2003–04 NHL season

The 2003–04 NHL season was the 87th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup champions were the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the best of seven series four games to three against the Calgary Flames.

For the fourth time in eight years, the all-time record for total shutouts in a season was shattered, as 192 shutouts were recorded. The 2003–04 regular season was also the first one (excluding the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season) since 1967–68 in which there was neither a 50-goal scorer, nor a 100-point scorer. It was also the final NHL season before the 2004–05 NHL lockout with games resuming in the fall of 2005 as part of the 2005–06 season, and the final season in which games could end in ties.

League business

Collective bargaining agreement

The existing NHL collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the league and the players was set to expire in September 2004. During the entire 2003–04 season, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) head Bob Goodenow waged a war of words with no CBA being signed. The dispute eventually led to the 2004–05 NHL lockout and the cancellation of the 2004–05 season.

New scheduling formula

The schedule of 82 games was revamped. The new format increased divisional games from five to six per team (24 total), and decreased inter-conference games to at least one per team, with three extra games (18 in total).

Entry draft

The 2003 NHL entry draft was held on June 21–22, 2003 at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Marc-Andre Fleury was selected first overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Preseason games in Europe

As part of the NHL Challenge, the Toronto Maple Leafs played a three-preseason-game series in Europe against Finnish team Jokerit Helsinki and the Swedish teams Djurgården Stockholm and Färjestad Karlstad.

Uniform changes

The alternating of jerseys was changed. For the first season since the 1969–70 season, teams would now wear their colored jerseys at home and white jerseys away.

Arena changes

* The Edmonton Oilers' home arena, Skyreach Centre, was renamed Rexall Place as part of a new naming rights agreement with Rexall that was signed on November 20, 2003.
* The Philadelphia Flyers's home arena, the First Union Center, was renamed the Wachovia Center after First Union merged with Wachovia.
* The Phoenix Coyotes moved from America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona to Glendale Arena in Glendale, Arizona on December 27, 2003.

Regular season

First regular season outdoor game

The Heritage Classic, the first NHL regular season game to be played outdoors, was held on November 22, 2003, at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 4–3.

All-Star Game

The All-Star Game was played on February 8, 2004, at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the home of the Minnesota Wild.

Highlights

On September 26, just before the season was to begin, young Atlanta Thrashers star Dany Heatley crashed his Ferrari in suburban Atlanta. The passenger, Thrashers teammate Dan Snyder, was killed. Heatley himself was badly injured and eventually charged with vehicular homicide.

Entering the season, the two Stanley Cup favorites were the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference, who had won the Presidents' Trophy and come within a win of the Stanley Cup Finals the year before, and the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference, who, despite losing legendary goaltender Patrick Roy to retirement, added both Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya to an already star-studded lineup. Neither of these teams, however, were as successful as expected, with Ottawa finishing fifth in their conference and Colorado finishing fourth, losing the Northwest Division title for the first time in a decade when the franchise was still known as the Quebec Nordiques.

The greatest disappointments were the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who, despite making it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals the year prior and adding both Sergei Fedorov and Vaclav Prospal, failed to make the playoffs. The Los Angeles Kings failed to make the playoffs in large part due to a season-ending 11-game losing streak. In the East, the star-studded New York Rangers again failed to make the playoffs. The Washington Capitals, who were regarded as a contender, also stumbled early in the season and never recovered. The end of the season saw two of the most extensive housecleanings in League history, as the Rangers and Capitals traded away many of their stars and entered "rebuilding mode." The Capitals traded away Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra, Sergei Gonchar, Robert Lang and Anson Carter, while the Rangers moved Petr Nedved, Brian Leetch, Anson Carter and Alexei Kovalev to other NHL teams.

The most surprising teams were the Tampa Bay Lightning in the East and the San Jose Sharks in the West. The Lightning, who had a remarkable season with only 20 man-games lost to injury, finished atop the Eastern Conference, while the Sharks, who were firmly in rebuilding mode after a disastrous 28–37–9–8 campaign the last season, came second in the West and won the Pacific Division.

Two other teams that did better than expected were carried by surprising young goaltenders. The Calgary Flames ended a seven-year playoff drought backed by the solid play of Miikka Kiprusoff, and the Boston Bruins won the Northeast Division by a whisker over the Toronto Maple Leafs with the help of eventual Calder Memorial Trophy-winning goaltender Andrew Raycroft.

Goaltending was also the story of the Presidents' Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings as the return from retirement of legend Dominik Hasek bumped Curtis Joseph to the minor leagues. At the same time, long-time back up Manny Legace recorded better numbers than both veterans and won the starting job in the playoffs.

Of note is the fact that the Nashville Predators made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, though they were dispatched by a star-studded Detroit Red Wings team in the first round.

The regular season ended controversially, when in March 2004, the Vancouver Canucks' Todd Bertuzzi infamously attacked and severely injured the Colorado Avalanche's Steve Moore, forcing the latter eventually to retire.

Final standings

''Detroit Red Wings won the Presidents' Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.''

For rankings in conference, division leaders are automatically ranked 1–3. These three, plus the next five teams in the conference standings, earn playoff berths at the end of the season.

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Playoffs

Bracket

In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series following a 2–2–1–1–1 format (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). The team with home ice advantage played at home for games one and two (and games five and seven, if necessary), and the other team played at home for games three and four (and game six, if necessary). The top eight teams in each conference made the playoffs, with the three division winners seeded 1–3 based on regular season record, and the five remaining teams seeded 4–8.

