings won with relative ease in 2008 makes me think they come out on top in 2007. There was still the whole "Datsyuk and Zetterberg" can't win reputation, but yeah I think the seasoned Wings beat the Sens.

 

[Terry Yake]

07 wings would have rolled over the sens

ducks got some lucky breaks in game 5 with niedermayer's tying goal in the final seconds to selanne's winner in OT. if lilja doesn't suffer a mental breakdown and carry that puck up the middle it could have been the wings up 3-2 going back to anaheim

 

[HisIceness]

Regarding that Penguins/Senators series, I don't exactly remember what game it was (or where for that matter if someone wanted to dig into it) but the Sens frustrated the hell out of Crosby and Malkin to the point that both were seen on the bench looking completely bewildered at how the opposition was manhandling them. I also remember Fleury got pulled pretty quickly in one game and he too sat on the bench with a 'what the hell just happened?' look on his face (maybe the same one?). When I saw that I remember thinking that the East was Ottawas to lose, this was their best shot with that core.

I remember game 5 of the Buffalo series was moved from NBC to the Versus channel in the states (except in Buffalo and Rochester) because of the Preakness Stakes. That was not one of the finer moments of the NBC/NHL relationship, but thats for another thread.

I don't think that series with Anaheim was as lopsided as some make it out to be. Ottawa was very competitive in all 5 games, it wasn't until Phillips mishap that the Ducks finally got the stranglehold on them. But the first 2 games of that series had the game winners scored with 5 minutes or less in the 3rd. Game 4 IIRC was a one-goal Ducks victory.

I don't know about the next season but they were all a year older and went up against a much better, younger and more experienced (than 2007) Penguins team that was on their way to back-t0-back Finals appearances, and also wanted revenge from the previous series.

 

[GuineaPig]

I think people here are underrating the '07 Sens a bit. Obviously weaker than '06 but still one of the best teams in the league. Finishing 4th in the East you might think they weren't that special but they had the best goal differential along with Anaheim. It might be accurate to call them a one-line team but they had plenty of quality depth, just not the star depth they had before. I mean this was a team that put up 288 goals in the regular season

 

[MarkStone]

I don't think that series with Anaheim was as lopsided as some make it out to be. Ottawa was very competitive in all 5 games, it wasn't until Phillips mishap that the Ducks finally got the stranglehold on them. But the first 2 games of that series had the game winners scored with 5 minutes or less in the 3rd. Game 4 IIRC was a one-goal Ducks victory.

I agree in the sense that some are making it out to be a 4 game sweep of 5-0 scores. However I will say that although most of the games were 1 goal victories, the run of play was often against the Sens, and any victory in the first two games in Anaheim (and game 4 in Ottawa) would have surely felt like a smash and grab from an Ottawa perspective.
That being said, the Sens in retrospect obviously faced the absolute worst matchup they could have hoped for. I actually remember hoping to face the Ducks, just because of the mystique the Red Wings had at the time. Looking back, perhaps the Red Wings in the final would have been a more competitive series, despite the challenges the Wings would have given with Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Zetterberg and all that depth.
Facing a great Ducks team has made that 07 Sens team pretty underrated though.

 

[trentmccleary]

The short version of Ottawa's playoff history between 1999-2008 is that they rarely had a #1 center or a #1 goalie and occasionally neither.

2006 felt like an incredible season, it was destiny. Then Hasek got hurt at the Olympics and Chara busted his hand on Eric Cairns head. They faced Tampa in the first round and rolled over them because Tampa was clearly beaten down by a season of atrocious goaltending. Had the season been 86 games long, Tampa would have missed the playoffs. Ray Emery was awful in the Buffalo series (0.864 SV% and allowed 3 OT goals on 4 OT shots). Buffalo diced him up (slow lateral movement) and only barely won the series in a bunch of 1 goal games. This Sens team with Hasek was probably Ottawa's best chance at a Cup.

2007
The first 1/3 of the season is a credit to Ray Emery. The team was playing terribly and tended to start slow every game. He probably had something to prove after his terrible postseason and the signing of Gerber to be starter. Gerber's terrible string of games at the beginning of the season opened the door for Emery. In the 1/3, Emery was stellar in the 1st period and solid after that. For the rest of the season and playoffs, he was just really solid; stopped the shots he needed to, bounced back after losses, etc. The team starting firing on all cylinders after Christmas through the end of the year. They blew through the first 3 rounds with Spezza & Alfredsson gaining the zone fairly easily and Fisher, Neil & Schubert pounding opposing d-men on the forecheck across the other 3 lines. IMO, you could noticeably see opposing d-men developing the yips over the course of the series and that just made things easier for the top line. They were thriving with the NHL's crackdown on obstruction. Anaheim was the first time they'd faced any obstruction in playoffs and they were surprised by it. The obstruction shut down Ottawa's forecheck and Spezza's zone entries. The only two players who thrived were Alfredsson and Fisher, because they equally adept at carrying the puck into the zone or retrieving dump ins.

About the 1 line team comments... look up Fisher, Comrie and Schaefer in terms of regular seasons points and PPG. Then compare them to the 4-5-6 (forward) scorers of a team you think had better secondary scoring. The Ottawa trio probably did better in points, PPG or both. They were quite good back then.

