Following a trip to the 2007 Stanley Cup Final and then getting off to a 15-2 start last season, the Ottawa Senators began to free-fall, and most of the blame was thrown at starting goaltender Ray Emery. Today, neither his team nor the rest of the NHL wanted to give him a real chance.
After having offseason wrist surgery, Emery was slow to recover to full form, and it’s debatable if he ever did. Following a series of regrettable events, like being late to practice, a fight with team heavyweight Brian McGrattan and the perceived assumption that he didn’t want to be there, the goaltender ultimately shared duties between the pipes with Martin Gerber. Emery ended the season with a 12-13-4 record and a modest save percentage of .890. His opponents claimed he was the main reason the Senators fell apart.
But even if that’s completely true, it’s pathetic. These are grown men that are paid millions of dollars for this job. How can they be distracted by one guy who would rather be partying than on the ice sometimes?
Yeah, he should have been more mature given the high investment that the Senators had in him. But what can you do? Think about it, readers, is there someone at your work that doesn’t always want to be there and needs a slap in the face? Of course there is! So why has this been such a big deal?
After that unfortunate year, Emery signed a $2 million deal (U.S. dollars) with Russian club Atlant Mytishci of the new Continental Hockey League—largely because there were no serious proposals from an NHL team. Just one year after starting in the Stanley Cup Final, the league’s 30 teams weren’t willing to give him a backup job and let him climb back into the form he is capable of reaching.
Basically, their reasoning is they're scared of the controversy he brings. Big deal. The NHL barely knows what controversy is. The league has nothing close to an Oakland Raiders. They had an occasionally tardy Ray Emery; in comparison, that’s laughable.
Emery’s agent, J.P. Barry, said he was contacted by NHL clubs only three times about the goalie’s services. They couldn’t have been significant offers. Just a year after a trip to the Final! Pathetic.
Ray Emery is not a bad guy. But it appears like that because he was forced onto the other side of the Atlantic. Yes, he is paid more handsomely than most, but he was no worse an employee than what most of us see in our workplaces.
12 comments Last one added 12 months ago — Leave a Comment
Alan Bass 12 months ago
he was a bit of a distraction, but the media and team made it sound so much worse than it was. it was very easy to shrug it off and keep playing hockey, but the sens decided to make it a big deal
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Ian Froese 12 months ago
True, the Senators could have helped themselves if they would have just shut up.
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Mary Mimi 12 months ago
well it sounded like as if all the mistakes the sens made is blamed on razor...
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Scott Quinn 12 months ago
I couldn't believe that there was a NHL team willing to go after Raycroft but not Emery.
He's gonna put up good numbers in Russia, and he'll be back in the NHL next summer.
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Mary Mimi 12 months ago
i agree, that's why he's heading to russia, and i believe he's a great goaltender and he can bring a team to the top of the league again
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Chris Bouthillier 12 months ago
Hey, I follow the Sens a lot (since they've been my favorite team for pretty much all my life) and I'll be the first to say that he isn't to blame for all the Sens problems.
That team was a tight bunch, and when half the team is on Ray's side and the other half on the coach's side, it's hard to get everybody on the same page. I think Murray buying him out was a good move in the first place because he's going to what "started" the problems for the Sens. If he wouldn't have pulled his antics none of this would have began. Ottawa's too good of a team to have locker-room issues take them out of playoff contention.
It's sad because Emery's the best goalie that ever played for that franchise, the first goalie who was drafted and developed by the Sens system right until he ended up in Ottawa. He will be back to the NHL in a year, after he shuts up his critics overseas.
Nice read!
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S M Napier 12 months ago
Great job, Ian. Gave you five Stars and my Pick Of The Day for the 12th. Just tired of listing to their fans, condemn him like a criminal and the whiney teammates. We lost because Ray was late to a meeting, give me a break and it effected my game scoring or assisting on goals. Then get out of the NHL, come work my job for $16+ an hour. I'll go take over your 3.5 - 7.3 million dollar contracts, show you how to play to win, skate with the Cup and all the stuff Ray did would not effect my play.
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Ian Froese 12 months ago
Great comment, power to the fans!
And thanks the pick is much appreciated.
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Jon C 12 months ago
you're a dipshit if you didn't think he was a distraction to the team. He was in the press for weeks and it was never about his play!
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Jon C 12 months ago
Don't you think that some other team in the NHL would have given this poor victim another chance? Word gets around. I guess we're just unfairly targeting him like the Ottawa Police did?
He's a pretty good goalie and should be a starter in the NHL... once he cleans up his act!
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Spencer Callaghan 12 months ago
I agree that the Ray Emery situation was blown way out of proportion.
However to use that to somehow exonerate Emery is a mistake, the kid needs to get his head screwed on straight.
He admitted last season that he had trouble getting motivated to practice, and even suggested that hockey wasn't necessarily his first priority.
There is a lot, I repeat, A LOT, that hasn't even been officially reported about Emery as the team covered it up, especially during the Cup run in 2007.
I understand that one's job doesn't necessarily have to be one's whole life, but when you're getting paid $3 mil to play hockey it isn't too much to ask that you show some motivation.
A year of Borscht, bus rides and crappy hotels in Siberia should straighten him out, the guy is a prima donna.
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Bernice Emery 12 months ago
I can't believe that one 25 year old kid can be the blame for a group of how many?..experienced, skilled, athletic, motivated men who suddenly couldn't perform well enough to make it into the finals. It's Ray's fault? So every team that screws up and gets beat out can point a finger at one player and say "it's all his fault, get rid of him and we will be next year's Stanley Cup winners!"?? One player's fault that the coach gets canned? Are you serious? Is Ray that powerful? Amazing. Or could it be because the media and fans fell in love with him and his style so much that he developed a "movie star" following so it all went to his head, and then the team felt as if they weren't special anymore. That this guy, Ray Emery, had stolen their thunder and all they were was a bunch of hockey players. I admit that this probably blew Ray's image as a great goalie, but to blame him entirely for the team screwing up? I wonder how they will make out next season. With Ray gone to Russia, I guess there is no excuse for them to not sweep the series. Should I start my Ottawa Stanley Cup party preparations now, since it's a guarantee next year? After all, Ray is gone. Let's make room on a shelf at the Correll Center for the cup. Who will they blame when it doesn't happen? Me??
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