The NHL used "re-seeding" instead of a fixed bracket playoff system. During the first three rounds, the highest remaining seed in each conference was matched against the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed played the second-lowest remaining seed, and so forth. The higher-seeded team was awarded home ice advantage. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where home ice advantage was awarded to the team that had the better regular season record.

Awards

The NHL Awards presentation took place in Toronto.

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

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

Leading goaltenders

''Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses: OT = Overtime losses; GA = Goals allowed; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average''

Coaches

Eastern Conference

*Atlanta Thrashers: Bob Hartley
*Boston Bruins: Mike Sullivan
*Buffalo Sabres: Lindy Ruff
*Carolina Hurricanes: Peter Laviolette
*Florida Panthers: Rick Dudley and John Torchetti
*Montreal Canadiens: Claude Julien
*New Jersey Devils: Pat Burns
*New York Islanders: Steve Stirling
*New York Rangers: Glen Sather
*Ottawa Senators: Jacques Martin
*Philadelphia Flyers: Ken Hitchcock
*Pittsburgh Penguins: Ed Olczyk
*Tampa Bay Lightning: John Tortorella
*Toronto Maple Leafs: Pat Quinn
*Washington Capitals: Glen Hanlon

Western Conference

*Mighty Ducks of Anaheim: Mike Babcock
*Calgary Flames: Darryl Sutter
*Chicago Blackhawks: Brian Sutter
*Colorado Avalanche: Tony Granato
*Columbus Blue Jackets: Doug MacLean
*Dallas Stars: Dave Tippett
*Detroit Red Wings: Dave Lewis
*Edmonton Oilers: Craig MacTavish
*Los Angeles Kings: Andy Murray
*Minnesota Wild: Jacques Lemaire
*Nashville Predators: Barry Trotz
*Phoenix Coyotes: Bobby Francis and Rick Bowness
*San Jose Sharks: Ron Wilson
*St. Louis Blues: Joel Quenneville
*Vancouver Canucks: Marc Crawford

Milestones

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 2003–04 (listed with their first team):
* Chris Kunitz, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
*Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
* Jason Pominville, Buffalo Sabres
* Derek Roy, Buffalo Sabres
*Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
* Travis Moen, Chicago Blackhawks
*Tuomo Ruutu, Chicago Blackhawks
* Nikolai Zherdev, Columbus Blue Jackets
* Niklas Kronwall, Detroit Red Wings
* Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings
* Brent Burns$, Minnesota Wild
* Tomas Plekanec, Montreal Canadiens
* Jordin Tootoo, Nashville Predators
* Marek Zidlicky, Nashville Predators
* Dominic Moore, New York Rangers
* Fedor Tyutin, New York Rangers
* Marc-Andre Fleury$, Pittsburgh Penguins
* Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks
* Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals

$ - active as of the 2024-25 NHL season

Last games

The following is a list of players of note who played their last NHL game in 2003–04, listed with their team:

* Valeri Bure, Dallas Stars
* Shayne Corson, Dallas Stars
* Vincent Damphousse, San Jose Sharks
*Ron Francis, Toronto Maple Leafs
* Kenny Jonsson, New York Islanders
* Joé Juneau, Montreal Canadiens
*Mike Keane, Vancouver Canucks
* Trent Klatt, Los Angeles Kings
*Igor Larionov, New Jersey Devils
* Curtis Leschyshyn, Ottawa Senators
* Dave Lowry, Calgary Flames
* Al MacInnis, St. Louis Blues
* Mark Messier, New York Rangers (The last active player to have played in the World Hockey Association, also last player to have played in the 1970s.)
* Steve Moore, Colorado Avalanche
* Adam Oates, Edmonton Oilers
* James Patrick, Buffalo Sabres
* Felix Potvin, Boston Bruins
* Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils
* Steve Thomas, Detroit Red Wings
* Roman Turek, Calgary Flames

Broadcasting

Canada

This was the second season of the league's Canadian national broadcast rights deals with CBC and TSN. CBC continued to air Saturday night ''Hockey Night in Canada'' regular season games, while TSN's coverage included ''Wednesday Night Hockey'' and other selected weeknights. During the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, TSN televised all-U.S. games while CBC aired all games involving Canadian teams. CBC then had exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals.

United States

This was the fifth and final year of the league's U.S. national broadcast rights deal with ESPN and ABC. ESPN and ESPN2 aired weeknight games throughout the regular season. ABC's coverage included the All-Star Game and five weeks' worth of regional games on Saturday afternoons between January and March. During the first two rounds of the playoffs, ESPN and ESPN2 aired selected games, while ABC had Saturday regional telecasts. Each U.S. team's regional broadcaster produced local coverage of first and second-round games (except for those games on ABC). ABC's weekend telecasts continued into the Conference Finals, while ESPN had the rest of the third-round games. ESPN then aired the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals before the rest of the series shifted to ABC.

In May 2004, NBC reached an agreement to broadcast a slate of regular season games and playoff games. ESPN was only willing to renew its contract for two additional years, without games on ABC, with an opt-out clause after the first year. This was the final season for ESPN and ABC, however, the network would regain NHL coverage starting in the 2021–22 season.

See also

*List of Stanley Cup champions
*NHL All-Star Game
* NHL All-Rookie Team
* 2003 in sports
* 2004 in sports
* Red Mile

References

*
;Notes

External links

Hockey DatabaseNHL Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:2003-04 NHL season

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