- 2006–07 Ottawa Senators season
NHLTeamSeason
Season=2006–07
Team=Ottawa Senators
Conference=Eastern
ConferenceRank=4th
Division=Northeast
DivisionRank=2nd
Record=48–25–9
HomeRecord=25–13–3
RoadRecord=23–12–6
GoalsFor=288
GoalsAgainst=222
GeneralManager=John Muckler
Coach=Bryan Murray
Captain=Daniel Alfredsson
AltCaptain=Chris Phillips Wade Redden
Arena=Scotiabank Place
Attendance=20,081
GoalsLeader=Dany Heatley (50)
AssistsLeader=Daniel Alfredsson (58)
PointsLeader=Dany Heatley (105)
PlusMinusLeader=Daniel Alfredsson (+42)
PIMLeader=Chris Neil (177)
WinsLeader=Ray Emery (33)
GAALeader=Ray Emery (2.47)
ConferenceWin=yesThe 2006–07
Ottawa Senators season (the team's 14th season) saw the team rebound from a disappointing early exit from the 2006 playoffs. The team made it all the way to theStanley Cup finals before losing to theAnaheim Ducks . After numerous personnel changes at the start of the season, the team had a poor record until December. The poor record sparked numerous trade rumours in the media. The team turned their play around to place second in the division and won three playoff series to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, the first inOttawa in 80 years.ummary
Player Changes
In July 2006, the Senators lost four players to free agency; defencemen
Zdeno Chara (who signed a 5–year deal with theBoston Bruins ),Brian Pothier (who signed with theWashington Capitals ), goalie Dominik Hasek (who signed a 1–year deal with theDetroit Red Wings ), and forwardVaclav Varada (who signed withHC Davos of the Swiss Elite League).Former
Carolina Hurricanes starter Martin Gerber was signed to fill the void left by Hasek, and Ottawa also signed defencemanJoe Corvo , formerly of theLos Angeles Kings . A short time later, they traded star forwardMartin Havlat and centreBryan Smolinski to theChicago Blackhawks forTom Preissing ,Josh Hennessy ,Michal Barinka , and a second-round draft pick in the2008 NHL Entry Draft .The club signed Russian centre
Alexei Kaigorodov to a two-year entry level contract. They also signed bluelinerJamie Allison and re-signedAntoine Vermette ,Chris Neil , and Peter Schaefer to avoid arbitration proceedings. In addition, Ottawa re-signed Chris Kelly andJason Spezza to two-year contracts each, as well asChristoph Schubert . Midway through the season, the Senators acquired centreMike Comrie andleft wing Oleg Saprykin from thePhoenix Coyotes . They would also acquire defencemanLawrence Nycholat from theWashington Capitals .The goaltending duty was platooned between
Ray Emery andMartin Gerber at first. Gerber struggled and Emery won the starting job.Highlights
After starting with a 21–18–1 record until the end of December, Ottawa played better from January on (27–7–8).
On
January 3 ,2007 , Ottawa acquired centreMike Comrie from thePhoenix Coyotes in exchange for prospectAlexei Kaigorodov . Ottawa was in need of another centre due to injuries and was eager to shed Kaigorodov, who was suspended for refusing an assignment to the Senators'American Hockey League affiliate, theBinghamton Senators , instead opting to play in Russia.Dany Heatley was the representative for Ottawa at the 2007 All-Star Game for the East, managing a 94.0 MPH slapshot in the skills competition and a goal and two assists in the East's 12–9 loss to the West. For the 'YoungStars' game, sophomore defencemanAndrej Meszaros and forwardPatrick Eaves participated.On
February 22 ,2007 , the Senators were involved in a huge fight with the Buffalo Sabres over an alleged late hit by Neil on Sabres co-captainChris Drury . Although the referees ruled it was a legal hit (and replays and analysts concurred after the game), a fight ensued after play restarted. Eight players were assessed a total of 100 penalty minutes, and five players, including Senators Ray Emery and Chris Phillips, were ejected. The Senators lost the match, 6–5, in a shootout, one of a record eight overtime games and four shootouts that night.The team finished second in the Northeast division, behind the
Presidents' Trophy -winning Buffalo Sabres, and third in the conference in points (the team was seeded fourth due to the precedence of divisional winners). Because theMontreal Canadiens and theToronto Maple Leafs both narrowly missed the playoffs, the Senators were the only Canadian-based team in the Eastern Conference to qualify for the playoffs.Postseason
The Senators started the playoffs against the fifth-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins, whom they defeated four games to one. The second-seeded New Jersey Devils were their next opponent, with the same four-games-to-one result, again in favor of the Senators. In the Eastern Conference Final, the Senators faced the top-seeded Buffalo Sabres. Once again, Ottawa won in five games, which gave the Senators their first ever trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. This was also the Sens' first series win against the Sabres.
