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The 1998-99 NHL season was the 82nd regular season of the National Hockey League. Twenty-seven teams played 82 games each. The Dallas Stars finished first in regular season play, and won the Stanley Cup Championship over the Buffalo Sabres in a controversial fashion on a disputed overtime goal by Brett Hull. 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 Selänne of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

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 four-division structure (Adams/Patrick/Norris/Smythe) abandoned in 1993-94; other than the necessary reassignment of Colorado in 1995 due to its two-thousand mile (over 3,200 km) east-west move from Quebec, the divisions' membership had remained static for six years despite the renaming and the moves of several other franchises. As part of this realignment, the Toronto Maple Leafs moved from the Western Conference to the Eastern Conference.

The Eastern Conference was considered to be weaker, which would make it easier for the Leafs to make the playoffs, although the team also landed coach Pat Quinn and superstar goaltender Curtis Joseph which contributed to the Leafs' dramatic improvement.

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. The Rangers had been battling for a playoff spot up until the end of the regular season when they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins who were able to clinch the postseason berth when Jaromir Jagr scored the winning goal. The game was also symbolic because it appeared as though Gretzky was passing the torch to Jagr, signalling a changing of the guard of the NHL's greatest superstar.

This was the final season Fox televised NHL games in the United States.

Contents 1 Regular season 1.1 Final standings 1.1.1 Eastern Conference 1.1.2 Western Conference 1.2 Scoring leaders 1.3 Leading goaltenders 2 Stanley Cup playoffs 2.1 Eastern Conference 2.2 Western Conference 2.3 Stanley Cup finals 3 NHL awards 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Regular season

[edit] Final standings

[edit] Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
New Jersey Devils	82	47	24	11	105	248	196	1355
Philadelphia Flyers	82	37	26	19	93	231	196	1075
Pittsburgh Penguins	82	38	30	14	90	242	225	977
New York Rangers	82	33	38	11	77	217	227	1087
New York Islanders	82	24	48	10	58	194	244	1111

Northeast Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Ottawa Senators	82	44	23	15	103	239	179	892
Toronto Maple Leafs	82	45	30	7	97	268	231	1095
Boston Bruins	82	39	30	13	91	214	181	1182
Buffalo Sabres	82	37	28	17	91	207	175	1561
Montreal Canadiens	82	32	39	11	75	184	209	1299

Southeast Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Carolina Hurricanes	82	34	30	18	86	210	202	1158
Florida Panthers	82	30	34	18	78	210	228	1522
Washington Capitals	82	31	45	6	68	200	218	1381
Tampa Bay Lightning	82	19	54	9	47	179	292	1316

[edit] Western Conference

Central Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Detroit Red Wings	82	43	32	7	93	245	202	1202
St. Louis Blues	82	37	32	13	87	237	209	1308
Chicago Blackhawks	82	29	41	12	70	202	248	1807
Nashville Predators	82	28	47	7	63	190	261	1420

Northwest Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Colorado Avalanche	82	44	28	10	98	239	205	1619
Edmonton Oilers	82	33	37	12	78	230	226	1373
Calgary Flames	82	30	40	12	72	211	234	1389
Vancouver Canucks	82	23	47	12	58	192	258	1764

Pacific Division	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA	PIM
Dallas Stars	82	51	19	12	114	236	168	1108
Phoenix Coyotes	82	39	31	12	90	205	197	1412
Anaheim Mighty Ducks	82	35	34	13	83	215	206	1323
San Jose Sharks	82	31	33	18	80	196	191	1423
Los Angeles Kings	82	32	45	5	69	189	222	1383

[edit] Scoring leaders

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Jaromir Jagr	Pittsburgh Penguins	81	44	83	127	66
Teemu Selänne	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	75	47	60	107	30
Paul Kariya	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	82	39	62	101	40
Peter Forsberg	Colorado Avalanche	78	30	67	97	108
Joe Sakic	Colorado Avalanche	73	41	55	96	29
Alexei Yashin	Ottawa Senators	82	44	50	94	54
Eric Lindros	Philadelphia Flyers	71	40	53	93	120
Theoren Fleury	Calgary/Colorado	75	40	53	93	86
John Leclair	Philadelphia Flyers	76	43	47	90	30
Pavol Demitra	St. Louis Blues	82	37	52	89	16

