Was missing this league so I found a bit of time to do a couple of more seasons. Writeups will be shorter though.
2003-04
OFFSEASON
Scott Stevens and Pat Lafontaine are added to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Stevens spent his entire 20 year career with the Washington Capitals, winning a Hart Trophy in 1085 and finishing with 1091 points in 1442 career games. Lafontaine spent his entire career with the Islanders, scoring 516 goals and 1002 assists for 1518 points in 1279 career games.
Retirements this season are highlighted by Chris Chelios, who hangs up the blades at age 40 after 1631 games and 1413 points - all with Montreal. 4 time Vezina Trophy winner Grant Fuhr and Joe Nieuwendyk, who had 1104 points in 1341 games also retired.
REGULAR SEASON
Brett Hull and Mario Lemieux each added to their totals atop the NHL's all-time goal scorer list. The Golden Brett had 31 to give him a total of 930, two ahead of Lemieux. Hull, who had scored 928 of them for the Flames, found himself in a Ranger uniform to finish out the season after he was dealt at the deadline for RJ Umberger, a 21 year old who played 16 games this season in his NHL debut.
Lemieux also found himself in new threads at the trade deadline as Pittsburgh dealt the 38 year to St Louis in exchange for Ladislav Nagy and minor leaguer Colin Hemingway. Lemieux finished the season with 26 goals and 90 points making him second all-time in both categories. His 2353 points trail only the now-retired Wayne Gretzky's total of 2611. 41 year old Ron Francis moved into third place all-time as the long time Carolina Hurricane passed Stan Mikita and has 2132 for his career.
The Colorado Avalanche, led by scoring champ Joe Sakic, finished with the league's best record. Colorado had 112 points with Detroit (107) and New Jersey (104) being the only other teams to surpass the century mark.
Code:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
ATLANTIC DIVISION GP W L T PTS
New Jersey Devils 82 48 26 8 104
Pittsburgh Penguins 82 46 29 7 99
New York Rangers 82 45 29 8 98
New York Islanders 82 44 29 9 97
Philadelphia Flyers 82 39 37 6 84
NORTHEAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Boston Bruins 82 46 30 6 98
Ottawa Senators 82 42 36 4 88
Toronto Maple Leafs 82 39 34 9 87
Montreal Canadiens 82 37 38 7 81
Buffalo Sabres 82 25 47 10 60
SOUTHEAST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Florida Panthers 82 43 31 8 94
Washington Capitals 82 36 39 7 79
Carolina Hurricanes 82 30 44 8 68
Tampa Bay Lightning 82 21 55 6 48
Atlanta Thrashers 82 14 57 11 39
CENTRAL DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Detroit Red Wings 82 49 24 9 107
Chicago Black Hawks 82 36 39 7 79
Nashville Predators 82 29 39 14 72
Columbus Blue Jackets 82 29 47 6 64
St Louis Blues 82 26 54 2 54
NORTHWEST DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Colorado Avalanche 82 54 24 2 112
Vancouver Canucks 82 42 26 14 98
Calgary Flames 82 44 31 7 95
Edmonton Oilers 82 40 34 8 88
Minnesota Wild 82 31 44 7 69
PACIFIC DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Los Angeles Kings 82 41 34 7 89
Phoenix Coyotes 82 41 35 6 88
Anaheim Mighty Ducks 82 35 42 5 75
San Jose Sharks 82 32 39 11 75
Dallas Stars 82 33 44 5 71
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Joe Sakic COL 81 26 86 112
Daniel Briere PHX 79 32 66 98
Markus Naslund PIT 82 56 40 96
Zigmund Palffy NYI 82 45 49 94
Martin Havlat OTT 82 44 48 92
Oli Jokinen LA 82 48 43 91
Mario Lemieux PIT-STL 83 26 64 90
Joe Thornton BOS 74 36 53 89
Pavol Demitra OTT 69 26 63 89
Patrick Marleau MON 82 36 49 85
Scott Gomez NJ 82 23 62 85
Teemu Selanne PHX 73 44 39 83
Marian Hossa OTT 82 32 51 83
Jaromir Jagr PIT 65 34 48 82
Martin St. Louis CGY 78 44 37 81
Glenn Murray BOS 82 18 63 81
Milan Hejduk COL 75 44 36 80
Peter Forsberg PHI 82 22 56 78
Mike Modano DAL 82 32 44 76
GOALIE WIN LEADERS TM W-L-T GAA SAVE%
Manny Legace DET 44-19-6 1.73 .917
Martin Brodeur NJ 43-17-8 2.20 .919
John Vanbiesbrouck NYR 41-20-7 2.30 .915
Mikka Kiprusoff VAN 37-23-13 2.30 .921
Corey Schwab LA 36-23-12 2.41 .916
Patrick Lalime EDM 35-22-10 2.47 .909
John Grahame NSH 32-18-4 2.22 .903
Tim Thomas BOS 31-15-5 2.03 .912
Garth Snow CGY 30-17-7 2.57 .910
Ed Belfour ANA 29-30-5 2.64 .916
Peter Budaj TOR 29-14-6 2.54 .906
PLAYOFFS
Led by Jaromir Jagr's 20 points in 13 playoff games over the first two rounds the Pittsburgh Penguins advanced to the Eastern Conference Final where they will meet the Boston Bruins. The Penguins needed 7 games to eliminate the Rangers in the opening round before beating the Islanders in 6. Boston won both of it's first two series in 6 games, stopping first Ottawa and then Toronto.
