OTTAWA, ON - MAY 23: Mike Hoffman #68 of the Ottawa Senators celebrates with teammate Erik Karlsson #65 after scoring a goal on Matt Murray #30 of the Pittsburgh Penguins during the third period in Game Six of the Eastern Conference Final during the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre on May 23, 2017 in Ottawa, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
With the end of the season coming, and the Ottawa Senators being mathematically eliminated from the post-season, I figure’d it was time to start looking back on some happier points in the Franchise’s history. Why not start with the season the Ottawa Senators reached the Eastern Conference Finals?
Related Story. Pierre Dorion's Worst Trades as GM. light
Dorion’s First Season as GM Brought Lot’s of Trades
Entering the season, expectations were high as ever with newly named General Manager Pierre Dorion taking the reigns from longtime GM Bryan Murray. Upon Dorion’s promotion from AGM to GM, he immediately said he expected to make the playoffs.
From the get-go, it was clear that Dorion wanted the playoffs. His first move as General Manager was to acquire a more proven top 6 centre in Derick Brassard. With the Senators, Brassard would score 14 goals and 25 assists for 39 points in his first season. His impact would be more felt in the postseason, where he would score 4 goals and 7 assists for 11 points in 19 playoff games. He would be 4th in team points during the postseason.
The season would begin, and Craig Anderson needed to take a personal leave as his wife, Nicholle, would get diagnosed with cancer. Anderson would miss the next few months in order to support his wife through her treatment, and thankfully she would go into remission. Thankfully for the Senators, GM Pierre Dorion would decided to shore up the backup goaltending position by acquiring Mike Condon from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a fifth round pick. Condon would play tremendously with the Senators as his role was elevated to starter while Anderson was away. Condon would suit up in 26 games in a row, and play 40 altogether. In these 40 games, he would post a record of 19-14-6 while posting a .914 Save Percentage and 2.50 Goals Against Average.
In January, Dorion would decide to acquire some depth scoring as he acquired forward Tommy Wingels from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for minor pieces that would not play any importance to the Sharks up until today.
Nearing the trade deadline, he would acquire more depth. He would acquire Alexandre Burrows from the Vancouver Canucks, and Viktor Stalberg from the Carolina Hurricanes. Burrows would serve as a middle six option while Stalberg would play mainly in the bottom 6, with the aforementioned Wingels. It would be Stalberg’s final NHL season before making the move to play in Europe, where he still plays to this day. Burrows was acquired to serve as a replacement for Clarke MacArthur, as he would struggle with concussion issues before coming back in the playoffs.
Breaking Down Some Stats
2016-17 would show to be a great year in Ottawa Senators’ history, and with that, let’s look at a few stats.
Finishing 2nd in the Atlantic Division, the Ottawa Senators would go 44-28-10 for 98 points.
Their top 5 goal scorers for the season would be;
Kyle Turris -> 27
Mike Hoffman -> 26
Mark Stone -> 22
Erik Karlsson -> 17
Zack Smith -> 16
Their top 5 assist leaders would be;
Erik Karlsson -> 54
Mike Hoffman -> 35
Mark Stone -> 32
Kyle Turris -> 28
Derick Brassard -> 25
Their top 5 point-getters would be;
Erik Karlsson -> 71
Mike Hoffman -> 61
Kyle Turris -> 55
Mark Stone -> 54
Derick Brassard -> 39
Altogether, the Senators would not benefit from one single player carrying the team in the regular season, more so make their way with scoring-by-committee and a solid defensive system under new coach Guy Boucher.
Boucher was hired as head coach on May 8th, 2016 as Dorion wanted to hire his own coach, like many GMs tend to do. Boucher was previously the coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2010-2013. He is known as a defense-first coach that utilizes a trap system, famously the 1-3-1 forecheck. It’s a very boring system, but when it works it pays off tremendously, and it did for the Sens.
Onto The Playoffs
As the Senators clinched the playoffs, and finished second in the division, it’s time to look at their deep playoff run, let’s start with the first round.
In the first round, the Ottawa Senators were matched up against the Boston Bruins, who finished the season in Third Place in the Atlantic Division, going 44-31-7 for 95 points. While the Senators were higher in regular-season standings, they were the underdog entering this series. Fun fact, it was their first series against one another since the 1927 Playoffs, in the Finals. The Senators would vanquish the Bruins in 6 games, where they would face off against the New York Rangers. I will summarize the round with this one clip:
One year ago on April 17, Erik Karlsson makes an incredible saucer pass to Mike Hoffman who then completes the play with one heck of a deke. #Senspic.twitter.com/myczILIjce
In the Second Round, the Sens would go against Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers. The Rangers would occupy one of two wildcard spots as they went 48-28-6 for 102 points. While the Senators would finish with a divisional spot and the Rangers with a wildcard spot, the Rangers were the clearcut favorites as Lundqvist made it his mission to push for a Stanley Cup. Ultimately, the Sens would eliminate the Rangers in 5 games.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Ottawa Senators would face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins, to which they would meet their demise. The Penguins were the defending Stanley Cup Champions, and were eagar to repeat and become the first team to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions since the Detroit Red Wings since 1997 and 1998. The Penguins had gone 50-21-11 for 111 points that season and would prove to be too much for the Senators. The series went to game 7 and would take until double OT for the inevitable series-clinching goal.
On this day in 2017 Chris Kunitz score the goal in game 7 of the Eastern conference finals to destroyed the sens franchise. pic.twitter.com/M3tUvxfnJ9
While I wish I could have concluded this historical revisit article with celebrating a Stanley Cup Win, the Senators, unfortunately, could not get the job done, but overall had an amazing season. Pierre Dorion would be a finalist for the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, but ultimately would not win.
