1998-99
OFFSEASON
Dino Ciccarelli and Paul Coffey are the additions to the Hall of Fame this summer. The 38 year old Ciccarelli played 1303 games for the Minnesota/Dallas organization beginning with a 43 goal season as a rookie in 1979-80 and ending in 1996-97 when he scored 16 goals for the Dallas Stars. Ciccarelli finished his career with 724 goals and 1586 points, numbers good enough to rank him 7th alltime in goals and 14th in points. He won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1986 when the Stars won their first and only Stanley Cup title.
Coffey won 3 Cups with the Oilers and a Conn Smythe Trophy to go with 2 Norris Trophy's. He played 1287 games and finished with 386 goals and 1462 career points.
The NHL expands for the 1998-99 season with the Nashville Predators entering the league. The Predators strike gold in the goaltending department as they get both Sean Burke and Jeff Hackett. Burke had a great season for New Jersey last year while all Hackett did was backstop the Red Wings to the last two Stanley Cups. The Wings opted to protect 25 year olds Chris Osgood and Manny Legace in the expansion draft over the 30 year old Hackett. The Wings also lost defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov to Nashville in the expansion draft. Other picks included defensemen Luke Richardson from Toronto and Marc Bergevin from San Jose along with forwards Ted Donato and Donald Brashear, both from Boston, and veteran Jari Kurri from Philadelphia.
Later Nashville would move Hackett to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for 31 year old defenseman Calle Johansson. The other big move of the off-season saw the Toronto Maple Leafs sign Zdeno Chara as a free agent after the 21 year old was not resigned by the New York Islanders. Chara had 25 points in 80 games for the Isles last season.
REGULAR SEASON
The addition of Nashville prompted the league to switch to 6 divisions this season. The expansion Predators fared much better than some of their predecessors, as the Preds earned a respectable 58 points in their inagural season. Others, particularly Florida and Tampa, continue to wallow in expansion mediocraty. Not the Anaheim Ducks however. The Ducks were a success right off the bat, making the playoffs in 5 of their 6 NHL seasons including this year when they finished atop the Pacific Division for their first division crown.
Speaking of crowns, Mario Lemieux lost his crown as the league scoring champ. Lemieux finished tied with Buffalo's Pierre Turgeon for the league lead with 118 points but Turgeon claims the Art Ross Trophy on the basis of scoring 1 more goal. For Lemieux it ends a 6 year run with the Art Ross Trophy.
Lemieux's 118 points moved him to 1903 for his career, the fifth most all-time. 38 year old Wayne Gretzky of course leads the way and Gretz had 78 points this season to surpass the 2500 point plateau. Gretzky scored 27 goals lifting him to 853, trailing only Bobby Hull at 884 and Jean Ratelle at 856.
MILESTONES
Brett Hull of Calgary scores his 700th goal and 1500th point
Ron Francis of Carolina scored his 700th goal
Steve Yzerman of Detroit scored his 600th goal and 1500th point
Ray Sheppard of Buffalo scored his 500th goal
Jeremy Roenick of Chicago scored his 400th goal
Larry Murphy of Los Angeles scored his 300th goal
Gary Roberts of Calgary earned his 1200th career point
Theo Fleury of Calgary picked up his 750th assist
1250 GAMES
Dave Andreychuk Buffalo
Chris Chelios Montreal
Phil Housley Buffalo
Cam Neely NY Islanders
1000 GAMES
Steve Yzerman Detroit
Joe Nieuwendyk Calgary
Gary Suter Calgary
Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh
Bob Rouse Dallas
Code:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
ATLANTIC DIVISION GP W L T PTS
