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 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).

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

*Anaheim: The third and fourth jerseys from 1997 got new socks.
*Boston: The team wore a 75th-anniversary patch for their 75th season.
*Calgary: New Black Alternates introduced. Crest has its alternate Flaming-Horse Logo.
*Colorado: No updates in the regular season, but in the 1999 Playoffs, the Avalanche wore a CHS patch for the victims of the Columbine High School massacre on their left sleeve just above the number. The patch remained on the jerseys throughout the playoffs.
*Florida: The names on the back become vertically arched, and a navy blue alternate jersey is introduced. On that jersey, the panther is breaking a stick in half.
*Los Angeles: Jerseys Redesigned, Purple is Reintroduced.
*Nashville: white jerseys include a Blue triangle for the Crest, and the blue ones do not. The team wore an Inaugural season patch that would later become the team's alternate logo.
*New York Islanders: The jerseys reverted to its 1978–1995 design, retaining navy blue as its main color with a patch on the right shoulder featuring four diagonal stripes, symbolizing the team's four Stanley Cup titles in the 1980s.
*New York Rangers: White Lady Liberty Jerseys.
*Phoenix: The Coyotes introduce a new green alternate jersey, complete with a desertscape at the bottom and the sleeve ends
*St Louis: Alternates are retired and adopt a new color scheme
*San Jose: Alternates are retired and become the basis of the team's new uniforms.
*Tampa Bay: All-Star Game Patches for the 1999 NHL All-Star Game in Tampa.
*Toronto: Team wore alternate throwbacks and a patch to commemorate their final season at Maple Leaf Gardens.
*Washington: For the first few games, the Capitals wore a patch celebrating their 25th season in the NHL. The patch was worn on the upper right chest.

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.

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 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, the goal crease shape and size was significantly reduced. In spite of this, goaltenders and defensive systems continued to dominate the league, as only two teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New Jersey Devils, averaged more than three goals scored per game. In addition, no player reached the 50-goal plateau. A total of 160 shutouts were recorded for the second-straight regular season.

Final standings

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Playoffs

Bracket

Awards

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

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

Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders

Regular season

Coaches

Eastern Conference

*Boston Bruins: Pat Burns
*Buffalo Sabres: Lindy Ruff
*Carolina Hurricanes: Paul Maurice
*Florida Panthers: Terry Murray
*Montreal Canadiens: Alain Vigneault
*New Jersey Devils: Robbie Ftorek
*New York Islanders: Mike Milbury and Bill Stewart
*New York Rangers: John Muckler
*Ottawa Senators: Jacques Martin
*Philadelphia Flyers: Roger Neilson
*Pittsburgh Penguins: Kevin Constantine
*Tampa Bay Lightning: Jacques Demers
*Toronto Maple Leafs: Pat Quinn
*Washington Capitals: Ron Wilson

Western Conference

*Mighty Ducks of Anaheim: Craig Hartsburg
*Calgary Flames: Brian Sutter
*Chicago Blackhawks: Dirk Graham
*Colorado Avalanche: Bob Hartley
*Dallas Stars: Ken Hitchcock
*Detroit Red Wings: Scotty Bowman
*Edmonton Oilers: Ron Low
*Los Angeles Kings: Larry Robinson
*Nashville Predators: Barry Trotz
*Phoenix Coyotes: Jim Schoenfeld
*San Jose Sharks: Darryl Sutter
*St. Louis Blues: Joel Quenneville
*Vancouver Canucks: Mike Keenan

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):

* Martin St. Louis, Calgary Flames
* Chris Drury, Colorado Avalanche
* Milan Hejduk, Colorado Avalanche
* Dan Boyle, Florida Panthers
* Jason Blake, Los Angeles Kings
* David Legwand, Nashville Predators
* Karlis Skrastins, Nashville Predators
*Kimmo Timonen, Nashville Predators
* Eric Brewer, New York Islanders
* Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning
* Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Maple Leafs

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):

