2001-2002
OFFSEASON
Three more inductees into the Hall of Fame as Gary Suter, Gary Roberts and Neal Broten are inducted. Suter and Roberts were long-time Calgary Flames teammate while Broten spent his career in the North Stars/Stars organization.
In 20 seasons with Minnesota/Dallas Broten played 1355 games and had 1323 points. He won a Stanley Cup in 1985 when he had 26 points in 21 playoff games for the Stars that season. Roberts and Suter were both with the Flames for their only Cup win in 1992 but Suter was injured and missed the entire postseason. Roberts finished his career with 609 goals and 1302 points in 1210 games, all with Calgary. Suter played all but 5 of his 1024 games for the Flames before finishing off in New Jersey. A 3-time Norris Trophy winner, he had 1014 points including 266 goals.
The big news in the offseason is Wayne Gretzky decision to retire. The 40 year old could have signed with a weaker team and tried to get the 6 goals he needed to tie Bobby Hull as the NHL's all-time goal scoring king but Gretzky decided to retire an Oiler and ends his career with 878 goals along with a record 1733 assists and 2611 points in his career. He was the NHL's most valuable player 9 times and won 2 Conn Smythe Trophy's as playoff MVP. He also won the Art Ross 8 times in his career.
Retirements this year also include Ray Bourque and Mark Messier. Bourque played his entire career with Boston, starting as a defenseman before moving to the wing. He won a Stanley Cup in his second year in the league and also won a Norris Trophy. In 1653 career games Bourque had 523 goals and 1837 points. Messier played 20 years and 1570 games in Edmonton, scoring 796 goals and 1749 points. He won 3 Stanley Cups.
A pair of longtime Los Angeles Kings also retired as Bernie Nicholls and Larry Murphy ended their careers. Nicholls played 21 years and 1527 games as a King, scoring 647 goals and 1407 points. He is also the NHL's career penalty minute leader with 5553. Murphy spent 18 seasons on the Kings blueline before finishing his career with a year in Atlanta. He had 311 goals and 1382 points in 1396 games.
REGULAR SEASON
Late last season the Detroit Red Wings made a deal with Montreal to acquire John LeClair in exchange for defenseman Brent Sopel, a player they had earlier sent Keith Primeau to Toronto to obtain. The 32 year old LeClair spent the season on the Wings second line with Henrik Zetterberg and Mike Sillinger while the top line featured Steve Yzerman between Pavel Datsyuk and Sergei Federov. LeClair would score a league high 60 goals including 30 on a power play that included Yzerman, Federov, Nik Lidstrom and Slava Kozlov. The result was another dominant regular season for the Wings, who again finished with the league's best record.
Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux returned to form after a pair of down seasons, finishing with a league high 114 points to win his 8th Art Ross Trophy. Lemieux scored 31 goals to boost his career total to 872 and put him with 12 of Bobby Hull's record. Bobby's son Brett Hull had a 40 goal season at the age of 37 and he finished the season with 876, just 2 behind Wayne Gretzky and 8 back of his famous father.
Code:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
ATLANTIC DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Pittsburgh Penguins 82 51 24 7 109
New Jersey Devils 82 48 24 10 106
Philadelphia Flyers 82 44 25 13 101
New York Rangers 82 44 32 6 94
New York Islanders 82 32 44 6 70
NORTHEAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Boston Bruins 82 38 33 11 87
Toronto Maple Leafs 82 39 34 9 87
Montreal Canadiens 82 34 36 12 80
Ottawa Senators 82 33 44 5 71
Buffalo Sabres 82 23 50 9 55
SOUTHEAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Washington Capitals 82 44 32 6 94
Carolina Hurricanes 82 36 36 10 82
Florida Panthers 82 34 39 9 77
Atlanta Thrashers 82 25 43 14 64
Tampa Bay Lightning 82 24 47 11 59
CENTRAL DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Detroit Red Wings 82 55 11 16 126
St Louis Blues 82 45 29 8 98
Chicago Black Hawks 82 24 49 9 57
Nashville Predators 82 20 55 7 47
Columbus Blue Jackets 82 18 55 9 45
NORTHWEST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Colorado Avalanche 82 52 23 7 111
Edmonton Oilers 82 48 21 13 109
Calgary Flames 82 44 25 13 101
Vancouver Canucks 82 37 38 7 81
Minnesota Wild 82 32 41 9 73
PACIFIC DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Anaheim Mighty Ducks 82 43 27 12 98
Los Angeles Kings 82 35 44 3 73
Dallas Stars 82 31 43 8 70
Phoenix Coyotes 82 28 42 12 68
San Jose Sharks 82 25 40 17 67
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Mario Lemieux PIT 78 31 83 114
Jaromir Jagr PIT 70 48 57 105
Markus Naslund PIT 82 44 58 102
Steve Yzerman DET 82 30 69 99
Peter Forsberg PHI 78 23 72 95
John LeClair DET 82 60 34 94
Joe Sakic COL 74 32 60 92
Mike Modano DAL 82 36 54 90
Theo Fleury CGY 82 31 58 89
Cory Stillman TOR 82 48 39 87
Brendan Shanahan NJ 82 42 45 87
Brett Hull CGY 82 40 47 87
Nik Lidstrom DET 82 20 64 84
Radek Dvorak FLA 82 37 44 81
Martin Straka TOR 82 30 50 80
Luc Robitaille LA-MON 82 35 44 79
Bill Guerin NJ 81 33 45 78
Ryan Smith EDM 73 30 48 78
Robert Lang VAN 82 26 52 78
Paul Kariya ANA 80 31 46 77
GOALIE WIN LEADERS TM W-L-T GAA SAVE%
Patrick Lalime EDM 45-17-10 1.95 .922
Ed Belfour ANA 36-22-11 2.31 .912
John Vanbiesbrouck NYR 36-25-9 2.31 .915
Tim Thomas BOS 35-22-9 2.40 .913
Ron Tugnutt COL 24-14-6 2.16 .906
Martin Brodeur NJ 33-12-3 2.16 .916
Manny Fernandez STL 32-17-5 2.23 .924
Patrick Roy MON 32-30-12 2.57 .910
Evgeni Nabokov PIT 30-8-5 2.39 .912
Mike Dunham CAR 29-26-8 2.40 .918
Manny Legace DET 29-2-8 1.97 .904
Chris Osgood WSH 29-16-4 2.28 .921
PLAYOFFS
There was very little drama in the opening round of the playoffs as only 2 series went as many as 6 games. The East was done quickly as the New York Rangers swept Boston while Pittsburgh, Washington and New Jersey all won in 5 games. Top seed Detroit swept Los Angeles in the West while #2 Colorado needed 6 games to oust Vancouver. Edmonton won the latest installment of the Battle of Alberta by eliminating the Flames in 5 games leaving just the Anaheim-St Louis series to go the distance. After losing games five and six in overtime St Louis won Game Seven 3-0 thanks to a shutout from Manny Fernandez.