New Jersey Devils 82 52 25 5 109
Philadelphia Flyers 82 48 31 3 99
New York Rangers 82 45 32 5 95
Pittsburgh Penguins 82 42 37 3 87
New York Islanders 82 35 32 15 85
NORTHEAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Boston Bruins 82 55 21 6 116
Montreal Canadiens 82 45 29 8 98
Buffalo Sabres 82 40 38 4 84
Toronto Maple Leafs 82 34 40 8 76
Ottawa Senators 82 32 41 9 73
SOUTHEAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Washington Capitals 82 45 31 6 96
Carolina Hurricanes 82 30 46 6 66
Tampa Bay Lightning 82 27 48 7 61
Florida Panthers 82 11 66 5 27
CENTRAL DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Detroit Red Wings 82 53 22 7 113
Chicago Black Hawks 82 39 35 8 86
St Louis Blues 82 31 42 9 71
Nashville Predators 82 25 49 8 58
NORTHWEST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Colorado Avalanche 82 57 22 3 117
Calgary Flames 82 51 28 3 105
Vancouver Canucks 82 36 40 6 78
Edmonton Oilers 82 34 41 7 75
PACIFIC DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Anaheim Mighty Ducks 82 47 30 5 99
San Jose Sharks 82 31 45 6 68
Dallas Stars 82 29 49 4 62
Los Angeles Kings 82 27 48 7 61
Phoenix Coyotes 82 21 54 7 49
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Pierre Turgeon BUF 82 48 70 118
Mario Lemieux PIT 81 47 71 118
Joe Sakic COL 80 32 69 101
Steve Yzerman DET 76 41 57 98
Jaromir Jagr PIT 71 40 56 96
Brendan Morrison NJ 79 35 60 95
Theo Fleury CGY 70 31 62 93
Brett Hull CGY 69 47 45 92
Jeremey Roenick CHI 78 42 50 92
Mike Modano DAL 82 42 49 91
Glenn Murray BOS 82 33 55 88
Ray Whitney SJ 81 24 63 87
Owen Nolan COL 82 41 44 85
Mikael Renberg PHI 82 38 47 85
Brendan Shanahan NJ 77 35 50 85
Peter Forsberg PHI 61 21 64 85
Ron Francis CAR 78 32 52 84
Al MacInnis CGY 82 28 56 84
Dave Andreychuk BUF 82 33 50 83
Milan Hejduk COL 82 29 53 82
Sergei Federov DET 77 27 53 82
GOALIE WIN LEADERS TM W-L-T GAA SAVE%
Martin Brodeur NJ 48-20-4 1.83 .927
John Vanbiesbrouck NYR 44-28-3 2.33 .915
Ed Belfour ANA 42-27-5 2.30 .918
Ron Tugnutt COL 40-12-2 1.98 .917
Patrick Lalime CGY 39-17-4 2.50 .911
Byron Dafoe WSH 38-25-5 2.58 .912
Tom Barrasso BOS 35-9-3 2.11 .908
Dominik Hasek CHI 35-26-14 2.35 .921
Patrick Roy MON 35-26-5 2.64 .912
Chris Osgood DET 33-16-5 2.42 .898
Craig Billington PIT 31-15-2 2.71 .912
Mike Richter OTT 27-34-7 2.87 .909
PLAYOFFS
No surprises in the opening round of the playoffs as the top four seeds in each conference advanced. In the West Colorado beat St Louis in 5, Detroit swept Edmonton, Anaheim needed 7 games to eliminate Vancouver while Calgary downed Chicago in 5 games. Top seed Boston advanced in the East with a 6 game series win over the Islanders. New Jersey swept Pittsburgh and Philadelphia did the same to Montreal. Only #3 seed Washington had difficulty, going the full 7 games against the New York Rangers.
Detroit swept Anaheim to advance to the Western Conference Final where the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions will face the Colorado Avalanche after the Avalanche knocked off Calgary in 5 games. New Jersey had little trouble with Washington in the East, winning in 5 games. The top seeded Boston Bruins needed a Joe Thornton overtime goal in Game Seven to eliminate Philadelphia.
CONFERENCE FINALS
A trio of Colorado Avalanche sat atop the playoff scoring race entering the conference finals. Joe Sakic led the way with 8 goals and 26 points followed by Owen Nolan (8-9-17) and Milan Hejduk (7-10-17). The Avalanche would enter their series against Detroit missing only Eric Lindros to injury. Lindros has been sidelined most of the season, playing in just 18 games. Detroit is missing a big forward of their own as Keith Primeau (36-42-78) is out for the post-season following an injury suffered in early April.
