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. [edit] 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.[1] 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 O2).[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.[3] 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.[4] [edit] 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. [edit] 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). [edit] Final standings GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, OTL = Overtime/Shootout Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points. [edit] Conference standings *-Denotes Division Leader bold - clinched playoff spot, y - clinched division title, z - clinched best conference record, * - division leader bold - clinched playoff spot, y - clinched division title, p - clinched Presidents' Trophy and best record in conference, * - division leader [edit] Divisional standings - Eastern Conference
- Western Conference
[edit] 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.
[edit] Statistical leaders [edit] Scoring leaders GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes [edit] 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 [edit] Playoffs [edit] Playoff seeds After the regular season, the standard of 16 teams qualified for the playoffs. [edit] 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)
[edit] 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
[edit] 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. | | Conference Quarter-finals | | Conference Semi-finals | | Conference Finals | | Stanley Cup Final | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 4 | | | 1 | Montreal Canadiens | 1 | | | 8 | Boston Bruins | 3 | | | 6 | Philadelphia Flyers | 4 |
| | | 2 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 4 | | Eastern Conference | | | 7 | Ottawa Senators | 0 | | | | | 6 | Philadelphia Flyers | 1 | | | | | | 2 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 4 | | | 3 | Washington Capitals | 3 | | | | 6 | Philadelphia Flyers | 4 | | | | | | | 4 | New Jersey Devils | 1 | | 2 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 4 | | | 5 | New York Rangers | 4 | | | 5 | New York Rangers | 1 |
| | | | E2 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 2 | | | (Pairings are re-seeded after the first round) | | | | W1 | Detroit Red Wings | 4 | | 1 | Detroit Red Wings | 4 | | | 1 | Detroit Red Wings | 4 | | | 8 | Nashville Predators | 2 | | | 6 | Colorado Avalanche | 0 | | | | | 2 | San Jose Sharks | 4 | | | 7 | Calgary Flames | 3 | | | | | 1 | Detroit Red Wings | 4 | | | | | 5 | Dallas Stars | 2 | | | 3 | Minnesota Wild | 2 | | | | 6 | Colorado Avalanche | 4 | | | Western Conference | | | | 4 | Anaheim Ducks | 2 | | 2 | San Jose Sharks | 2 | | | 5 | Dallas Stars | 4 | | | 5 | Dallas Stars | 4 | | [edit] 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.[5]
- On June 4, the Detroit Red Wings won their 11th Stanley Cup, third most all-time, against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
[edit] Debuts The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 2007–08: [edit] 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[6]
- Luc Bourdon, Vancouver Canucks (died in motorcycle accident)[7]
- Dallas Drake, Detroit Red Wings[8]
- Peter Forsberg, Colorado Avalanche
- Dominik Hasek, Detroit Red Wings[9]
- Derian Hatcher, Philadelphia Flyers[10]
- Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers[11]
- Sami Kapanen, Philadelphia Flyers[12]
- Trevor Linden, Vancouver Canucks[13]
- Mattias Norstrom, Dallas Stars[14]
- Glen Wesley, Carolina Hurricanes[15]
[edit] 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 | | [edit] NHL All Star Team First All-Star Team Second All-Star Team [edit] See also [edit] External links | 2007–08 NHL season by team | | | | | | | | | | | |