The Colorado Avalanche remain in the running for their fourth straight Stanley Cup as they advanced to the Western Conference Finals with a sweep of Chicago followed by a 5 game series win over Edmonton. The Avalanche will face the Los Angeles Kings, who swept Phoenix and Calgary in the first two rounds.
CONFERENCE FINALS
Colorado had no trouble with Los Angeles as the Avalanche won in four straight winning by scores of 5-2, 2-0, 3-1 and 5-2. The Bruins needed 5 games to eliminate Pittsburgh despite 5 more points from Jagr in the series for the Pens.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
Colorado is looking for it's 4th straight Cup and what would be the 6th in franchise history (one came in Quebec) while the Bruins already have 6 Cups on their resume with the last one coming in 1981. Since then Boston has made the finals 3 times (1985, 1999 and 2000) but lost all 3 - one to Minnesota and the 2 most recent ones to Detroit.
Stephane Quintal's goal with just under 4 minutes remaining in regulation snapped a 2-2 tie and gave the Bruins a 3-2 victory in Game One. Joe Thornton and Sergei Zinovyev also scored for Boston while Owen Nolan and Mats Sundin replied for Colorado.
Another late goal lifts the Bruins to a 2-1 victory in Game Two. This time it was Anson Carter who scored with 2:06 remaining in regulation. Mats Sundin tied the game with a goal in the second period after Boston took a first period lead on Brad Lukowich's 7th of the postseason.
Boston takes a 3-0 series lead with a 4-3 overtime victory in Game Three. Trent Whitfield got the game winner with Joe Thornton, Mark Smith and Sergie Zinovyev also scoring for Boston. Joe Sakic had 2 for the Avalanche with John-Michael Liles getting the other goal.
Colorado stays alive with a 2-1 win in Game Four as Sakic scores once and assists on Brian Willsie's game winner. Jonathan Girard had the lone Boston tally.
Has the momentum changed? Colorado has the comeback this time as Mikko Eloranta ties the game late in the third period and Owen Nolan gets the game winner 11 minutes into overtime as Colorado wins 6-5.
The Avalanche, sensing they are in the middle of an incredible comeback, win for the third straight game by blanking Boston 4-0 in Game Six. Joe Sakic, Brian Willsie, Marek Svatos and Alex Tanguay get the goals while rookie goaltender Marc Denis continues an incredible playoff run with his 6th shutout of the post-season.
Marc Denis, who entered the postseason having played just 17 NHL games and never recorded a shutout, earned his 7th shutout of the post-season as the Avalanche blanked Boston 3-0 to win their fourth straight game, capping a huge comeback for their 4th straight Stanley Cup title.
Denis finishes the postseason with a 16-4 record, 7 shutouts, a 1.49 GAA and a .924 save percentage but the Conn Smythe goes to John-Michael Liles for the second year in a row. Liles had 4 goals and 18 points in the playoffs.
Code:
PLAYOFF SCORING LEADERS GP G A PTS
Joe Thornton BOS 24 16 9 25
Jaromir Jagr PIT 18 12 13 25
Joe Sakic COL 20 8 16 24
Mats Sundin COL 20 8 15 23
Glenn Murray BOS 24 6 13 19
Claude Lemieux COL 20 11 7 18
Alex Tanguay COL 20 5 13 18
John-Michael Liles COL 20 4 14 18
Owen Nolan COL 20 11 6 17
Markus Naslund PIT 16 8 9 17
Milan Hejduk COL 20 5 12 17
Patrice Bergeron BOS 24 1 16 17
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Joe Sakic Colorado (81GP 26-86-112)
VEZINA TROPHY: Martin Brodeur New Jersey (43-17-8, 2.20)
NORRIS TROPHY: Nicklas Lidstrom Detroit (82GP 13-50-63)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Joe Sakic Colorado (81GP 26-86-112)
CALDER TROPHY: Patrice Bergeron Boston (82GP 10-37-47)
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 Manny Legace Detroit Martin Brodeur New Jersey
D Dan Boyle Florida Brian Leetch NY Rangers
D Nic Lidstrom Detroit Sandis Ozolinsh Edmonton
C Joe Sakic Colorado Oli Jokinen Los Angeles
LW Markus Naslund Pittsburgh Joe Thornton Boston
RW Zigmund Palffy NY Islanders Jaromir Jagr Pittsburgh