2018–19 NHL season

The **2018–19 NHL season** was the 102nd season of operation (101st season of play) of the National Hockey League. 31 teams competed in an 82-game regular season. The regular season began on October 3, 2018, and ended on April 6, 2019. The 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs began on April 10, 2019, and the Stanley Cup Finals concluded on June 12, 2019, with the St. Louis Blues winning their first Stanley Cup in the Finals over the Boston Bruins in seven games.

## Standings

Tie Breakers:

1. Fewer number of games played

2. Greater Regulation + OT Wins (ROW)

3. Greatest number of points earned in head-to-head play (If teams played an uneven number of head-to-head games, the result of the first game on the home ice of the team with the extra home game is discarded.)

4. Greater Goal differential

### Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in regular season points at the conclusion of games played on April 6, 2019.

|style="width: 12em;"|Player|style="width: 13em;"|Team|style="width: 4em;"||style="width: 4em;"||style="width: 4em;"||style="width: 4em;"||data-sort-type="number" style="width: 4em;"||style="width: 4em;"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Tampa Bay Lightning|82|41|87|**128**|+24|62|||||||||
||Edmonton Oilers|78|41|75|**116**|+3|20|||||||||
||Chicago Blackhawks|81|44|66|**110**|+2|22|||||||||
||Edmonton Oilers|82|50|55|**105**|+2|52|||||||||
||Boston Bruins|79|36|64|**100**|+15|96|||||||||
||Pittsburgh Penguins|79|35|65|**100**|+18|36|||||||||
||Colorado Avalanche|82|41|58|**99**|+20|34|||||||||
||Calgary Flames|82|36|63|**99**|+18|24|||||||||
||Tampa Bay Lightning|82|45|53|**98**|+4|37|||||||||
||Florida Panthers|82|35|61|**96**|–3|8|||||||||

### Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in regular season goals against average at the conclusion of games played on April 6, 2019, while playing at least 1,800 minutes.

|style="width: 10em;"|Player|style="width: 12em;"|Team|style="width: 3.5em;"||style="width: 6em;"||style="width: 3.5em;"||style="width: 3.5em;"||style="width: 3.5em;"||style="width: 4em;"||style="width: 3.5em;"||style="width: 4em;"||style="width: 4em;"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||St. Louis Blues|32||24|5|1|59|5|.927|**1.89**||||||||||||
||Dallas Stars|46||27|15|2|87|7|.934|**1.98**||||||||||||
||New York Islanders|46||25|13|5|93|6|.930|**2.13**||||||||||||
||New York Islanders|43||23|14|2|87|5|.927|**2.28**||||||||||||
||Arizona Coyotes|55||27|20|8|126|5|.925|**2.33**||||||||||||
||Boston Bruins|40||22|11|4|90|5|.922|**2.34**||||||||||||
||Carolina Hurricanes|40||23|14|3|95|4|.914|**2.39**||||||||||||
||Tampa Bay Lightning|53||39|10|4|128|6|.925|**2.40**||||||||||||
||Nashville Predators|56||30|19|4|130|4|.918|**2.42**||||||||||||
||Boston Bruins|46||27|13|5|109|4|.912|**2.48**||||||||||||

## NHL awards

The league's awards will be presented at the NHL Awards ceremony, to be held following the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs at a site to be determined. Finalists for voted awards are announced during the playoffs and winners are presented at the award ceremony. Voting will conclude immediately after the end of the regular season. The Presidents' Trophy, the Prince of Wales Trophy and Clarence S. Campbell Bowl are not presented at the awards ceremony. The Lester Patrick Trophy is announced during the summer and presented in the fall.

