Those were some dark, dark times.
1998- 5-seed, lost in 5 to Washington. The infamous Tim Taylor toe in the crease disallowed OT goal was game 3.
1999- 6 seed, beat Carolina in the first round! Lost in 6 to Buffalo. Fucking Hasek.
2000- DNQ, finished 12th in the East
2001- DNQ, traded Ray, tied for 8th with Carolina, lost tiebreaker (wins)
2002- 1 seed in the East! Lost in 6 to Montreal
2003- 7 seed in the East, blown off the ice by the Devils in 5. O’Connell fired Ftorek right before the playoffs and took over himself.
2004- We’re back! 2-seed in the East! Loaded up at the deadline with Gonchar and Nylander. Up 3-1 on Montreal in the first round! This is it!
Nope.
2005- Lockout. I’m not sure how I stuck with the team and sport given the futility of the team and having the taste of blowing that 3-1 lead to Montreal linger through a completely lost season.
2006- Hockey is back! Woo! We suck. It’s all Thornton’s fault.
2007- Cleaned house. Phew. Hello, Chara and Savard. Oh, Dave Lewis.
Not sure why I went down that rabbit hole of memories but hey, what else is there to do?
Say what you want about Chiarelli but man, he took over an organization with a huge stench over it and turned them into a contender in 3 seasons. God bless Julien, Chara, Savard, Ference, Thornton, Aaron Ward, Tim Thomas, Bergeron, Looch and other players/staff who really changed the culture around here.