The
2007–08 NHL season was the
90th season of the
National Hockey League. It began on
September 29,
2007,
with the regular season ending
April 6,
2008.
The Stanley Cup playoffs ended on
June 4, with the Detroit Red Wings taking the championship
.The 56th NHL All-Star Game
was held in Atlanta,
Georgia
as the Atlanta
Thrashers hosted the event at Philips Arena
on January 27, 2008. The hosting by Atlanta was rescheduled
from 2005, when a
lockout cancelled the entire
2004–05 season.
League business
The season featured the debut of
Reebok's new
Rbk Edge hockey
jerseys. This was the first league-wide uniform innovation in
the history of any major North American professional sports
league.Seven teams (
Boston,
Tampa Bay,
Vancouver,
Washington,
Ottawa,
San
Jose and
Columbus)
unveiled new logos prior to the season's beginning.
On
March 1, 2007, the NHL
announced the regular season would open on September 29, 2007, with
the first of back-to-back games in London
at The
O2
. They were the first NHL regular season
games ever played in
Europe. Both games
featured the defending Stanley Cup Champion
Anaheim Ducks, and the
Los Angeles Kings (who are owned by
Anschutz Entertainment
Group, the same company that owns The O
2).
The official average attendance per game was 17,625 per game.
However, if the two games played at the O2 Arena are counted, the
number is 17,309 per game.
On
September 17, 2007,
the NHL announced the first outdoor game in over four years would
be played between the Pittsburgh
Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres
at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson
Stadium
, home of the Buffalo
Bills football team, on January 1,
2008. The event—known as the AMP Energy NHL Winter
Classic—was the first time an NHL regular-season game had been
played outdoors in the United States
, and it set an NHL attendance record of 71,217
people. The only previous outdoor NHL game was the
Heritage Classic played between the
Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers at Commonwealth
Stadium
on November 22, 2003.
During
board of governors meetings held on September 18, 2007 in
Chicago
, cities including Las Vegas
, Kansas City
, Houston
, Milwaukee
, Quebec City
, Seattle
, and
Winnipeg
were discussed as possible expansion
destinations. The NHL also discussed the current
"unbalanced" schedule and voted on a new schedule format at a board
meeting in November, so that all teams will play each other at
least once and reduce intradivisional play in the
2008–09 season, in essence
returning to the scheduling structure that existed in 2003–04, and
would have existed in 2004–05. The sale of the Lightning and
Predators teams were not completed for board approval.
Rule changes
A number of minor rule changes were introduced for the start of the
2007-08 season. Penalty shots can now be awarded when a player with
the puck is hauled down from the centre line on in rather than from
the opposition's blue-line as previously was the case. Also, the
interference rule was altered to allow for a major penalty and a
game misconduct when an injury results. Another change affected
faceoff placement: All faceoffs must be conducted at one of the
nine dots painted on the rink.
Regular season
The
New Jersey Devils began playing in
their new arena, the Prudential Center
in Newark, New Jersey
. However, since the arena was not ready by
the beginning of the season, they began their season with a
nine-game road trip.
Inter-conference division play had the Northeast visit the Pacific,
the Pacific visit the Atlantic, the Atlantic visit the Northwest,
the Northwest visit the Southeast, the Southeast visit the Central,
and the Central visit the Northeast.
Mike Cammalleri of the Los Angeles Kings scored the first goal of
the season against the Anaheim Ducks on September 29 in the opening game played in
London, England
.
Richard Zednik of the
Florida Panthers was severely injured after
having his
external carotid
artery in his neck accidentally cut by the skate of teammate
Olli Jokinen in a game against the
Buffalo Sabres on
February 10. Zednik fully recovered from the
injury, but missed the remainder of the season.
The
Anaheim Ducks and
Ottawa Senators matched up for the first
time since the
2007 Stanley Cup
Finals on
March 3,
2008 at Anaheim.
The
Washington Capitals improved
from 14th place in the previous season to third place in 2007-08
and winners of the Southeast Division.
The
San Jose Sharks went the entire
month of March without a regulation loss and were the media's
favorite to win the cup going into the play-offs.
The
Detroit Red Wings won the
Presidents' Trophy for finishing
the regular season with the most points (115).
Final standings
GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL =
Overtime/Shootout Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts =
Points.
Conference standings
*-Denotes Division Leader
Divisional standings
- Eastern Conference
- Western Conference
Tiebreaking procedures
Where two or more clubs are tied in points at the end of the
regular season, the standing of the clubs is determined in the
following order:
- The greater number of games won.
- The greater number of points earned in games between the tied
clubs.
- The greater differential between goals for and against.
