From The Archive: The Year The Senators Entered The Playoffs As The Stanley Cup Favourite

Coming out of the lockout for the 2005-2006 season, the Senators seemed to have it all.

They had an excellent young team whose playoff kryptonite for four of the previous five seasons had been the Toronto Maple Leafs. But with Toronto missing the playoffs that year, as they would for 10 of the next 11 years, they were no longer a concern.

Meanwhile, the Sens had the league's best offence, the second-best defence, and entered the playoffs as the top seed in the East and the Stanley Cup favourite.

They had acquired Dany Heatley and Dominik Hasek for that season, and Zdeno Chara and Martin Havlat were both still here. For my money, it was the greatest team in Senators history.

Back in February, my colleague, Graeme Nichols, produced the best story ever written about the 2005-06 Senators. It's an incredible, long-form piece, filled with interviews and anecdotes with just about everyone from that team, and I highly encourage you to check it out here.

But as we hit The Hockey News Archive, it's time for a little time-travel, a chance to dip back into the moment to see what people were saying about the 2006 Senators. Mike Brophy wrote in our Apr 25, 2006, issue about the Senators' chances as they entered the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

From The Hockey News
Apr 25, 2006
Vol. 59, Issue 31

It’s Stanley Cup or bust for the Ottawa Senators as they try to reverse their failed playoff history and win Canada’s first NHL title since 1993.

BY MIKE BROPHY

A few years ago, Daniel Alfredsson boldly announced his Ottawa Senators would win the Stanley Cup.

Then, a few days later, he backed off his ambitious statement by saying something to the affect of, “I didn’t say this year.”

The Senators, of course, have not won a Stanley Cup; at least not since 1927. The current incarnation of the Ottawa Senators has yet to even make it to the final since joining the league in 1992-93.

So, any predictions for us this year, Daniel?

“No,” Alfredsson says with a chuckle.

You’re out of the prediction-making business?

“Not exactly,” he continues. “I think it will be a great playoffs. There will be some upsets, as always, and it’s going to be really fun playing in the playoffs and watching the other games as well.”

OK, if you won’t say your team is going to win the Stanley Cup, Daniel, we’ll say it for you. With all due respect to a number of contenders in the new NHL, the Senators have what it takes to win the Cup, particularly since their nemesis, the Toronto Maple Leafs, aren’t going to the dance. And to think, not long ago Ottawa’s Stanley Cup was simply to get past the Leafs, who sent them golfing in four of the past five seasons.

Now, before you say the Senators don’t have a chance if No. 1 goalie Dominik Hasek doesn’t return from his groin injury, it must be said that rookie Ray Emery has proven himself to be good enough to carry the load. When a team is as good as the Senators, it doesn’t necessarily need great goaltending to win it all; it just needs its goalie not to lose games. The Senators will be fine.

“You need at least good goaltending and in the past that may have been one of the shortcomings I experienced,” says Ottawa coach Bryan Murray. “The other team’s goalies played just a tad better than my goalies. We’re hoping that just good goaltending this time will be adequate.”

Alfredsson says his team is quietly confident about its chances in the post-season.

“The biggest thing entering the playoffs is, we know we have a team that can win it all,” Alfredsson says. “But you need a lot of things to go right for you. You need to be healthy and you need to have a little good luck. More than anything, you need to play well in big games.

“We feel this is a good opportunity for this group and we’re going to try to make the most it and see what happens.”

This group, as Alfredsson puts it, contains some the NHL’s most dangerous scorers.

Dany Heatley, who has revived his career in Ottawa, ranked fourth in league scoring, having set the team record for goals in a season with 48 and totalling 97 points in 78 games. Alfredsson, himself, who had established single-season highs in goals (41) and points (95) with four games remaining, was seventh in league scoring. Super playmaker Jason Spezza, despite missing 14 games with a chest injury, had 68 assists and 86 points in 64 games.

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. No team comes close to matching the Senators’ scoring depth up front with the likes of Peter Schaefer, Bryan Smolinski, newly acquired Tyler Arnason, Antoine Vermette, Patrick Eaves, Mike Fisher and even tough guy Chris Neil capable of lightning it up on any given night.

