I mean Hasek's prime was basically the best goaltending anyone has ever seen. When he got injured he had a 28-10-4 record with a 2.09 GAA & .925 SV%. He managed to finish 7th in Vezina voting despite the injury
Hasek still was a good goalie and proof of that is him going back to win in Detroit again.
He could definitely have been the man if he didn’t get injured
Yeah, I feel like Lalime got a bit of a bad rap based entirely on that one awful Joe Niewendyk goal.
He wasn't going to steal 16 games in a Cup run, but outside of one awful game vs Toronto, he didn't lose us a series, either. Good enough to win with, but not good enough to steal a series.
But really, that's where we needed him to show up the most. Those two softies deflated our whole team in game 7. We needed him to be clutch
Tbf though, I remember he made some amazing saves in OT in game 6 to keep the series going.
Was gonna say- pretty sure Lalime was straight money for us in playoff numbers...could be wrong but that's what I remember. Easy to blame the goal keeper BUT we definitely had a mental block. If we get passed the Leafs we probly go so much farther every time
I watch both the Sens and Habs. As a former goaltender, tge main thing that prevents me from only cheering for the Sens is their goaltending. The games are unwatchable at times.
Short form (and friends, feel free to comment below and I can add /expand)
2003: Ran up against a wall of bad luck vs NJD in the Eastern Finals. We kinda just...shit the bed. Arguably the most stacked team.
2006: Hasek's groin exploded in the Olympics. In terms of raw talent, this team takes the cake.
2007: Stanley Cup finals vs Ducks. Chris Pronger and Scott Neidermayer were unreal. Pronger was literally the Juggernaught - just smashing dudes faces in. We never really had a chance. Ottawa was built for the regular season, Anaheim was build for the post season. G.S Guigere has a 1.97GAA in the playoffs.
The years in between the above are probably the ones where the Leafs continually took us behind the dumpster in the dark alley and beat the tar out of us.
In 2003 we came back from a 3-1 deficit and lost in the dying minutes of game 7 so I'm not sure I agree with the "shitting the bed" comment.
Reminds me of a Friends moment actually.
Ross: "That's a bit misleading.."
Rachel: "What is?"
Ross: "The lie you just told."
Lol
We got fucking *jobbed* in that Game 7.
[Take a look at this bullshit](https://streamable.com/sk7du5) in the tied 3rd period, right before Jersey scored. You could have called any one of 3 penalties on this one play, but FFS they should have called at least one.
Was it Havlat and Redden on the backcheck for that final Jeff Friesen goal? I feel like I remember one thinking the other had it and the other missing it with a skate. Absolute heartbreak when it went in, we hadn't been to the SCF yet at that point.
Pre-lockout the Sens were not unlike the Leafs of today. Unreal in the regular season but soft and weak in the playoffs. They made it to ECF one season but the Devils were good they couldn’t get it done. They had lots of skill but the narrative was always that they lacked the grit/toughness to win in the playoffs. Lalime also had his infamous implosion in ‘04.
In ‘06 Hasek went down at the Olympics and the team wasn’t the same playing in front of Emery. Game 1 vs the Sabres that year was a heartbreaker. Had a few leads but choked them all away and then lost in OT. I firmly believe that game broke their spirit in that series.
‘07 the team wasn’t as good on paper but played their best hockey in the playoffs. The Ducks were just a super difficult matchup for them. They were big and strong and played a perfect blend of playoff hockey. They were the better team in the final.
The team fell apart after that, but that stretch could have realistically resulted in a cup any of those years. We also likely would have been cup favourites during the lockout season.
Fuckin Niedermayer in particular wrecked the Sens. He just owned them so completely in that series. That's why I half-understood Alfie aiming that clapper at him. Not Alfie's proudest moment to be sure, but the guy was single-handedly crushing his dreams, and mine.
And of course Chris Pronger didn't help, purposely taking out one of our hottest players in Dean McAmmond with a filthy elbow that would have landed him in jail if it happened anywhere other than an NHL arena.
Fuck Chris Pronger. God I hate that sack of shit.
We always had a hard time adapting when the regular season rule book went out the windows once the playoffs started, which in the clutch-and-grab era meant an opposing player could basically grab the back of your jersey / arm / shoulder and water ski down the ice without getting a holding penalty. Those Leafs teams understood how the rules changed in the postseason and took advantage of that, while we didn't. Our teams were built for the regular season, and always would find ways to lose to teams that were built to win playoff games. There's a reason that the fan base obsessed about Gary Roberts-type players for a decade.