Statistical leaders
Scoring leaders
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– =
Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes
Leading goaltenders
GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L =
Losses; OT = Overtime/Shootout Losses; GA = Goals Against; SO =
Shutouts; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against
Average
Playoffs
Playoff seeds
After the regular season, the standard of 16 teams qualified forthe
playoffs.
Eastern Conference
- Montreal Canadiens - Northeast Division and Eastern
Conference regular season champion; 104 points
- Pittsburgh Penguins -
Atlantic Division champion,
102 points
- Washington Capitals -
Southeast Division
champion, 94 points
- New Jersey Devils - 99
points
- New York Rangers - 97
points
- Philadelphia Flyers - 95
points
- Ottawa Senators - 94 points (43
wins)
- Boston Bruins - 94 points (41
wins)
Western Conference
- Detroit Red Wings - Central Division and Western
Conference regular season champion; Presidents' Trophy winner, 115
points
- San Jose Sharks - Pacific Division champion, 108
points
- Minnesota Wild - Northwest Division champion, 98
points
- Anaheim Ducks - 102 points
- Dallas Stars - 97 points
- Colorado Avalanche - 95
points
- Calgary Flames - 94 points
- Nashville Predators - 91
points
Playoff bracket
In each round, the highest remaining seed in each conference is
matched against the lowest remaining seed. The higher-seeded team
is awarded home ice advantage. In the Stanley Cup Finals, home ice
is determined based on regular season points; thus, the Detroit Red
Wings had home ice advantage. Each best-of-seven series follows a
2–2–1–1–1 format: the higher-seeded team will play at home for have
games 1 and 2 (plus 5 and 7 if necessary), and the lower-seeded
team will be at home for the other games.
Milestones
- On October 3, in his first game with
Montreal, Roman Hamrlik played in his
1,000th NHL game.
- On October 7, Joe
Sakic reached 1,591 points, moving him past Phil Esposito for eighth all-time in
scoring.
- On October 8, Chris Chelios played in his 1,550th game,
moving him past Alex Delvecchio for
eighth place on the career list.
- On October 11, Mats Sundin scored his 390th goal with the
Toronto Maple Leafs and reached
his 917th point at Toronto, breaking Darryl Sittler's record as the all-time Maple
Leafs scoring leader. On November 27,
Sundin became the first player to score 400 goals in a Maple Leafs
uniform.
- On October 12, Jaromir Jagr scored his 1,533rd
career point, passing Paul Coffey for
11th in all-time scoring.
- On October 22, Bryan Smolinski played in his 1,000th NHL
game.
- On October 26, Alexei Kovalev played in his 1,000th NHL
game, the third Montreal player to reach this milestone in
October.
- On November 3, Al Arbour coached his 1,500th game with the
New York Islanders and earned his
740th win with the team. Both are NHL records for coaching a single
team. At 75 years old, he was the oldest man to coach in an NHL
game.
- On November 7, Mike Modano broke Phil
Housley's all-time career point record for a U.S.-born
player.
- On November 10, Jeremy Roenick scored his 500th
career NHL goal, becoming only the 40th player in the history
of the league to do so, and only the third American.
- On November 17, Martin Brodeur recorded his 500th career win,
becoming only the second goaltender in the history of the league to
do so. He now trails Patrick Roy who
retired with 551 career wins.
- On November 17, Glen Wesley played in his 1,400th NHL game,
becoming the 10th defenseman to do so.
- On November 29, Jarome Iginla moved ahead of Al Macinnis as the all-time leader in games
played for the Calgary Flames with 804 games played.
- On December 20, Marian Gaborik scored five goals for the
Minnesota Wild in a 6–3 win against
the New York Rangers. It is the first time a player has scored five
goals in a game since Sergei Fedorov
did so on December 26, 1996.
- On December 23, New York Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr recorded his 927th
assist, passing Stan Mikita for 15th
place on the all-time list.
- On December 29, St. Louis Blues
Paul Kariya recorded his 900th point
(377 goals, 523 assists), in a hat trick,
to become the 89th player in NHL history to reach that
plateau.
- On December 31, Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Wideman scored the 18,000th all-time
Bruins goal, in a 5-2 home game defeat of the Atlanta Thrashers, as the first Bruins
goal of that game.
- On January 17, Markus Naslund played in his 1000th NHL
game.
- On February 9, San Jose Sharks coach
Ron Wilson earned
his 500th career win as an NHL head coach, becoming the 11th in
league history to do so.
- On February 19, the Montreal
Canadiens came back from a 0–5 deficit against the New York Rangers
to win the game in a shootout 6–5, this marks the first time in the
franchise's 99-year history that they have ever come back to win a
game after being down 0–5. This game was compared to some of the
greatest games in team history.
- On February 26, the Edmonton Oilers
earned their 13th shootout win, the most shootout wins by any team
since the inception of the shootout.