What is even more astounding is the fact the Senators also have one of the best and deepest bluelines in the NHL.

Wade Redden and Zdeno Chara are bona fide stars, solid at both ends of the rink, while Chris Phillips, Brian Pothier, Anton Volchenkov and rookie Andrej Meszaros, who is among the NHL leaders at plus-35, are all rock-solid.

Bryan Murray has coached and managed great teams in the past, most recently taking the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim to the final as GM in 2003. But this year, he says, is different.

“No. 1, I think our defensive corps is as good as I’ve ever had…the depth of it,” Murray says. “I’ve had some good individual players on the blueline like (Rod) Langway and (Scott) Stevens, but to have the depth that we have is a little more than I’ve had in the past. If we get everybody back, we have a lot of depth up front, too, with a lot of scoring ability.”

The Senators, like all teams, will face some distractions, such as if and when will Hasek be back; and, can the team afford to sign both Chara and Redden, who will be unrestricted free agents in the summer. But Murray says it should not affect the way the team plays on the ice.

“We just try to focus now on the team,” Murray says. “Obviously we’re affected somewhat by what people say, but mostly we just play. As a coach, all you can do is prepare and play.”

Before the season began, we chose the Philadelphia Flyers as our Cup favorite. And why not? They added superstar Peter Forsberg, along with monster defensemen Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje and big, scoring winger Mike Knuble, as well as a handful of blue chip prospects. That had us convinced the season would be nothing more than a formality. Just hand them the Cup.

The Flyers, though, have been woefully inconsistent. Injuries have taken a toll and there was never really a point during the season where it looked like they would ultimately live up to expectations. The thing about the Flyers is, you can’t dismiss them completely because they have so much talent they are entirely capable of kicking it into gear and winning every game they play. In that regard, coach Ken Hitchcock may face his greatest challenge ever.

Other teams capable of upsetting the Senators include the Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes. People waiting for the Prague Rangers to fold their tents in the playoffs may be disappointed. If goalie Henrik Lundqvist and superstar Jaromir Jagr, the NHL’s most valuable player, live up to their potential, they’ll be a tough opponent for anybody. And don’t discount the work their grunt players do, either.

While the Hurricanes have only played .500 hockey down the stretch, they, too, will not be a desirable opponent for anyone in the opening round.

As for the 2004 Stanley Cup-champion Lightning, unless goalie John Grahame goes to bed one night and wakes up the next morning as Bernie Parent, Tampa Bay doesn’t stand a chance of repeating. The other finalist from two years ago, the Calgary Flames, have put a lot of trust in goalie Miikka Kiprusoff and may rue the day they failed to find an offense-minded center to play with Jarome Iginla.

While we think the Stanley Cup champion will come from the Eastern Conference, the most interesting and competitive hockey is in the West, where the team that finishes eighth – the San Jose Sharks, in all likelihood – could be a threat to make it all the way to the final.

Detroit and Dallas, the cream of the Western crop, both look like potential conference champions, but it won’t be an easy trail to the final.

“What people don’t understand when a team from the East wins the Cup is, the Western Conference teams kick the crap out of each other just trying to make it to the final,” says Edmonton defenseman Chris Pronger.

Looking for a dark horse? Try Pronger’s Oilers – if they made the playoffs, that is. With three games remaining in the regular season, the Oilers were sitting in eighth place in the Western Conference. The additions of defenseman Jaroslav Spacek and left winger Sergei Samsonov have added experience and skill at both ends. If Dwayne Roloson offers up solid goaltending, the Oilers certainly could pull off a first round upset.

And if that happens, they could go on a roll similar to the one the Flames went on two years ago.

Will being the Cup favorite make life tough for the Senators?

“It can’t matter that much, if we let outside factors be that big of a deal,” Murray says.

“But I think, from a confidence point of view, we talk about what we have to do and to have other people recognize a certain ability level doesn’t hurt.”

Here’s how teams that were still in the playoff picture through April 10 compare in goals scored per game, goals against per game, overall record in overtime and shootouts, and odds of winning the Cup.

By Mike Brophy
The Hockey News Archive
Apr 25, 2006/vol. 59, issue 31