2003-04 NHL season

The 2003-04 NHL season was the 87th regular season of the National Hockey League. Thirty teams each played 82 games. The Stanley Cup winners were the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the best of seven series 4–3 against the Calgary Flames. This was the first season since the 1969-70 season that teams wear their dark jerseys at home.
This was the final season that ABC and ESPN televised NHL games. It was also the final NHL season before the 2004-05 NHL lockout, and the final season in which games could end in ties.
==Regular season==
The 2003-04 season was one overhung by concern over the expiry of the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement. It would lead to a shuttering of the league for the entirety of the next season. During the entire season, Commissioner Gary Bettman and Players Association head Bob Goodenow waged a war of words with no agreement being signed.
On September 26, just before the season was to begin, young Atlanta Thrashers star Dany Heatley crashed his Ferrari in suburban Atlanta. The passenger, Thrashers workhorse Dan Snyder, was killed. Heatley himself was badly injured and eventually charged with vehicular homicide. The entire NHL thus began the season in mourning.
Going into the season the two favorites were the Ottawa Senators in the east, who had won the Presidents' Trophy and come within a win of the Stanley Cup finals the year before; and the Colorado Avalanche in the west, who despite losing legendary goaltender Patrick Roy to retirement, added both Teemu Selänne and Paul Kariya to an already star-studded lineup. Neither of these teams was as successful as expected, with Ottawa finishing fifth in the conference and Colorado finishing fourth, losing the Northwest Division title for the first time in a decade.
The greatest disappointments were the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who, despite making it to game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals the year before and adding Sergei Fedorov and Vaclav Prospal, failed to make the playoffs. In the East the star-studded New York Rangers again failed to make the playoffs. The Washington Capitals, who were regarded as a contender, also stumbled early and never recovered. The end of the season saw two of the most extensive housecleanings in league history as the Rangers and Capitals traded away most of their stars and entered rebuilding mode. The Capitals dumped Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra, Sergei Gonchar, Robert Lang, Steve Konowalchuk, and Anson Carter. The Rangers moved Petr Nedved, Brian Leetch, Anson Carter, and Alexei Kovalev.
The most surprising teams were the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference and San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference. The Lightning, who had a remarkable season with only 20 man-games lost to injury, finished atop the Eastern Conference. The Sharks, who were firmly in rebuilding mode after a disastrous 28-37-9-8 campaign the last season, came second in the Western Conference and won the Pacific Division.
Two other teams that did better than expected were carried by surprising young goaltenders. The Calgary Flames ended a seven-year playoff drought backed by the solid play of Miikka Kiprusoff. The Boston Bruins won the Northeast Division by a whisker over the Toronto Maple Leafs with the help of eventual Calder Memorial Trophy winner Andrew Raycroft.
Goaltending was also the story of the Presidents' Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings as the return from retirement of legend Dominik Hašek bumped Curtis Joseph to the minor leagues. At the same time long time back up Manny Legace put up better numbers than both veterans and won the starting job in the playoffs.
Of note is the fact that the Nashville Predators made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. They put up a valiant effort but were unable to overcome the Hockey Hall of Fame-bound roster of the Red Wings in the first round.
===Final standings===
 won the Presidents' Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
 clinched the other conference.
 clinched the other four divisions.
 clinched the remaining ten playoff berths.
Numbers in parentheses indicate ranking in conference. Division leaders are automatically ranked 1-3. These three, plus the next five teams in the conference standings, earn playoff berths at the end of the season.
