What are your memories of the 2008-2009 season?

Canucks1096

Registered User
Feb 13, 2016
5,608
1,667
My memory was the Canucks were struggling. Kesler and Burrows played on the 3rd line. AV decided to make major line changes Burrows goes up the top line with the Sedins. Kesler moves to wing on the 2nd line with Demitra and Sundin. Both developed there offensive game.
 

Sadekuuro

Registered User
Aug 23, 2005
6,763
1,170
Cascadia
I really wish Babcock would have handled the addition of Hossa differently though. Despite what they did the prior season, Babcock split up Datsyuk and Zetterberg. I get the concept of having two elite 2-way centers down the middle, but those two were so magic together and literally just won you a Cup. He was beyond stubborn with it. I didn't like Hossa on either of their wings. Datsyuk would sit back too often with Hossa, and Zetterberg and Hossa just sucked together. Hossa should have been manning the 2nd line with Filppula/Franzen/Samuelson/Cleary.

It really was astonishing how little chemistry Hossa had with either center, wasn't it? He scored 40 goals but they were generally quick plays resulting from his good hands and powerful shot (must take crazy wrist strength the way he did it, holding his stick like a sword), and not so much the good passing plays or sustained possession you might expect. I think Datsyuk could have eventually made it work, but it sure didn't come naturally, and Babcock preferred to play him with Zetterberg anyway. Painfully high opportunity cost with his deployment for sure, he didn't need an elite center to score those types of goals.

The other thing that was interesting about seeing Hossa with that team was to compare his defensive play with that of Dats and Z. Here you have the most celebrated defensive winger since Jere Lehtinen (or am I forgetting someone?), and his backchecking was as tenacious as advertised, yet his overall defensive impact was noticeably a distant 3rd. No shame in finishing behind those two guys of course, but perhaps instructive of the nature of their positions.
 

Howie Hodge

Zombie Woof
Sep 16, 2017
4,422
4,027
Buffalo, NY
The little lady had become a CSI____________ junkie, and I finished the basement to create an amazing man cave to watch hockey. Bar included.

So what I do remember:

-Sabres had two 1'sts, and picked Tyler Myers and Ennis. On The Sabres boards we lamented Darcy not selecting John Carlson with the Ennis pick.

-Up and down season, and even though The Sabres won 7 of their last ten, they still missed the playoffs by a couple points.

-Derek Roy, Jason Pominville, Thomas Vanek, and Tim Connolly lead the team in scoring. Miller was still the star of the team.

Even though the team would bounce back to make the playoffs the next two seasons, most of us were not liking the direction the team was going under Darcy and Lindy, and we had missed the playoffs the prior season also... (Drafting was a big concern, inconsistency, lack of gritty players, etc)

-Three seasons later we fell out of the playoffs again (2011 -12, and haven't been back since...)
 
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McGarnagle

Yes.
Aug 5, 2017
28,421
37,652
That was the year the Bruins arrived. They showed fight against Montreal in the 08 playoffs, but 08-09 is when they stepped out from the post-Thornton trade funk to being contenders again.

It was a fun season, Savard's best and healthiest as a Bruin, Kessel taking it to a new level, young payers developing in Krejci and Wheeler, grit in the lineup, they went put and got Recchi for vet leadership.

Season started with that line brawl against Dallas, which sparked the franchise, made them relevant in town again, and they ran with it to the #1 seed in the East. Vanquishing the Habs in a 4 game sweep in their centennial year after they'd been the thorn in our side since 2002 was a pleasure.

Everything was going well, then it just ended in a whimper. That loss to Carolina still hurts. I suppose it was a necessary learning experience for a young team, and that helped them get over the hump in later playoff runs, but it sucked. The team was really banged up and came out flat for the first four games of that series. The fact they got it to a 7th game and overtime in that game took everything they had. The fact that Scott Walker had just gotten let off the hook for suckerpunching Aaron Ward and he's the guy who ended it in OT, it made me sick.

A potential Bruins-Pens ECF would've been great, they played some barnburners that regular season.

In sum it was good memories from the season with a tragic ending, but maybe necessary for taking the leap in the playoffs the next few years.

Never thought it would be Savard's last full NHL season or that Kessel would ask out that offseason though.
 

MarkStone

Frankie Fryer
Mar 12, 2016
1,692
403
My main memory of this season has to be my Senators not making the playoffs for the first time in 12 seasons. Just a team in decline with a mess of a coaching staff led by Craig Hartsburg (before he was canned). Also the end of the Pizza Line days with Heatley wanting out and indeed being shipped out before the start of the next season.
If the previous season didn't confirm it, this season's performance cemented the removal of the Senators from the elite tier of franchises (not in terms of history obviously but in terms of consistent regular season records with recognizable stars in their prime) in the NHL to what we are still to this day. Fall from grace.
 

hitman9172

Registered User
Sep 30, 2006
744
190
If the previous season didn't confirm it, this season's performance cemented the removal of the Senators from the elite tier of franchises (not in terms of history obviously but in terms of consistent regular season records with recognizable stars in their prime) in the NHL to what we are still to this day. Fall from grace.

Yep, from about 2002/03 to 2009, the Senators were definitely one of the elite regular season teams.
 

MarkStone

Frankie Fryer
Mar 12, 2016
1,692
403
Yep, from about 2002/03 to 2009, the Senators were definitely one of the elite regular season teams.
2007-08 we were elite for the first half of the season before going through one of the most dramatic declines I've seen a playoff qualifying team have. Went from contending for the top seed in the conference to squeaking in as the 7th seed. Were swept aside by the Penguins. The next season the decline continued and we didn't make the playoffs at all.

As for the elite regular season period I would adjust it from about 1998-99 (1st in the Northeast Division, 2nd in the Eastern Conference) to 2006-2007 (2nd in the Northeast, 4th in the Eastern Conference).
 

hitman9172

Registered User
Sep 30, 2006
744
190
As for the elite regular season period I would adjust it from about 1998-99 (1st in the Northeast Division, 2nd in the Eastern Conference) to 2006-2007 (2nd in the Northeast, 4th in the Eastern Conference).

I was following the West a lot more closely than the East back then, so I don’t remember too much of the Sens prior to the 02-03 season, when they lost late in game 7 of the ECF to the Devils. My early 2000’s memories of the Sens include some great regular seasons punctuated by that loss to NJD and all of those playoff losses to the Leafs. The post-lockout Sens were also a regular season juggernaut for a couple years. I thought they had the ‘06 Stanley Cup in the bag, but then Hasek got injured.
 
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