Colorado swept Edmonton in 4 games while Detroit beat St. Louis in six to set up another meeting of the two rivals in the Western Conference Finals. In the East Pittsburgh, led by 18 points from Mario Lemieux in 2 rounds, beat the Rangers in six while New Jersey and Washington went the full seven games before the Devils prevailed thanks to a Brian Rafalski goal in the second overtime.
CONFERENCE FINALS
In a matchup between the two teams that have combined to win the past 6 Stanley Cups the Colorado Avalanche advanced to the finals by beating Detroit in 6 games. The Avalanche did so without the services of defenseman Robin Regeher or forward Eric Lindros, both of whom are done for the season.
The Avalanche will face the Pittsburgh Penguins, who beat New Jersey in 6 games. The Penguins have dominated ever since they teamed Mario Lemieux (8-18-26 in 17 playoff games) with winger Markus Naslund (13-8-21).
STANLEY CUP FINALS
With Mario Lemieux back in top form after 2 years ago it looked like his career was nearing the end, the Penguins will get another chance to win their first Stanley Cup. Pittsburgh has made the finals twice before, in 1987 when they lost to Edmonton and the following year when they fell to Detroit.
The Avalanche have 3 Cup wins including last season when they beat New Jersey. Colorado also won over Philadelphia in 1996 and as Quebec over Calgary in 1994.
The series opens in Pittsburgh but it is Colorado that strikes first thanks to a goal and an assist from Joe Sakic to help the Avalanche to a 4-1 victory. Greg De Vries, Yuri Babenko and Kirk Maltby also score for the Avs while Markus Naslund, with his 14th of the playoffs, is the lone Pittsburgh goal scorer. The Penguins managed only 11 shots on Colorado goaltender Ron Tugnutt.
Pittsburgh overcomes a 2-0 deficit with 3 third period goals to even the series with a 3-2 victory in Game Two. Naslund, Michael Holmqvist and Mario Lemieux score for the Pens after Yuri Babenko and Chris Herperger gave Colorado the lead.
Milan Hejduk and Peter Ratchuk each score twice while Joe Sakic gets a pair of assists in a 4-2 Colorado victory in Game Three. Mario Lemieux and Ray Ferraro are the Pittsburgh goal scorers.
Steve Rucchin's goal midway through the third period snaps a 2-2 tie and lifts Colorado to a 3-2 victory in Game Four and a 3 games to one series lead. Joe Sakic and Jaroslav Modry had the other Colorado goals while Markus Naslund and Mario Lemieux reply for Pittsburgh.
Colorado claims it's second straight Cup with a 3-1 victory in Game Five. Dan Hinote and Kirk Maltby give the Avs a 2-0 lead in the first period before Mark Recchi gets the Pens on the board early in the third. With the Pittsburgh net empty in favour of an extra-attacker Joe Sakic ices the victory with an empty net goal.
The Conn Smythe Trophy is rarely awarded to a player on the losing team in the finals but in this case it happens as Markus Naslund of the Penguins is rewarded for his playoff high 16 goals.
Code:
PLAYOFF SCORING LEADERS GP G A PTS
Mario Lemieux PIT 22 11 19 30
Joe Sakic COL 21 7 21 28
Markus Naslund PIT 22 16 11 27
Jaromir Jagr PIT 17 7 19 26
Milan Hejduk COL 21 10 10 20
Bill Guerin NJ 18 7 13 20
Owen Nolan COL 21 9 10 19
Mats Sundin COL 21 8 11 19
Sergei Federov DET 16 7 10 17
Pavel Datsyuk DET 16 4 13 17
Slava Kozlov DET 16 2 15 17
Alex Tanguay COL 21 2 15 17
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Nicklas Lidstrom Detroit (82GP 20-64-84)
VEZINA TROPHY: Martin Brodeur New Jersey (33-12-3 2.16)
NORRIS TROPHY: Nicklas Lidstrom Detroit (82GP 20-64-84)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh (78GP 31-83-114)
CALDER TROPHY: Pascual Dupuis Minnesota (74GP 20-33-53)
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 Patrick Lalime Edmonton Martin Brodeur New Jersey
D Oleg Tverdovsky Anaheim Brian Leetch NY Rangers
D Nic Lidstrom Detroit Brian Rafalski New Jersey
C Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh Steve Yzerman Detroit
LW Markus Naslund Pittsburgh John LeClair Detroit
RW Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh Brett Hull Calgary