* Dave Babych, Los Angeles Kings
* Brian Bellows, Washington Capitals
* Jim Carey, St. Louis Blues
* Bobby Carpenter, New Jersey Devils
* Dino Ciccarelli, Florida Panthers
* Russ Courtnall, Los Angeles Kings
* John Cullen, Tampa Bay Lightning
* Wayne Gretzky, New York Rangers
* Ron Hextall, Philadelphia Flyers
* Dale Hunter, Colorado Avalanche
* Craig Ludwig, Dallas Stars
* Jamie Macoun, Detroit Red Wings
* Bernie Nicholls, San Jose Sharks
* Kjell Samuelsson, Tampa Bay Lightning (Last player born in the 1950's)
* Tomas Sandstrom, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
* Esa Tikkanen, Florida Panthers

Trading deadline

* Trading Deadline: March 23, 1999NHL trade deadline: Deals since 1980 , Habs Inside/Out

*March 23, 1999: Nashville traded RW Blair Atcheynum to St. Louis for a sixth-round pick in the 2000 Entry Draft.
*March 23, 1999: Calgary traded D Chris O'Sullivan to NY Rangers for D Lee Sorochan.
*March 23, 1999: Detroit traded G Kevin Hodson and San Jose's second-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft (previously acquired) to Tampa Bay for LW Wendel Clark and Detroit's sixth-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft (previously acquired).
*March 23, 1999: Washington traded C Dale Hunter and a third-round pick in the 2000 Entry Draft to Colorado for a second-round pick in the 1999 or 2000 Entry Draft.
*March 23, 1999: Florida traded D Rhett Warrener and a fifth-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft to Buffalo for D Mike Wilson.
*March 23, 1999: Calgary traded RW Greg Pankewicz to San Jose for future considerations.
*March 23, 1999: Los Angeles traded C Yanic Perreault to Toronto for C Jason Podollan and a third-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft.
*March 23, 1999: Edmonton traded RW Kevin Brown to NY Rangers for LW Vladimir Vorobiev.
*March 23, 1999: Tampa Bay traded G Bill Ranford to Detroit for a conditional draft pick.
*March 23, 1999: Chicago traded D Chris Chelios to Detroit for 1999 and 2001 first-round draft picks (D Steve McCarthy and G Adam Munro)
*March 23, 1999: Montreal traded C Vincent Damphousse to San Jose for a fifth-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft and a conditional draft pick or picks in the 2000 Entry Draft.
*March 23, 1999: Vancouver traded C Peter Zezel to Anaheim for future considerations.
*March 23, 1999: Los Angeles traded D Steve Duchesne to Philadelphia for D Dave Babych and a fifth-round pick in the 2000 Entry Draft.
*March 23, 1999: NY Rangers trade D Stan Neckar to Phoenix for D Jason Doig and a sixth-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft.
*March 23, 1999: NY Rangers trade D Ulf Samuelsson to Detroit for a second-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft and a third-round pick in the 2000 Entry Draft.
*March 23, 1999: Toronto traded D Jason Smith to Edmonton for a fourth-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft and a second-round pick in the 2000 Entry Draft.
*March 23, 1999: Buffalo traded C Derek Plante to Dallas for a second-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft.
*March 23, 1999: Washington traded LW Craig Berube to Philadelphia for future considerations.
*March 23, 1999: Tampa Bay traded D Sami Helenius to Colorado for a conditional draft pick.
*March 23, 1999: Phoenix traded C Jean-Francois Jomphe to Montreal for future considerations.
*March 23, 1999: Chicago traded RW Nelson Emerson to Ottawa for RW Chris Murray.

See also

* List of Stanley Cup champions
* 1998 NHL Entry Draft
* 1998 NHL Expansion Draft
* 49th National Hockey League All-Star Game
* National Hockey League All-Star Game
* 1998 in sports
* 1999 in sports

References

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;Notes

External links

Hockey Database
*http://nhl.com/

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1998–99 in Canadian ice hockey by league
1998–99 in American ice hockey by league