====Eastern Conference====
Atlantic Division 	W 	L 	T 	OTL	GF 	GA 	PTS
Philadelphia Flyers (3) 	40	21	15	6 	229	186	101
New Jersey Devils (6) 	43	25	12	2 	213	164	100
New York Islanders (8) 	38	29	11	4 	237	210	91
New York Rangers (13) 	27	40	7 	8 	206	250	69
Pittsburgh Penguins (15)	23	47	8 	4 	190	303	58
Northeast Division 	W 	L 	T 	OTL	GF 	GA 	PTS
Boston Bruins (2) 	41	19	15	7 	209	188	104
Toronto Maple Leafs (4)	45	24	10	3 	242	204	103
Ottawa Senators (5) 	43	23	10	6 	262	189	102
Montreal Canadiens (7) 	41	30	7 	4 	208	192	93
Buffalo Sabres (9) 	37	34	7 	4 	220	221	85
Southeast Division 	W 	L 	T 	OTL	GF 	GA 	PTS
Tampa Bay Lightning (1) 	46	22	8 	6 	245	192	106
Atlanta Thrashers (10) 	33	37	8 	7 	214	243	78
Carolina Hurricanes (11)	28	34	14	6 	172	209	76
Florida Panthers (12) 	28	35	15	4 	188	221	75
Washington Capitals (14)	23	46	10	3 	186	253	59
====Western Conference====
Central Division 	W 	L 	T 	OTL	GF 	GA 	PTS
Detroit Red Wings (1) 	48	21	11	2 	255	189	109
St. Louis Blues (7) 	39	30	11	2 	191	198	91
Nashville Predators (8) 	38	29	11	4 	216	217	91
Columbus Blue Jackets (14)	25	45	8 	4 	177	238	62
Chicago Blackhawks (15) 	20	43	11	8 	188	259	59
Northwest Division 	W 	L 	T 	OTL	GF 	GA 	PTS
Vancouver Canucks (3) 	43	24	10	5 	235	194	101
Colorado Avalanche (4)	40	22	13	7 	236	198	100
Calgary Flames (6) 	42	30	7 	3 	200	176	94
Edmonton Oilers (9) 	36	29	12	5 	221	208	89
Minnesota Wild (10) 	30	29	20	3 	188	183	83
Pacific Division 	W 	L 	T 	OTL	GF 	GA 	PTS
San Jose Sharks (2) 	43	21	12	6 	219	183	104
Dallas Stars (5) 	41	26	13	2 	194	175	97
Los Angeles Kings (11) 	28	29	16	9 	205	217	81
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (12)	29	35	10	8 	184	213	76
Phoenix Coyotes (13) 	22	36	18	6 	188	245	68
===Scoring leaders===
Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points
Player 	Team 	GP	G 	A 	Pts
Martin St. Louis 	Tampa Bay 	82	38	56	94
Ilya Kovalchuk 	Atlanta 	81	41	46	87
Joe Sakic 	Colorado 	81	33	54	87
Markus Naslund 	Vancouver 	78	35	49	84
Marian Hossa 	Ottawa 	81	36	46	82
Patrik Elias 	New Jersey 	82	38	43	81
Daniel Alfredsson	Ottawa 	77	32	48	80
Cory Stillman 	Tampa Bay 	81	25	55	80
Robert Lang 	Washington / Detroit	69	30	49	79
Brad Richards 	Tampa Bay 	82	26	53	79
===Leading goaltenders===
Note: GP = Games Played; Mins = Minutes Played; W = Wins; L = Losses: OT = Overtime Losses; GA = Goals Allowed; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals Against Average
Player 	Team 	GP	Mins	W 	L 	T 	GA 	SO	SV 	GAA
Martin Brodeur	New Jersey	75	4554	38	26	11	154	11	.917	2.03
Marty Turco 	Dallas 	73	4359	37	21	13	144	9 	.913	1.98
Ed Belfour 	Toronto 	59	3444	34	19	6 	122	10	.918	2.13
Tomas Vokoun 	Nashville 	73	4221	34	29	10	178	3 	.909	2.53
Dan Cloutier 	Vancouver 	60	3539	33	21	6 	134	5 	.914	2.27
==Stanley Cup Playoffs==
Note: All dates in 2004.
The 2004 playoffs were considered to be wide open with no clear favourite. All of the top teams had weaknesses. Tampa Bay and Boston were both young teams with no history of recent postseason success. Detroit, Ottawa, Colorado, and Philadelphia all had major questions in goal. New Jersey was marred by injuries to Scott Stevens and Brian Rafalski, while Vancouver was missing the suspended Todd Bertuzzi.
The first-round Eastern Conference matchups were notable for the number of heated rivalries. The Ottawa Senators met the Toronto Maple Leafs for the fourth time in five years in the always passion-filled Battle of Ontario. The Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens met in a resumption of the most common of all NHL playoff series, and one which the Canadiens have thoroughly dominated, including an upset win two years prior. The Philadelphia Flyers also played a hated division rival in the New Jersey Devils. The only non-rivalry was the Tampa Bay-New York Islanders series.