- On March 3, Alexander Ovechkin became the first
player this season to score 50 goals. He also became the second
player in NHL history to score a hat trick in the same game in a
10-2 win over Boston.
- On March 10, Jarome Iginla scored his 365th goal, passing
Theoren Fleury for the all-time
goal-scoring lead in Calgary
Flames history.
- On March 11, Andrew Cogliano set an NHL record by scoring
an overtime winning goal in the third consecutive game.
- On March 13, the Detroit Red Wings
reached the 100-point mark for the eighth straight season, tying an
NHL record set by the Montreal Canadiens from 1975–1982.
- On March 21, Alexander Ovechkin became the first
player to score 60 goals since the 1995–96 NHL season (Mario Lemieux & Jaromir Jagr).
- On March 22, Joe
Sakic recorded his 1000th assist on a goal by teammate Tyler Arnason, becoming just the 11th player
to reach this mark.
- On March 30, Dan
Ellis had a 233:39 long shutout streak snapped in a 1–0 OTL to
the Detroit Red Wings. This was the fifth longest shutout streak in
league history.
- On April 3, Alexander Ovechkin scored his 64th and
65th goals of the season, moving him ahead of Luc Robitaille's (1992–93) league record for most
goals scored by a left wing in a single season.
- On April 6, Keith Tkachuk scored his 500th career goal,
becoming the fourth American-born player to do so.
- On April 9, Joe
Sakic extended his record for playoff overtime goals to
eight.
- On April 12, Chris Chelios played his 248th career playoff
game, moving past Patrick Roy for most
career playoff games played.
- On April 27, Brad Richards tied the NHL record for most
points in one playoff period, with four points (one goal, three
assists) in the third period.
- On May 4, the San Jose Sharks broke their franchise record
for the longest playoff game, losing near the midpoint of the
fourth overtime to the Dallas Stars and
marking the eighth-longest
game in NHL history.
- On June 4, the Detroit Red Wings won their 11th Stanley Cup, third most all-time, against the
Pittsburgh Penguins.
Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first
NHL game in 2007–08:
Last games
The following is a list of players of note that played their last
game in the NHL in 2007–08:
- Stu Barnes, Dallas Stars
- Luc Bourdon, Vancouver Canucks (died
in motorcycle accident)
- Dallas Drake, Detroit Red
Wings
- Peter Forsberg, Colorado
Avalanche
- Dominik Hasek, Detroit Red
Wings
- Derian Hatcher, Philadelphia
Flyers
- Jaromir Jagr, New York
Rangers
- Sami Kapanen, Philadelphia
Flyers
- Trevor Linden, Vancouver
Canucks
- Mattias Norstrom, Dallas
Stars
- Glen Wesley, Carolina
Hurricanes
NHL awards
| Presidents'
Trophy: Detroit Red
Wings |
|
| Prince of Wales
Trophy: Pittsburgh
Penguins |
|
| Clarence
S. Campbell Bowl: Detroit Red Wings |
|
| Art Ross
Trophy: Alexander
Ovechkin, Washington
Capitals |
|
| Bill
Masterton Memorial Trophy: Jason Blake, Toronto Maple Leafs |
|
| Calder Memorial
Trophy: Patrick Kane,
Chicago Blackhawks |
|
| Conn Smythe
Trophy: Henrik
Zetterberg, Detroit Red
Wings |
|
| Frank J.
Selke Trophy:
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings |
|
| Hart Memorial
Trophy: Alexander
Ovechkin, Washington
Capitals |
|
| Jack Adams
Award: Bruce Boudreau,
Washington Capitals |
|
| James Norris
Memorial Trophy: Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings |
|
| King Clancy
Memorial Trophy: Vincent
Lecavalier, Tampa Bay
Lightning |
|
| Lady Byng Memorial
Trophy: Pavel Datsyuk,
Detroit Red Wings |
|
| Lester
B. Pearson
Award: Alexander
Ovechkin, Washington
Capitals |
|
| Maurice "Rocket" Richard
Trophy: Alexander
Ovechkin, Washington
Capitals |
|
| NHL Plus/Minus
Award: Pavel Datsyuk,
Detroit Red Wings |
|
| Roger
Crozier Saving Grace Award: Dan
Ellis, Nashville
Predators |
|
| Vezina Trophy:
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils |
|
| William
M. Jennings Trophy:
Dominik Hasek and Chris Osgood, Detroit Red Wings |
|
| Lester Patrick
Trophy: Brian
Burke, Phil Housley, Ted Lindsay, Bob Naegele Jr. |
|
| NHL Lifetime
Achievement Award: Gordie
Howe |
|
NHL All Star Team
First All-Star Team
Second All-Star Team
See also
Notes
- ESPN report, retrieved on September 19, 2007
External links
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