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1998–99 NHL season

The 1998–99 NHL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Hockey League. The league expanded to 27 teams with the addition of the Nashville Predators. The NHL also realigned to a strictly geographic six-division structure, with three per conference. The Dallas Stars finished first in regular season play, and won the Stanley Cup championship over the Buffalo Sabres on a controversial triple-overtime goal by Brett Hull.

League business

With the addition of the expansion Nashville Predators, the NHL realigned this year to a strictly geographic six-division structure (three per conference), erasing the last vestiges of the traditional Adams/Patrick/Norris/Smythe four-division structure abandoned in 1993–94. Other than the reassignment of Colorado to the Western Conference in 1995 due to its move from Quebec, the divisions' membership had remained static for five years although several franchises had relocated. As part of this realignment, the Toronto Maple Leafs moved from the Western Conference to the Eastern Conference. This put three of the Original Six teams in the Northeast Division (Boston, Montreal, and Toronto), and the three original cities of the NHL in the Northeast (Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto).[1][2][3][4][5]

The Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for the most goals by a player in a season made its debut this year. The first winner was Teemu Selanne of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Uniform changes

Teams

Regular season

The 1998–99 season marked the retirement of Wayne Gretzky, the NHL's all-time leading scorer, who played his final three NHL seasons with the New York Rangers.[6]

This was the final season that Fox televised NHL games in the United States. It was also the final season for the Toronto Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens, before moving to the Air Canada Centre in February and marked Toronto's first post-season appearance since the 1995–96 season. 1998–99 was also the final year that the Carolina Hurricanes played at Greensboro Coliseum; they moved to the brand-new Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena in Raleigh for the next season. The Colorado Avalanche played their fourth and final season at McNichols Sports Arena and would move to Pepsi Center the following season. The Los Angeles Kings played their final season at the Great Western Forum after 32 seasons before subsequently moving to the Staples Center for the next season.

In an effort to reduce the number of disallowed goals due to the skate-in-the-crease violation, regulatory reforms were implemented resulting the goal crease shape and size being significantly reduced.[7] In spite of this regulatory change, goaltenders and defensive systems continued to dominate the league, as only two teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New Jersey Devils,[8] averaged more than three goals scored per game. In addition, no player reached the 50-goal plateau.[9] A total of 160 shutouts were recorded for the second-straight regular season.[10][11]

Final standings

Eastern Conference

[12]

[12]


[12]

Divisions: ATL – Atlantic Division, NE – Northeast Division, SE – Southeast Division

bold – Qualified for playoffs; y – Won division


Western Conference

[12]

[12]

[12]


Divisions: CEN – Central, PAC – Pacific, NW – Northwest

bold – Qualified for playoffs; p – Won Presidents' Trophy; y – Won division


Playoffs

Bracket

Awards

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Source: NHL.[12]

Leading goaltenders

Regular season

[15]

Coaches

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Milestones

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1998–99 (listed with their first team, an asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Last games

The following is a list of players of note who played their last game in the NHL in 1998–99 (listed with their last team):

Broadcasting

Canada

This was the first season of the league's Canadian national broadcast rights deals with CBC and CTV Sportsnet. CBC continued to air Saturday night Hockey Night in Canada regular season games. The fledgling CTV Sportsnet replaced TSN as the league's cable broadcaster. Tuesday Night Hockey became CTV Sportsnet's signature weekly regular season telecasts. Coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs continued to primarily be on CBC, while CTV Sportsnet aired first round all-U.S. series.

United States

This was the fifth and final season of the league's U.S. national broadcast rights deals with Fox and ESPN. Both ESPN and ESPN2 aired weeknight games throughout the regular season, and Fox had the All-Star Game and weekly regional telecasts on 11 weekend afternoons between February and April. During the first two rounds of the playoffs, ESPN and ESPN2 aired selected games, while Fox had Sunday regional telecasts. Each U.S. team's regional broadcaster produced local coverage of first and second round games (except for those games on Fox). Fox's Sunday telecasts continued into the Conference Finals, while ESPN had the rest of the third round games. The Stanley Cup Finals were also split between Fox and ESPN.

The league then signed a new five-year deal with ESPN that also called for sister network ABC to become the new broadcast network partner.

See also

References

Notes
  1. ^ "NHL will skate into 4 new cities for 1997-98 season". Deseret News. Associated Press. June 26, 1997. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  2. ^ "N.H.L. Names 4 Cities For Its New Franchises". The New York Times. Associated Press. June 18, 1997. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  3. ^ El-Bashir, Tarik (July 9, 1998). "HOCKEY; Ice in July: Schedule Is Released". The New York Times. pp. C4. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  4. ^ Alex, Rachel (June 18, 1997). "NHL proposes expansion and realignment". Washington Post. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  5. ^ Thompson, Jack (June 26, 1997). "IT'S OFFICIAL: NHL APPROVES EXPANSION, REALIGNMENT". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved August 30, 2023.
  6. ^ Dryden 2000, p. 101.
  7. ^ Alexander, Rachel; Barr, John (January 9, 2024). "GMS RECOMMEND RULES CHANGES". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
  8. ^ "1998-99 NHL Summary - Hockey-Reference.com". Hockey-Reference.com. Archived from the original on May 3, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  9. ^ "1998-99 NHL Leaders - Hockey-Reference.com". Hockey-Reference.com. Archived from the original on June 23, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  10. ^ "1998-99 NHL Goalie Statistics - Hockey-Reference.com". Hockey-Reference.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  11. ^ Bailey, Budd (July 7, 1999). "LOW GOALS DESPITE RULES CHANGES MEANT TO INCREASE SCORING, THE NHL HAS ONLY BEEN ABLE TO SLOW THE SLIDE". Buffalo News. Retrieved February 17, 2024.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Dinger 2011, p. 155.
  13. ^ "1998-1999 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.
  14. ^ "1998-1999 Conference Standings Standings - NHL.com - Standings". NHL.
  15. ^ "1998-99 NHL Leaders - Hockey-Reference.com". Hockey-Reference.com. Archived from the original on June 23, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2018.

External links