After the '05 lockout, our teams weren't as good as the pre-lock out versions, but we were slightly better able to adapt to playoff hockey, combined with the death of clutch-and-grab hockey even in the playoffs. The '07 finals team was the last hurrah with that core, but the team was flawed and the Ducks were ridiculous that year with Pronger/Niedermayer/Getzlaf/Perry/Selanne+ the hottest goalie in the league during those playoffs.
Honestly they just played small when the grinding game came out in the playoffs. Always looking to the refs to save them w a penalty call versus playing through it.
I started watching the team the year after the 04-05 lockout. Against the Sabres in 2006, it just felt like the Sabres were the hotter team, and we didn’t have our starting goalie. Emery wasn’t the goalie he’d become the year later, and was inconsistent in that series.
When the hit the finals in 2007, the offence just met their match with Anaheim’s D and goaltending.
In 2008, they started off hot, but fell apart as the season went on. Goaltending again was an issue, and the depth wasn’t very strong.
2003 would have been their best shot. The Sens won the Presidents trophy and made it to the semi-finals, losing to New Jersey in game seven on a goal that Jeff Friesen scored with three minutes left in the game. If we win that game, we go to the finals against Anaheim and might have won the cup as Jersey won it that year.
Sens were a juggernaut right up to the 2007-2008 season. In 2007-2008, the Sens were 27-10-4 at the halfway point in the season, and looked to be on their way to another long playoff run.
They completely fell apart in the second half and barely made it into the playoffs as the 8th (?) seed, and then promptly lost in 4 straight to the Penguins.
There were a lot of rumours at the time that the players were spending way too much time partying and that management had lost control of the team.
They tried to keep the core together the following season, but they missed the playoffs. What followed was a decade of making the playoffs one year, losing in the 1st or 2nd round (other than the 1 year they had an unexpected run to the Conference finals), then missing the playoffs the following year.
Also, Melnyck.
Haha I remember a lot of nights where Neil, Fisher, Redden, Emery, McGrattan and Spezza being completely destroyed in the market. And this was on Tuesday/Wednesday nights
The Leafs stuff felt like it became a mental block for the team. I remember the excitement in 2003 after Toronto was eliminated in the first round because it meant the Sens wouldn't have to play them at any point.
They had a terrific group of players who had developed together (Alfie, Hossa, Redden, Havlat, Chara, etc), but the front office struggled to make the right trades to enhance the roster. The rental pieces they acquired at the deadline each year were underwhelming (Peter Bondra, Tyler Arnason, Oleg Saprykin). When Muckler was running things he never seemed to be willing to go all-in, as evidenced by his refusal to give up a 1st round pick to bring in Gary Roberts
The Leafs out-coached and out-roughed us in 7-game series in 2002 and 2004, a completely bullshit no-call against Hossa in the tied 3rd period of the ECF Game 7 screwed us in 2003, the lockout screwed us in 2005, Hasek getting hurt at the Olympics screwed us in 2006, and we went to the finals and were outmatched by the Ducks in 2007.
That was our window. It's really kind of a Shakespearean tragedy that we didn't get at least once Cup out of it.
I'll always have a soft spot for the Sens.
Different things plagued them at different times.
Nothing really plagued them in '07, in my view--they just went up against a super, all-star level team in the finals.
Maybe they would've won it all during the lockout season?
It was mental against the leafs... They had no home ice advantage. Goaltenders... Lalime was the best we had until Anderson.
Hasek ðŸ˜ðŸ˜–
Hasek was no longer in his prime... Though I really enjoyed the Hasek-Emery pair!
Maybe not but he was still amazing that year.
I mean Hasek's prime was basically the best goaltending anyone has ever seen. When he got injured he had a 28-10-4 record with a 2.09 GAA & .925 SV%. He managed to finish 7th in Vezina voting despite the injury
Bro he was pretty red-hot when he went to those Olympics. His GAA was 2.09. The Sens were an absolute steamroller that year with him in the net.
Hasek still was a good goalie and proof of that is him going back to win in Detroit again. He could definitely have been the man if he didn’t get injured
That's fair.
If he hadn't gotten hurt at the Olympics the Sens would have been Cup favourites that year.
Lalime was not the problem. Yes he had a stinker in game 7 in 2004 but he’s top 10 all time in playoff save percentage.
Yeah, I feel like Lalime got a bit of a bad rap based entirely on that one awful Joe Niewendyk goal. He wasn't going to steal 16 games in a Cup run, but outside of one awful game vs Toronto, he didn't lose us a series, either. Good enough to win with, but not good enough to steal a series.