;FinalsThe Anaheim Ducks were their opponent in the finals and the four-games-to-one result stayed the same for the Senators, the only difference being this time it was in the opposing team's favor. The Ducks were successful in shutting down the Senators's top line to the point where it was broken up in game five. All games were close except for game five which the Senators lost 6–2, when two goals went in off Senators defencemen and Phillips caused an own-goal, which turned out to be the game-winning and Cup-winning goal attributed to
Travis Moen , and possibly the only such goal in Finals history. Alfredsson was the Senators' top forward in the series as he had been all playoffs, scoring four goals. Heatley and Spezza were held to one goal and two assists in total.Key Contributors
After a poor start to the season, several players picked up their play and the Senators played well from December to the Stanley Cup Finals. The defence pairing of
Chris Phillips andAnton Volchenkov won praise from the media for their "shutdown effectiveness" against opposing top lines. [Citation |newspaper=The Hockey News |date=2007-05-22 |title=NHL Team Reports |page=pg. 22 |last=Garrioch |first=Bruce] The 'CASH line' of Spezza, Heatley, and Alfredsson was outstanding offensively, scoring nearly half of the Senators' goals in the post-season, appearing on "The Hockey News" cover for their play. [Citation |newspaper=The Hockey News |date=2007-05-22 |title=Top Line Makes Sens |last=Warren |first=Ken|pages=pp. 18–19] The line tied for the NHL and team scoring lead with 22 points in 20 playoff games. Goaltender Ray Emery played all 20 games and posted 13 wins.Regular season
eason standings
December
March
Eastern Conference Semifinals: vs. (2)
New Jersey Devils Ottawa wins series 4–1
*Green background indicates win.
*Red background indicates loss.Player stats
coring Leaders
"Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes"
Free Agents Acquired
Draft picks
2006
Ottawa's picks at the
2006 NHL Entry Draft inVancouver ,British Columbia . [2006 NHL Entry Draft Results [http://www.nhl.com/futures/2006draft/ nhl.com] - accessed December 9, 2006]ee also
References
*Game log: [http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/teams/schedule?team=ott Ottawa Senators game log] on espn.com
*Team standings: [http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/standings NHL standings] on espn.comExternal links
* [http://www.ottawasenators.com Official website of the Ottawa Senators]
Goaltenders:
hockey team player|no=1|name=Emery•
Defencemen
hockey team player|no=2|name=Nycholat•hockey team player|no=4|name=Phillips•hockey team player|no=5|name=Schubert•hockey team player|no=6|name=Redden•hockey team player|no=7|name=Corvo•hockey team player|no=14|name=Meszaros•hockey team player|no=24|name=Volchenkov•
Forwards
hockey team player|no=11|name=Alfredsson•hockey team player|no=12|name=Fisher•hockey team player|no=15|name=Heatley•hockey team player|no=16|name=McGrattan•hockey team player|no=19|name=Spezza•hockey team player|no=20|name=Vermette•hockey team player|no=22|name=Kelly•hockey team player|no=25|name=Neil•hockey team player|no=27|name=Schaefer•hockey team player|no=37|name=McAmmond•hockey team player|no=44|name=Eaves•hockey team player|no=61|name=Saprykin•
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