[edit] Leading goaltenders

[edit] Stanley Cup playoffs

Several highlights of the playoffs include:

[edit] Eastern Conference

• The New Jersey Devils held a 3-2 series lead entering game six but lost the two deciding games against the Pittsburgh Penguins and their superstar Jaromir Jagr. It was the Devils' second first-round playoff loss in a row.
• The Carolina Hurricanes, making their first post-season appearance since moving from Hartford, CT, lost to the Boston Bruins in six games in the first round. Hours after the Game 6 loss, Hurricanes defenseman Steve Chaisson died in a automobile accident while driving home from a team gathering.
• The Ottawa Senators, despite setting regular season franchise records and being led by Hart Trophy runner-up Alexei Yashin, were swept in the first round by the Buffalo Sabres who were backstopped by Dominik Hasek.
• The Toronto Maple Leafs, who were the highest scoring team in the regular season, defeated the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins enroute to reaching to the conference finals for the first time since 1993-1994.
• The Eastern Conference final, featuring the Maple Leafs and the Sabres, was expected to be a close matchup as well as a duel between the two best regular season goaltenders Dominik Hasek and Curtis Joseph. However, the series turned out to the lopsided as Sabres won it in five games, beating Joseph 21 times, despite Hasek sitting out the first two games with an injury to be replaced by rookie goaltender Dwayne Roloson.

[edit] Western Conference

• The Detroit Red Wings, despite being the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, follow up their first wins with four straight losses to fall to the Colorado Avalanche and Patrick Roy in the second-round series.
• The Avalanche take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars but the Stars win games six and seven both by scores of 4-1. The series is widely regarded as a duel between goaltenders Patrick Roy and Ed Belfour.

[edit] Stanley Cup finals

In the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals, the Dallas Stars beat the Buffalo Sabres four games to two to win their first Stanley Cup. The Sabres shocked the Stars in the latter's arena to win the first game of the series. The Stars won the next two games and the Sabres took game four. A home-ice win for the Stars in game five set up the deciding match to be played in Buffalo.

In Game 6, the game went to a triple overtime. At 14:51 in the third overtime, Brett Hull scored the game-winning goal to secure the victory -- and the Stanley Cup -- for the Dallas Stars. Video replay showed that Hull's foot was in the crease, which the Sabres as well as ESPN analyst Gary Thorne argued was a violation of a rule that disallowed goals if an offensive player was in the goal crease. The NHL officials allowed the goal to stand, arguing that Brett Hull's three consecutive shots on Hasek, the third of which went in, constituted possession of the puck through the end of the play; the Crease-Rule did allow for a player to legally bring the puck into the crease and score; a player's foot or stick could not cross the crease path during a scoring attempt. Partisans of one side or another debate the legality of the goal to this day, and it is arguably the most controversial Cup-winning goal in the history of Stanley Cup play. As a direct result of the controversy, the Crease-Rule was removed the following season.

[edit] NHL awards

Presidents' Trophy:	Dallas Stars
Prince of Wales Trophy:	Buffalo Sabres
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:	Dallas Stars
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:	Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy:	John Cullen, Tampa Bay Lightning
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Chris Drury, Colorado Avalanche
Conn Smythe Trophy:	Joe Nieuwendyk, Dallas Stars
Frank J. Selke Trophy:	Jere Lehtinen, Dallas Stars
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins
Jack Adams Award:	Jacques Martin, Ottawa Senators
James Norris Memorial Trophy:	Al MacInnis, St. Louis Blues
King Clancy Memorial Trophy:	Rob Ray, Buffalo Sabres
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Wayne Gretzky, New York Rangers
Lester B. Pearson Award:	Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins
Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy:	Teemu Selänne, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
NHL Plus/Minus Award:	John LeClair, Philadelphia Flyers
Vezina Trophy:	Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres
William M. Jennings Trophy:	Ed Belfour & Roman Turek, Dallas Stars
Lester Patrick Trophy:	Harry Sinden

[edit] 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

[edit] References

• Hockey Database
• http://nhl.com/

NHL seasons
1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-00 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03

de:NHL 1998/99

fr:Saison LNH 1998-99 sv:NHL-säsongen 1998/1999