2008
Gerber was embarrassed about losing his job the year prior and Emery had off season wrist surgery. Gerber came out hot, Emery joined a month into the season and Ottawa had amazing goaltending for the first 1/4. Then doubts started to creep in about who was the starter, neither started performing and Paddock was probably making it worse. For the next 3 1/2 years until Anderson was acquired, Ottawa had arguably the worst goaltending in the league. The goaltending let in a lot of deflating and back-breaking goals all season long. Just like Tampa in 2006, if the season had been 86 games long, Ottawa would have missed the playoffs. The went to the playoffs on a death spiral and got swept, which was easy to predict.

 

[NyQuil]

07 wings would have rolled over the sens

ducks got some lucky breaks in game 5 with niedermayer's tying goal in the final seconds to selanne's winner in OT. if lilja doesn't suffer a mental breakdown and carry that puck up the middle it could have been the wings up 3-2 going back to anaheim

I’m pretty sure that Anaheim’s GWG in Game 4 happened in the third period when an Ottawa’s defenceman’s skate broke, forcing him to change when Anaheim was on a rush.

It could have been 2-2 going back to Anaheim with the Sens having won two straight.

Philips also scored on his own net.

Lots of lucky breaks to go around in the playoffs. That’s just the way it is sometimes.

Doesn’t necessarily mean Ottawa would have won but I don’t think there’s any kind of certainty that Detroit would have either.

 

[VictoriaJetsFan]

That playoff run was Alfredsson all the way, Haatley and Spezza (up until the finals), Fisher on lockdown, Volchenkov and Phillips becoming the Steel Curtain on ice. Ray Emery had the playoffs of his life.

I remember Volchenkov being an absolute beast in that series..one of my fave defensemen of all time.......

 

[Voight]

So we were told for years by Sens fans that Spezza was a #1C and now hes not?

 

[trentmccleary]

So we were told for years by Sens fans that Spezza was a #1C and now hes not?

What do you mean? Whom do you want to respond to you?

 

[Voight]

What do you mean? Whom do you want to respond to you?

The short version of Ottawa's playoff history between 1999-2008 is that they rarely had a #1 center or a #1 goalie and occasionally neither.

 

[trentmccleary]

So we were told for years by Sens fans that Spezza was a #1C and now hes not?

99-08 = 9 seasons
No #1 C = 00, 02, 03, 04
Awful G performance = 04, 06, 08
Seasons matching either condition = 6/9

... and it's not like the goaltending was any good from 99-01 either.

 

[Voight]

99-08 = 9 seasons
No #1 C = 00, 02, 03, 04
Awful G performance = 04, 06, 08
Seasons matching either condition = 6/9

... and it's not like the goaltending was any good from 99-01 either.

Confused how Spezza wasn't a #1C from 2005-2008? Sure he played with two star wingers but that shouldn't change the view of him too much.

 

[trentmccleary]

Confused how Spezza wasn't a #1C from 2005-2008? Sure he played with two star wingers but that shouldn't change the view of him too much.

I never said that he wasn't a #1 C from 05-08. You're responding to things that were never said.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

I remember watching the finals that year and thinking that Ottawa was a monster squad through the first three rounds, paying more attention to them than Anaheim. Then they just get absolutely ragdolled by the Ducks, who showed they were superior in every single way, especially physically, it really blew me away. I started asking myself how the hell Ottawa got there, was the east that weak?

 

[MarkStone]

Confused how Spezza wasn't a #1C from 2005-2008? Sure he played with two star wingers but that shouldn't change the view of him too much.

Yeah you kind of played yourself here. Check out the Ottawa center position from 1999-2005 and get back to us. That is of course the majority of the 1999-2008 timeframe.

 

[GuineaPig]

I'm not sure what the problem with Ottawa's center depth was. Radek Bonk/Todd White isn't like Crosby/Malkin, but it's still two solid two-way centremen

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

I remember watching the finals that year and thinking that Ottawa was a monster squad through the first three rounds, paying more attention to them than Anaheim. Then they just get absolutely ragdolled by the Ducks, who showed they were superior in every single way, especially physically, it really blew me away. I started asking myself how the hell Ottawa got there, was the east that weak?

i remember watching the 2007 team roll through the playoffs, and the crazy first half of the regular season that followed, and all i could think was what if. what if they had kept chara? what if they could have kept havlat? what if hasek had stayed healthy? those later ottawa teams were clearly inferior to the 2004 and 2006 teams. all those earlier teams needed was a number one center, which spezza had turned into.

 

[puckIuck]

I remember watching the finals that year and thinking that Ottawa was a monster squad through the first three rounds, paying more attention to them than Anaheim. Then they just get absolutely ragdolled by the Ducks, who showed they were superior in every single way, especially physically, it really blew me away. I started asking myself how the hell Ottawa got there, was the east that weak?

anaheim dominated the west too aside from the wings series. anaheim and detroit were just head and shoulders above the rest of the league back then.

 

[IslesFan2017]

anaheim dominated the west too aside from the wings series. anaheim and detroit were just head and shoulders above the rest of the league back then.

I still can't believe how stacked the Western Conference was in 2006-07. The Wild finished in 7th in the Conference with 104 points. I still feel that the Red Wings weren't quite at the same level as the 2008 or 2009 Red Wings in 2007 because the Sharks had them on the ropes in the second round. If Robert Lang doesn't score late in Game 4, they go back to Detroit down 3-1 in the series and who knows what happens from there.