Kara Yorio

The calls to Ottawa sports radio shows demanding the head and "C" of Daniel Alfredsson have stopped. Alfredsson, who had been a favorite whipping boy of fans and the media, now is a hockey hero, a captain in every sense of the word. For the moment, at least, because Alfredsson has led the Senators into the Stanley Cup finals.

Team 1200 sports radio host and former NHL player Garry Galley says he doesn't expect Sens fans to turn on Alfredsson again, even if the Senators don't bring the Cup to Canada's capital. Alfredsson, he says, has shown he is not only able to produce when it matters but also is willing to do the little things. If Alfredsson plays well the rest of the way and the Senators lose, fans will understand he wasn't the reason. He is finally the player Ottawa has been waiting for.

"It's a maturation process," says Galley, who played 17 seasons in the league and went to the 1990 Stanley Cup finals with the Bruins. "Alfredsson worried about scoring. He gets it now, that it's more than that. You see him doing it. He's hitting guys. You see him smokin' guys."

Alfredsson, who scored the series-winning goal in overtime against Buffalo, has been helped by other factors, such as his supporting cast. He is playing with Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley, both of whom are at the top their games. The prolific forward line is backchecking and hitting and doing the little things. This team has quality role players and a goaltender who is stepping up his game in the playoffs.

There's a little bit of luck involved, too. Spezza says Alfredsson always has maintained a consistent level of performance but that this time around the pucks are going in for him. The bottom line, though, is Alfredsson has lifted his play and finally is getting the credit he deserves. By putting less pressure on himself to score and concentrating on his all-around game, Alfredsson is finding the net. He has a team-leading eight goals so far this postseason.

Galley, who also works some Senators television broadcasts, says Alfredsson doesn't want to feel like he has in the past when the team failed to live up to expectations. He doesn't want to feel like he did last year when the Sabres' Jason Pominville got past him at the point of the power play and scored the shorthanded goal that knocked the Senators out of the playoffs.

It was suggested that in the past Alfredsson was trying to do everything for everyone on the ice instead of taking care of himself.

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"I think that happens to good players," Senators coach Bryan Murray says. "That's why he's a great captain. He wants to be a responsible player, and he took a little, maybe too much of a burden at times. But I think this year he's found a way just to be part of the group, to show them how to do it, to work hard."

After last season, disappointed fans and writers looking for a scapegoat to blame for another playoff failure, once again, targeted Alfredsson. Fans wanted a new captain, a more outspoken captain. Let's face it, Ottawa fans wanted a North American captain, preferably a Canadian. No European captain has led his team to the Stanley Cup, and no European captain gets the benefit of the doubt in this league.

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It might take a European captain's winning the Cup before the generalizations and unwarranted criticisms stop. This season, Alfredsson and a fellow Swede, the Red Wings' Nicklas Lidstrom, are doing their best to make that happen.

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But fans also could use a little reality check. Even those legendary Canadian captains had to learn what it takes to win. Alfredsson has learned, and he is showing it. Leadership isn't just about getting in the face of a teammate in the locker room or making guarantees in the newspapers. Great leaders lead by example. They have the respect of their teammates; nobody wants to let them down by not matching their work ethic or selflessness on the ice. They make their teammates better.

That's what Alfredsson is doing this season. If the Senators don't win it all, the callers in Ottawa better find a new target.