|Award|Recipient(s)|Runner(s)-up/Finalists|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Stanley Cup|St. Louis Blues|Boston Bruins|
|Presidents' Trophy <small>(Best regular-season record)</small> || Tampa Bay Lightning || Calgary Flames Boston Bruins|||
|Prince of Wales Trophy <small>(Eastern Conference champion)</small> || Boston Bruins || Carolina Hurricanes|||
|Clarence S. Campbell Bowl <small>(Western Conference champion)</small> || St. Louis Blues || San Jose Sharks|||
|Art Ross Trophy <small>(Player with most points)</small> || Nikita Kucherov <small>(Tampa Bay Lightning)</small> || Connor McDavid <small>(Edmonton Oilers)</small>|||
|Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy <small>(Perseverance, Sportsmanship, and Dedication)</small> || Robin Lehner <small>(New York Islanders)</small> || Nick Foligno <small>(Columbus Blue Jackets)</small> Joe Thornton <small>(San Jose Sharks)</small>|||
|Calder Memorial Trophy <small>(Best first-year player)</small> || Elias Pettersson <small>(Vancouver Canucks)</small> || Jordan Binnington <small>(St. Louis Blues)</small> Rasmus Dahlin <small>(Buffalo Sabres)</small>|||
|Conn Smythe Trophy <small>(Most valuable player, playoffs)</small> || Ryan O' Reilly <small>(St. Louis Blues)</small> || N/A|||
|Frank J. Selke Trophy <small>(Defensive forward)</small> || Ryan O'Reilly <small>(St. Louis Blues)</small> || Patrice Bergeron <small>(Boston Bruins)</small> Mark Stone <small>(Ottawa Senators/Vegas Golden Knights)</small>|||
|Hart Memorial Trophy <small>(Most valuable player, regular season)</small> || Nikita Kucherov <small>(Tampa Bay Lightning)</small> || Sidney Crosby <small>(Pittsburgh Penguins)</small> Connor McDavid <small>(Edmonton Oilers)</small>|||
|Jack Adams Award <small>(Best coach)</small> || Barry Trotz <small>(New York Islanders)</small> || Craig Berube <small>(St. Louis Blues)</small> Jon Cooper <small>(Tampa Bay Lightning)</small>|||
|James Norris Memorial Trophy <small>(Best defenseman)</small> || Mark Giordano <small>(Calgary Flames)</small> || Brent Burns <small>(San Jose Sharks)</small> Victor Hedman <small>(Tampa Bay Lightning)</small>|||
|King Clancy Memorial Trophy <small>(Leadership and humanitarian contribution)</small> || Jason Zucker <small>(Minnesota Wild)</small> || Oliver Ekman-Larsson <small>(Arizona Coyotes)</small> Henrik Lundqvist <small>(New York Rangers)</small>|||
|Lady Byng Memorial Trophy <small>(Sportsmanship and excellence)</small> || Aleksander Barkov <small>(Florida Panthers)</small> || Sean Monahan <small>(Calgary Flames)</small> Ryan O'Reilly <small>(St. Louis Blues)</small>|||
|Ted Lindsay Award <small>(Outstanding player)</small> || Nikita Kucherov <small>(Tampa Bay Lightning)</small> || Patrick Kane <small>(Chicago Blackhawks)</small> Connor McDavid <small>(Edmonton Oilers)</small>|||
|Mark Messier Leadership Award <small>(Leadership and community activities)</small> || Wayne Simmonds <small>(Philadelphia Flyers/Nashville Predators)</small> || Mark Giordano <small>(Calgary Flames)</small> Justin Williams <small>(Carolina Hurricanes)</small>|||
|Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy <small>(Top goal-scorer)</small> || Alexander Ovechkin <small>(Washington Capitals)</small> || Leon Draisaitl <small>(Edmonton Oilers)</small>|||
|NHL General Manager of the Year Award <small>(Top general manager)</small> || Don Sweeney <small>(Boston Bruins)</small> || Doug Armstrong <small>(St. Louis Blues)</small> Don Waddell <small>(Carolina Hurricanes)</small>|||
|Vezina Trophy <small>(Best goaltender)</small> || Andrei Vasilevskiy <small>(Tampa Bay Lightning)</small> || Ben Bishop <small>(Dallas Stars)</small> Robin Lehner <small>(New York Islanders)</small>|||
|William M. Jennings Trophy <small>(Goaltender(s) of team with fewest goals against)</small> || Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss <small>(New York Islanders)</small> || Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin <small>(Dallas Stars)</small>|||
|Lester Patrick Trophy <small>(Service to ice hockey in U.S.)</small> ||  || N/A|||

### All-Star teams

|Position|First Team|Second Team|Position|All-Rookie|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align=center|G|Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning|Ben Bishop, Dallas Stars|align=center|G|Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues|
|align=center|D|Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks|John Carlson, Washington Capitals|align=center|D|Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo Sabres|
|align=center|D|Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames|Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning|align=center|D|Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars|
|align=center|C|Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers|Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins|align=center|F|Anthony Cirelli, Tampa Bay Lightning|
|align=center|RW|Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning|Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks|align=center|F|Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks|
|align=center|LW|Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals|Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins|align=center|F|Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators|

### First games

The following is a list of notable players who played their first NHL game during the 2018–19 season, listed with their first team.
|Player|Team|Notability|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Rasmus Dahlin|Buffalo Sabres|First overall pick in the 2018 Draft|
|Elias Pettersson|Vancouver Canucks|2018–19 Calder Memorial Trophy winner|

### Last games

|Player|Team|Notability|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Roberto Luongo|Florida Panthers|William M. Jennings Trophy winner, 489 career games won, over 1,000 career games played, two-time NHL All-Star Team selection, six-time NHL All-Star|
|Brooks Orpik|Washington Capitals|Over 1,000 career games played.|
|Tomas Plekanec|Montreal Canadiens|Over 1,000 career games played.|

## Other websites

- 2018–19 NHL season schedule

## Infobox (sports season)

- **title**: 2018–19 NHL season
- **league**: National Hockey League
- **sport**: Ice hockey
- **duration**: October 3, 2018 – June 12, 2019
- **no of games**: 82
- **no of teams**: 31
- **tv**: Hockey Night in Canada, CBC, NHL on Sportsnet, Sportsnet, TVA Sports (Canada)
Wednesday Night Hockey (NBCSN), NBCSN, NHL on NBC, NBC, CNBC#Non-business programming, CNBC, NHL on USA, USA (United States)
- **draft**: Draft
- **draft link**: 2018 NHL Entry Draft
- **top pick link**: List of first overall NHL draft picks
- **top pick**: Rasmus Dahlin
- **picked by**: Buffalo Sabres
- **season**: Regular season
- **season champ name**: Presidents' Trophy
- **season champs**: 2018–19 Tampa Bay Lightning season, Tampa Bay Lightning
- **mvp**: Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning, Lightning)
- **mvp link**: Hart Memorial Trophy
- **top scorer**: Nikita Kucherov (Lightning)
- **top scorer link**: Art Ross Trophy
- **playoffs**: Playoffs
- **playoffs link**: 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs
- **finals**: Stanley Cup
- **finals link**: 2019 Stanley Cup Finals
- **finals champ**: St. Louis Blues
- **finals runner-up**: Boston Bruins
- **playoffs mvp**: Ryan O'Reilly (St. Louis Blues, Blues)
- **playoffs mvp link**: Conn Smythe Trophy
- **seasonslist**: List of NHL seasons
- **seasonslistnames**: NHL
- **prevseason year**: 2017–18 NHL season, 2017–18
- **nextseason year**: 2019–20 NHL season, 2019–20