Thanks For Playing: Ottawa Senators

Each spring 16 NHL teams play for Lord Stanley's Cup. At the end one team is left holding the cup while the other 15 teams can only think of what might have been. 

This is about one of the 15 teams who wasn't so lucky. 

How They Finished: 

41-31-10   92 points  2nd in Northeast Division, 8th in Eastern Conference.

What Went Wrong: 

The New York Rangers were a better team.

That's not to dismiss what Ottawa accomplished during the season. This was a team that many picked to be the worst team in the Eastern Conference.

Instead the Senators overcame a 1-5 start to the season and manage to be the team that challenged Boston all season in the Northeast.

In the series against New York they were able to win twice in overtime to even the series at 2-2. The next game Craig Anderson was able to shut out the Rangers 2-0, giving Ottawa a 3-2 lead in the series.

However for as good as Anderson was in game five, he wasn't better than Henrik Lundqvist was in games six and seven. Anderson gave up a couple power play goals in game six that gave New York a lead they would not relinquish.

In game seven the Rangers scored first on a slap shot by Marc Staal. Dan Girardi scored nearly five minutes later to give New York a 2-0 lead.

Daniel Alfredsson would add a goal in the 2nd period to cut the deficit to 2-1 but it wouldn't be enough as the Rangers would win 2-1 and end the season for Ottawa. 

Where Do They Go From Here: 

While the Senators definitely overachieved this year the question has to be asked, was this for real or just an aberration? It's a fair question as the year before Ottawa was one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference.

And to answer that the question the first thing we need know is what the status is of Senators forward Daniel Alfredsson going into next year.

Alfredsson will turn 40 years old next December and he is signed through the end of next season. My guess is he will return for another season in Canada's capital but he does decide to retire then Ottawa has to figure how they are going to replace his scoring ability as Alfredsson has reached the 20 goal mark in 13 of his 16 NHL seasons.

The good news is Ottawa has over $27 million in projected cap space going into next season. Now that doesn't mean the Senators will be front and center to sign Zach Parise or Ryan Suter but they have the flexibility to be active in the free agent market if they choose to.

I don't see Ottawa being very active in the free agent market as they has a good nucleus of young talent in their minor league system. I'm guessing a couple of those kids will get a chance in training camp to show what they can do.

Another reason why I don't think Ottawa will be busy in free agency is that Defenseman Erik Karlsson is a restricted free agent.

Karlsson had a career year scoring 19 goals. He finished with 78 points on the season. That's 25 points more than the next closest defenseman. With 27 million in cap space available the first priority for the Senators is to get him signed to a long term deal.

The future looks good for Ottawa. It's hard for them to lose in seven games to the New York Rangers but I would consider this a learning experience for the Senators.

They will take this lesson and be a better team going forward because of it.