(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

The Stanley Cup Finals begin tonight and life could not be better for former Coyotes players Mike Comrie and Oleg Sapyrkin. Both were traded to the Ottawa Senators and they face the Anaheim Ducks tonight for game one.

They were moved due to the salary cap as Comrie would be an unrestricted free agent and Saprykin would have gone to arbitration following this season. It was clear that through the trade to the Senators both players were given a healthy shot at competing for hockey's most valuable prize.

Comrie realized his good fortune early on as he made it clear that he was going to make the best of his new opportunity in Ottawa. He has delivered by contributing solid minutes for the Senators. During the close of the regular season, he scored 13 goals on 12 assists, and in the playoffs he has three goals and two assists with a plus 2 rating.

Oleg Saprykin was surprised at the trade but happy that he would be able to compete for the Cup this year. After playing solid minutes as part of the OMG line with Mike Zigomanis and Georges Laraque for the Coyotes, he has been relegated to a utility player with the Senators. In fact, he was scratched for game five of the Eastern Conference finals even though he had a game winning goal in game one of that series.

The opportunity for these former Coyotes comes very rarely and I would imagine that it never crossed their minds that six months ago they would be where they are now. They face a tough Anaheim Ducks team that has been extremely focused and physical all year. It will be another intense test for the Senators, but they may have learned some valuable lessons from their series against the Sabres.

Ottawa and most likely Canada are ready for the excitement of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Original post by PB and software by Elliott Back

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