New Jersey will rely on goaltender Martin Brodeur if they want to beat the top seeded Boston Bruins in the East. Brodeur is 8-1 with a 1.08 GAA and .954 save percentage in the playoffs. The Bruins will be missing Craig Janney, who has missed the entire postseason and, more importantly Glen Murray, who had led the team in playoff points with 16 but was injured in Game Seven of their win over Philadelphia and could miss much of the conference final.
The Avalanche had a 2 games to one lead on Detroit but lost star centre Joe Sakic with a broken bone in his foot late in the fourth game. That seemed to turn the tide as the Wings won Game five 3-2 on a Sergei Federov overtime goal and then got a shutout from Chris Osgood and a pair of goals from Slava Kozlov to take Game Six 4-0, allowing Detroit a shot at a third straight Cup.
The Red Wings opponent will be the Boston Bruins, who beat New Jersey in 7 games. Boston had led 3 games to one after taking Game Four 2-1 in overtime but the Devils won the fifth and 6th games to force a 1 game showdown. Boston prevailed in that game by a 3-2 score with Joe Thornton scoring the game winner midway through the third period.
STANLEY CUP FINAL
The Red Wings make their third straight appearance in the finals while Boston is back for the first time since losing to Minnesota in 1985. The Bruins and Detroit have only met once in the finals, back in 1940 with Boston triumphing. Boston has won 6 Stanley Cups: 1940, 1942, 1945, 1972 and 1981 as well as 1929, which was before the sim started.
Detroit opens the series with a 4-0 victory on the road as Nicklas Lidstrom scores twice while Steve Yzerman has a goal and an assist to lead the Wings. Randy McKay had the other Detroit goal while Chris Osgood made 25 saves for the shutout win.
Lidstrom gets a pair of assists as Detroit takes Game Two 2-1. Sergei Federov and Randy McKay score for the Wings with Jozef Stumpel getting the lone Boston goal. Another strong game from Osgood, who makes 24 saves.
Despite being outshot 35-28 the Bruins rebound with a 4-1 victory on the road in Game Three. Joe Thornton, Tom Fitzgeraldm Glen Murray and Sergei Samsonov score for Boston while Roman Vopat gets the Detroit goal. Tom Barrasso made 34 saves for the win in the Boston net.
Detroit wins Game Four 4-2 to take a 3 games to one series lead. Boston led 2-0 after 1 period on goals from Juha Ylonen and Glen Wesley but Detroit tied the game in the second period on goals from Federov and Martin Lapointe. Third period goals by Randy McKay and Federov sealed the win.
Steve Yzerman scored twice and Nik Lidstrom had 3 assists as the Wings clinched their third straight Cup with a 4-3 victory in Game Five. Darryl Laplante and Anders Ericksson also scored for Detroit in the victory.
Nik Lidstrom, who had 7 goals and 21 points in 19 playoff games, was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Code:
PLAYOFF SCORING LEADERS GP G A PTS
Joe Sakic COL 14 9 19 28
Steve Yzerman DET 19 10 16 26
Glen Wesley BOS 25 8 16 24
Sergei Samsonov BOS 25 6 18 24
Brendan Shanahan NJ 16 10 11 21
Glen Murray BOS 20 9 12 21
Nik Lidstrom DET 19 7 14 21
Ray Bourque BOS 25 6 15 21
Owen Nolan COL 16 10 10 20
Milan Hejduk COL 16 8 12 20
Joe Thornton BOS 25 9 10 19
Sergei Federov DET 19 6 13 19
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh (81GP 47-71-118)
VEZINA TROPHY: Martin Brodeur New Jersey (48-20-4 1.83)
NORRIS TROPHY: Nicklas Lidstrom Detroit (82GP 22-59-81)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Pierre Turgeon Buffalo (82GP 48-70-118)
CALDER TROPHY: Sergei Samsonov Boston (59GP 18-33-51)
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Martin Brodeur New Jersey Ron Tugnutt Colorado
D Al MacInnis Calgary Brian Leetch NY Rangers
D Nic Lidstrom Detroit Chris Chelios Montreal
C Mario Lemieux Pittsbugh Pierre Turgeon Buffalo
LW Milan Hejduk Colorado Brendan Shanahan New Jersey
RW Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh Brett Hull Calgary