The West saw the resumption of the Vancouver-Calgary rivalry, which had been somewhat dormant as the Flames had missed the playoffs for seven years in a row. In a less passionate but still interesting matchup, Detroit played division rival Nashville, whom they had struggled against during the regular season in Nashville's first ever franchise visit to the playoffs. San Jose met the St. Louis Blues, while the always difficult four-five matchup saw Colorado and Dallas meet.
The Calgary Flames, a sixth seed, defeated three straight division champions, the Canucks, the Red Wings and the Sharks to become the first Canadian team to reach the Stanley Cup Finals in ten years, since the Canucks lost to the Rangers in the Finals in 1994. They faced the Tampa Bay Lightning, who defeated the Islanders in five, swept the Canadiens and defeated the Flyers in seven games.
The Flames and the Lightning battled hard in the Stanley Cup Finals, eventually pushing the series to seven games. By game 5, the Flames took the 3-2 series lead back to Calgary, and in game six, a puck appeared to have gone into the net, which would have made the game 3-2, but the goal light did not go on, the referee did not signal that a goal had been scored, and play went on, no goal counted. Extensive replays showed the play was inconclusive. The Lightning would win the game in over time, and go on to win the Stanley Cup with a 2-1 win in game seven, with two goals from Ruslan Fedotenko. Brad Richards, with a team-high 25 points in the playoffs, was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy.
===Playoff bracket===
===Conference Quarterfinals===
====Eastern Conference Quarterfinals====
{| cellpadding="5" border="1" 	Tampa Bay vs. NY Islanders 	Tampa Bay vs. NY Islanders 	Tampa Bay vs. NY Islanders 	Tampa Bay vs. NY Islanders 	Tampa Bay vs. NY Islanders
Date 	Away 	Home 	OT 	Score 	
April 8 	NY Islanders 	Tampa Bay 	 	3 - 0 	
April 10 	NY Islanders 	Tampa Bay 	 	3 - 0 	
April 12 	Tampa Bay 	NY Islanders 	 	3 - 0 	
April 14 	Tampa Bay 	NY Islanders 	 	3 - 0 	
April 16 	NY Islanders 	Tampa Bay 	OT 	3 - 2 	
Tampa Bay wins series 4–1	Tampa Bay wins series 4–1	Tampa Bay wins series 4–1	Tampa Bay wins series 4–1	Tampa Bay wins series 4–1	
====Western Conference Quarterfinals====
{| cellpadding="5" border="1"	Colorado vs. Dallas 	Colorado vs. Dallas 	Colorado vs. Dallas 	Colorado vs. Dallas 	Colorado vs. Dallas
Date 	Away 	Home 	OT 	Score 	
April 7 	Dallas 	Colorado 	 	3 - 1 	
April 9 	Dallas 	Colorado 	 	5 - 2 	
April 12 	Colorado 	Dallas 	OT 	4 - 3 	
April 14 	Colorado 	Dallas 	2OT 	3 - 2 	
April 17 	Dallas 	Colorado 	 	5 - 1 	
Colorado wins series 4–1	Colorado wins series 4–1	Colorado wins series 4–1	Colorado wins series 4–1	Colorado wins series 4–1	
===Conference Semifinals===
====Eastern Conference Semifinals====
{| cellpadding="5" border="1" 	Tampa Bay vs. Montreal 	Tampa Bay vs. Montreal 	Tampa Bay vs. Montreal 	Tampa Bay vs. Montreal 	Tampa Bay vs. Montreal
Date 	Away 	Home 	OT 	Score 	
April 23 	Montreal 	Tampa Bay 	 	4 - 0 	
April 25 	Montreal 	Tampa Bay 	 	3 - 1 	
April 27 	Tampa Bay 	Montreal 	OT 	4 - 3 	
April 29 	Tampa Bay 	Montreal 	 	3 - 1 	
Tampa Bay wins series 4–0	Tampa Bay wins series 4–0	Tampa Bay wins series 4–0	Tampa Bay wins series 4–0	Tampa Bay wins series 4–0	
====Western Conference Semifinals====
{| cellpadding="5" border="1"	Detroit vs. Calgary 	Detroit vs. Calgary 	Detroit vs. Calgary 	Detroit vs. Calgary 	Detroit vs. Calgary
Date 	Away 	Home 	OT 	Score 	
April 22 	Calgary 2 	1 Detroit 	 	 	
April 24 	Calgary 2 	5 Detroit 	 	 	
