goaltender, was the first in 2001 with the Colorado Avalanche. On 1 July 2006, as a free agent, Gerber signed a contract with the Ottawa Senators. However, he struggled throughout the season and was replaced as starting goaltender by Ray Emery. That season, Emery led the Senators to their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, where they would lose to Gerber's former team, the Anaheim Ducks. It was Gerber's third appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals in five years. Gerber began the 2007–08 season as the Senators' starter when Emery was sidelined after off-season wrist surgery. His play was inconsistent and Emery resumed the starting job once he was healthy again. However, after the team suffered a rapid decline in the standings and head coach John Paddock was fired and replaced by general manager Bryan Murray, Murray declared Gerber as the starting goaltender for the remainder of the season. Gerber entered the 2008–09 season in that role, but his uneven play continued and he was eventually supplanted by the newly signed Alex Auld. On 22 January 2009, Gerber was placed on waivers after having been sent down to the Senators' then-American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Binghamton Senators. On 4 March 2009, Gerber was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs to replace goaltender Vesa Toskala, who was scheduled for season-ending surgery. During a game on 24 March against the Washington Capitals, Gerber was assessed a game-misconduct and immediately suspended for three games for an incident with the on-ice officials, during which Gerber was arguing a call and proceeded to make contact with referee Mike Leggo and a linesman who was attempting to restrain him. During the off-season, Gerber signed a contract with Atlant Moscow Oblast of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), coincidentally the same team that fellow former Senators goaltender Ray Emery played for the previous season before returning to the NHL in 2009. On 13 December 2009, while playing for Atlant, Gerber suffered an apparent fracture of the fourth vertebrae when an opposing forward slid into him. Gerber's neck injury was initially thought to be a compression fracture of a cervical vertebra and it was believed that he would miss upwards of six months. However, after more comprehensive testing the following day, no fractures were found and it was diagnosed as a spinal contusion; he would only be sidelined for a few weeks. On 6 August