2002–03 Ottawa Senators season

The 2002–03 Ottawa Senators season was the 11th season of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL). This season saw the Senators reach the highest point in the playoffs until the 2006–07 season. They were eliminated by the New Jersey Devils, the eventual Stanley Cup winning team in the Eastern Conference final. On top of their larger success, with their total 113 points they won the Presidents' Trophy, the Northeast Division title and the Eastern Conference title.

After their long history of debt problems, the Senators filed for bankruptcy on January 9, 2003. They continued regular season play after receiving emergency financing from the NHL. Despite the off-ice problems, they had a successful year, compared to their early day woes. The Presidents' Trophy awarded to the Senators made them the first Canadian team to win it since the Calgary Flames in their championship season of, and the first Eastern Conference team to win it since the New York Rangers' title in the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals. In the playoffs, they defeated their former teammate Alexei Yashin and his New York Islanders, then the Philadelphia Flyers before coming within one game of making it into the Finals, falling to the New Jersey Devils.

Offseason
General manager Marshall Johnston resigned and was replaced by John Muckler on July 1, 2002. Muckler had been a candidate for the positions of Ottawa head coach or GM back in 1992, but had chosen to sign on with the Buffalo Sabres instead.

Regular season
Right winger Marian Hossa led Ottawa in scoring, just eclipsing Yashin's previous record of 44 goals. Without the goaltending issues that had plagued Senators teams of the past, Patrick Lalime showed one of his best seasons, with career bests in goals against average (GAA) and wins.

After a slow start to the season after an even .500 ratio, the Senators turned around their game with a ten-game unbeaten streak. Fans were concerned whether their start was due to off-ice problems. These worries, however, were soon irrelevant to fans when the Senators again clinched a playoff berth. Before the playoffs, the Senators addressed toughness concerns through separate trades to the Buffalo Sabres for grinders Vaclav Varada and Rob Ray respectively, plus two-way forward Bryan Smolinski from the Los Angeles Kings.

Playoffs
In the first round of the playoffs, the team played the New York Islanders, facing former team captain Alexei Yashin for the first time in the playoffs. Yashin played well in the first game and the Islanders won the first game at the Corel Centre 3–0. The loss by the Senators was attributed to paying too much attention to stopping Yashin and not enough on the rest of the Islanders. The Senators adjusted their play for the next game winning it and the next three games in a row to win the series 4–1.

In the second round, the team faced the Philadelphia Flyers who had defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round. The Senators won the series on the basis of their strong defence, holding the Flyers to only ten goals in the six games, advancing to the Eastern Conference final series against the New Jersey Devils to decide the Prince of Wales Trophy.

The first two games of the series were in Ottawa and the wins were split between the Senators and Devils. In New Jersey, the Devils won both games to put the Senators at the brink of elimination. However, the Senators came back, winning the fifth game at home and the sixth game in New Jersey to force a seventh and deciding game at home.

In the seventh game, Ottawa got out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Magnus Arvedson. The Devils would score the next two on goals in the second period by Jamie Langenbrunner. Going into the third down 2-1 the Sens tied it on a goal by Radek Bonk and dominated play in the third, when with two minutes remaining, Devils' forward Jeff Friesen deked out Patrick Lalime and shot over his leg pad, into the net, to score the series-winning goal.

Regular season

 * Legend:
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Playoffs

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Scoring

 * Position abbreviations: C = Centre; D = Defence; G = Goaltender; LW = Left Wing; RW = Right Wing
 * † = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Senators only.
 * ‡ = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Senators only.

Transactions
The Senators were involved in the following transactions from June 14, 2002, the day after the deciding game of the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 9, 2003, the day of the deciding game of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals.

Draft picks
Ottawa's draft picks from the 2002 NHL Entry Draft held on June 22 and June 23, 2002 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

Farm teams

 * Binghamton Senators (American Hockey League)