I really hope Daniel “Probably Not” Alfredsson wins the Mark Messier Leadership award so we can all laugh at that dumb award.
— Bower Power (@So_Truculent) May 23, 2013
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a solid hockey team. They became even more solid when they stopped playing the sieve known as Marc-Andre Fleury after an abysmal first round against the New York Islanders.
The Ottawa Senators are a resilient bunch. Despite losing their best player, their second best player, and their third best player for much of the year the ‘Pesky’ Sens trudged into the playoffs.
This was especially meaningful for one Daniel Alfredsson, the Senators’ longtime captain. ‘Alfie’ has played his entire career in Ottawa and these could be his final games in the NHL. He is the most beloved Senator in the franchise’s history and the all-time leader in just about every category. At the 11:11 mark of every period, Senators fans chant his name.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the Senator captain tried to stir the pot a little bit after his team got blown out of their own building by the Penguins.
‘Alfie’ is the type of player who shows up every night with the same effort. He does his job, does it well, and expects the same from his teammates. He didn’t feel the Senators were very good in a 7-3 loss. He said that, the mercurial hockey media took it out of context and began one of their infamous witch hunts.
Here is what Alfredsson said, according to ProHockeyTalk:
When asked if the Senators would be able to overcome their 3-1 series deficit he said, “Probably not,” according to NHL.com correspondent Erin Nicks.
“They have too much depth,” Alfredsson admitted. Although he did add, “We don’t have much going for us right now. Maybe that’s the way we like it.”
The hockey world was expecting Alfredsson to give us the cliched “Yes, of course if we take it one game and one shift at a time.” Instead, we got a 40 year old lifer sounding off after his team just got creamed in what may be his last game at home.
A 3-1 deficit against a team with the two best players in the world is not an easy task. Alfredsson called out his team, acting on his duties as captain. If this was a 22-year-old rookie telling it like it is to the media it would be one thing, but Alfredsson has earned the right to say as he pleases and to get the most out of his teammates any way he can.