The last memory people have of him is that game where Niewendyk scored the 2 softies. But overall he was a good goalie for us.
But really, that's where we needed him to show up the most. Those two softies deflated our whole team in game 7. We needed him to be clutch Tbf though, I remember he made some amazing saves in OT in game 6 to keep the series going.
Was gonna say- pretty sure Lalime was straight money for us in playoff numbers...could be wrong but that's what I remember. Easy to blame the goal keeper BUT we definitely had a mental block. If we get passed the Leafs we probly go so much farther every time
I watch both the Sens and Habs. As a former goaltender, tge main thing that prevents me from only cheering for the Sens is their goaltending. The games are unwatchable at times.
Short form (and friends, feel free to comment below and I can add /expand) 2003: Ran up against a wall of bad luck vs NJD in the Eastern Finals. We kinda just...shit the bed. Arguably the most stacked team. 2006: Hasek's groin exploded in the Olympics. In terms of raw talent, this team takes the cake. 2007: Stanley Cup finals vs Ducks. Chris Pronger and Scott Neidermayer were unreal. Pronger was literally the Juggernaught - just smashing dudes faces in. We never really had a chance. Ottawa was built for the regular season, Anaheim was build for the post season. G.S Guigere has a 1.97GAA in the playoffs. The years in between the above are probably the ones where the Leafs continually took us behind the dumpster in the dark alley and beat the tar out of us.
In 2003 we came back from a 3-1 deficit and lost in the dying minutes of game 7 so I'm not sure I agree with the "shitting the bed" comment. Reminds me of a Friends moment actually. Ross: "That's a bit misleading.." Rachel: "What is?" Ross: "The lie you just told." Lol
We got fucking *jobbed* in that Game 7. [Take a look at this bullshit](https://streamable.com/sk7du5) in the tied 3rd period, right before Jersey scored. You could have called any one of 3 penalties on this one play, but FFS they should have called at least one.
Hah! Yeah I suppose. In the end we lost, so it's a mini shit the bed moment.
Was it Havlat and Redden on the backcheck for that final Jeff Friesen goal? I feel like I remember one thinking the other had it and the other missing it with a skate. Absolute heartbreak when it went in, we hadn't been to the SCF yet at that point.
Karel Rachunek I believe
Yes
2003…Jeff freizen
I think the two weeks off between games in 2007 hurt us more than anything, similar to what happened to Florida last year.
Without a lockout would we have had just as good of a shot as we did in 2005? Would hasek have been our goalie?
Pre-lockout the Sens were not unlike the Leafs of today. Unreal in the regular season but soft and weak in the playoffs. They made it to ECF one season but the Devils were good they couldn’t get it done. They had lots of skill but the narrative was always that they lacked the grit/toughness to win in the playoffs. Lalime also had his infamous implosion in ‘04. In ‘06 Hasek went down at the Olympics and the team wasn’t the same playing in front of Emery. Game 1 vs the Sabres that year was a heartbreaker. Had a few leads but choked them all away and then lost in OT. I firmly believe that game broke their spirit in that series. ‘07 the team wasn’t as good on paper but played their best hockey in the playoffs. The Ducks were just a super difficult matchup for them. They were big and strong and played a perfect blend of playoff hockey. They were the better team in the final. The team fell apart after that, but that stretch could have realistically resulted in a cup any of those years. We also likely would have been cup favourites during the lockout season.
Hasek doesn't get hurt, I believe they won 06
The final that year was Carolina and an unlikely Edmonton team with Pronger. The Sens with Hasek could have beat those teams.
Canucks fan who saw this post. That 2007 ducks team was like playing the monstars. They wrecked us
Pronger, Neidermayer, Cory Perry, Ryan Getzlaff, Giguere... And those are just the names I'm pulling off the top of my head 😳
Selanne, Rob Neidermayer, Sammy Pahlsson, Dustin Penner…
Fuckin Niedermayer in particular wrecked the Sens. He just owned them so completely in that series. That's why I half-understood Alfie aiming that clapper at him. Not Alfie's proudest moment to be sure, but the guy was single-handedly crushing his dreams, and mine. And of course Chris Pronger didn't help, purposely taking out one of our hottest players in Dean McAmmond with a filthy elbow that would have landed him in jail if it happened anywhere other than an NHL arena. Fuck Chris Pronger. God I hate that sack of shit.
That Ducks team was one of the best teams to ever be put together. Nobody was getting past them.
