In 2007, the Ottawa Senators had their season end with a heartbreaking loss in five games against the Anaheim Ducks in the Stanley Cup Finals. Since then, the Senators haven't been back to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Despite the year ending in heartbreak, the memories from 2007 still remain in 2025. Last season, the famous Pizza Line of Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and captain Alfredsson reuinted for a December 2024 game.
If the Senators were to have rallied down 3-1 in the series to win the Stanley Cup, the team would've been etched forevein NHL history. It also makes the question of who would've won the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Who would've won the Conn Smythe Trophy if Senators were to have won 2007 Stanley Cup?
Conn Smythe winners can be hard to pick with picking one singular player. The trophy is awarded to the best player during the whole playoff run. If the Senators were to have won it, this selection may be a shocker to some for the Conn Smythe winner.
That would have been goaltender Ray Emery.
Some may think the trophy would've been awarded to Alfredsson, Heatley or Spezza. All three players recorded 22 points in the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Of the three players, Alfredsson may have had the best chance to win it with him leading the 2007 playoffs with 14 goals and his 22 points being tied for the most in the playoffs along with his line-mates. However, having Heatley and Spezza on the same line can help many players score 14 playoff goals.
Emery may have been the best performer in the 2007 playoffs to win the Conn Smythe Trophy due to the matchups he faced throughout the whole playoff year.
In the first round of the 2007 playoffs, Emery outdueled future Hall of Fame goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and the Pittsburgh Penguins in five games. Emery went up against a young and rising Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in the series.
In the second round of the 2007 playoffs, Emery outdueled arguably the greatest goaltender of all-time, Martin Brodeur. Only one goaltender in NHL history outdueled the legendary Brodeur in the year he broke the NHL wins record for a single season. That would be Emery in 2007.
Emery and the Senators knocked out the second seeded Devils in five games to close out the old Devils barn, Continental Airlines Arena. Emery also faced a talented Devils offense led by Patrik Elias, Scott Gomez, Zach Parise, Brian Gionta, Jamie Langenbrunner and Brian Rafalski.
In the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals, Emery matched up against Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres. Miller was one of the best goaltenders in the NHL in 2007, and is one of the best American goaltenders in NHL history. The Sabres were also the 2007 President's Trophy winner.
Even with facing the best team in the NHL in the Conference Finals, Emery wasn't fazed and helped the Senators eliminate the Sabres in five games. One thing that may have an edge against Emery is that Alfredsson scored the overtime goal in Game 5 to clinch the Eastern Conference for the Senators. However, Emery was still outdueled Miller in the series.
In the Stanley Cup Finals, Emery wasn't able to outduel Jean-Sebastien Giguere of the Ducks, but matching up against a former Conn Smythe Trophy winner and a talented Ducks offense can be a challenge for any goaltender in a final series.
2007 memories are still talked about and remembered almost two decades later. It can be fun for Sens fans to take a look back in history on who a potential 2007 Conn Smythe Trophy winner would've been for the Senators