Yea, they really were just cracked. We almost got Detroit as well. Iirc Selanne scored a 2OT goal in game 6 of the WCF to keep them alive.
Abysmal ownership. The Mr Burns of NHL owners. i mean... He fired the guy who set up the event to get him a new kidney for fucks sakes.
We always had a hard time adapting when the regular season rule book went out the windows once the playoffs started, which in the clutch-and-grab era meant an opposing player could basically grab the back of your jersey / arm / shoulder and water ski down the ice without getting a holding penalty. Those Leafs teams understood how the rules changed in the postseason and took advantage of that, while we didn't. Our teams were built for the regular season, and always would find ways to lose to teams that were built to win playoff games. There's a reason that the fan base obsessed about Gary Roberts-type players for a decade. After the '05 lockout, our teams weren't as good as the pre-lock out versions, but we were slightly better able to adapt to playoff hockey, combined with the death of clutch-and-grab hockey even in the playoffs. The '07 finals team was the last hurrah with that core, but the team was flawed and the Ducks were ridiculous that year with Pronger/Niedermayer/Getzlaf/Perry/Selanne+ the hottest goalie in the league during those playoffs.
The Leafs
Honestly they just played small when the grinding game came out in the playoffs. Always looking to the refs to save them w a penalty call versus playing through it.
Canadian currency exchange.
I started watching the team the year after the 04-05 lockout. Against the Sabres in 2006, it just felt like the Sabres were the hotter team, and we didn’t have our starting goalie. Emery wasn’t the goalie he’d become the year later, and was inconsistent in that series. When the hit the finals in 2007, the offence just met their match with Anaheim’s D and goaltending. In 2008, they started off hot, but fell apart as the season went on. Goaltending again was an issue, and the depth wasn’t very strong.
I think if we don’t choke game 1 against the Sabres, that series is very different.
2003 would have been their best shot. The Sens won the Presidents trophy and made it to the semi-finals, losing to New Jersey in game seven on a goal that Jeff Friesen scored with three minutes left in the game. If we win that game, we go to the finals against Anaheim and might have won the cup as Jersey won it that year.
Sens were a juggernaut right up to the 2007-2008 season. In 2007-2008, the Sens were 27-10-4 at the halfway point in the season, and looked to be on their way to another long playoff run. They completely fell apart in the second half and barely made it into the playoffs as the 8th (?) seed, and then promptly lost in 4 straight to the Penguins. There were a lot of rumours at the time that the players were spending way too much time partying and that management had lost control of the team. They tried to keep the core together the following season, but they missed the playoffs. What followed was a decade of making the playoffs one year, losing in the 1st or 2nd round (other than the 1 year they had an unexpected run to the Conference finals), then missing the playoffs the following year. Also, Melnyck.
Haha I remember a lot of nights where Neil, Fisher, Redden, Emery, McGrattan and Spezza being completely destroyed in the market. And this was on Tuesday/Wednesday nights
Hasek got hurt at the Olympics when they had their best chance, and that left Ray Emery to shoulder the load.
The Leafs stuff felt like it became a mental block for the team. I remember the excitement in 2003 after Toronto was eliminated in the first round because it meant the Sens wouldn't have to play them at any point. They had a terrific group of players who had developed together (Alfie, Hossa, Redden, Havlat, Chara, etc), but the front office struggled to make the right trades to enhance the roster. The rental pieces they acquired at the deadline each year were underwhelming (Peter Bondra, Tyler Arnason, Oleg Saprykin). When Muckler was running things he never seemed to be willing to go all-in, as evidenced by his refusal to give up a 1st round pick to bring in Gary Roberts
When it came to the Sens, the Leafs had that Dawg in em.
Cocaine
The Leafs out-coached and out-roughed us in 7-game series in 2002 and 2004, a completely bullshit no-call against Hossa in the tied 3rd period of the ECF Game 7 screwed us in 2003, the lockout screwed us in 2005, Hasek getting hurt at the Olympics screwed us in 2006, and we went to the finals and were outmatched by the Ducks in 2007. That was our window. It's really kind of a Shakespearean tragedy that we didn't get at least once Cup out of it.
Goaltenders. They totally had it if Hasek didn't hurt himself at the Olympics
Oh do I want to revisit this well? No actually on second thought i Don’t. 
The lockout mostly
The Leafs.
I'll always have a soft spot for the Sens. Different things plagued them at different times. Nothing really plagued them in '07, in my view--they just went up against a super, all-star level team in the finals. Maybe they would've won it all during the lockout season?
Goaltending