April 27 	Detroit 2 	3 Calgary 	 	 	
April 29 	Detroit 4 	2 Calgary 	 	 	
May 1 	Calgary 1 	0 Detroit 	 	 	
May 3 	Detroit 0 	1 Calgary 	OT 	 	
Calgary wins series 4–2	Calgary wins series 4–2	Calgary wins series 4–2	Calgary wins series 4–2	Calgary wins series 4–2	
===Conference Finals===
{| cellpadding="3" border="1" 	Eastern ConferenceTampa Bay vs. Philadelphia 	Eastern ConferenceTampa Bay vs. Philadelphia 	Eastern ConferenceTampa Bay vs. Philadelphia 	Eastern ConferenceTampa Bay vs. Philadelphia
Date 	Away 	Home 	  	
May 8 	Philadelphia 1 	3 Tampa Bay 	  	
May 10 	Philadelphia 6 	2 Tampa Bay 	  	
May 12 	Tampa Bay 4 	1 Philadelphia 	  	
May 15] 	Tampa Bay 2 	3 Philadelphia 	  	
May 18 	Philadelphia 2 	4 Tampa Bay 	  	
May 20 	Tampa Bay 4 	5 Philadelphia 	OT 	
May 22 	Philadelphia 1 	2 Tampa Bay 	  	
Tampa Bay wins series 4–3and Prince of Wales Trophy	Tampa Bay wins series 4–3and Prince of Wales Trophy	Tampa Bay wins series 4–3and Prince of Wales Trophy	Tampa Bay wins series 4–3and Prince of Wales Trophy	
===Finals===
Tampa Bay vs. Calgary 	Tampa Bay vs. Calgary 	Tampa Bay vs. Calgary 	Tampa Bay vs. Calgary
Date 	Away 	Home 	 
May 25 	Calgary 4 	1 Tampa Bay 	 
May 27 	Calgary 1 	4 Tampa Bay 	 
May 29 	Tampa Bay 0 	3 Calgary 	 
May 31 	Tampa Bay 1 	0 Calgary 	 
June 3 	Calgary 3 	2 Tampa Bay 	OT
June 5 	Tampa Bay 3 	2 Calgary 	2OT
June 7 	Calgary 1 	2 Tampa Bay 	 
Tampa Bay wins series4–3 and Stanley Cup 	Tampa Bay wins series4–3 and Stanley Cup 	Tampa Bay wins series4–3 and Stanley Cup 	Tampa Bay wins series4–3 and Stanley Cup
Brad Richards (Tampa Bay)wins Conn Smythe Trophy	Brad Richards (Tampa Bay)wins Conn Smythe Trophy	Brad Richards (Tampa Bay)wins Conn Smythe Trophy	Brad Richards (Tampa Bay)wins Conn Smythe Trophy
===Scoring leaders===
Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points
Player 	Team 	GP	G 	A 	Pts
Brad Richards 	Tampa Bay 	23	12	13	25
Martin St. Louis 	Tampa Bay 	23	9 	15	24
Jarome Iginla 	Calgary 	26	13	9 	22
Fredrik Modin 	Tampa Bay 	23	8 	11	19
Craig Conroy 	Calgary 	26	6 	11	17
Vincent Lecavalier	Tampa Bay 	23	9 	7 	16
Keith Primeau 	Philadelphia	18	9 	7 	16
Martin Gelinas 	Calgary 	26	8 	6 	14
Vincent Damphousse	San Jose 	17	7 	7 	14
Alexei Zhamnov 	Philadelphia	18	4 	10	14
==NHL awards==
The NHL Awards presentation took place in Toronto.
Presidents' Trophy: 	Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy: 	Tampa Bay Lightning
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl: 	Calgary Flames
Art Ross Memorial Trophy: 	Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy: 	Bryan Berard, Chicago Blackhawks
Calder Memorial Trophy: 	Andrew Raycroft, Boston Bruins
Conn Smythe Trophy: 	Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lighting
Frank J. Selke Trophy: 	Kris Draper, Detroit Red Wings
Hart Memorial Trophy: 	Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
Jack Adams Award: 	John Tortorella, Tampa Bay Lightning
James Norris Memorial Trophy: 	Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey Devils
King Clancy Memorial Trophy: 	Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy: 	Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lightning
Lester B. Pearson Award: 	Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
Lester Patrick Trophy: 	Mike Emrick, John Davidson, Ray Miron
Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy: 	Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames;Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers;Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets
NHL Plus/Minus Award: 	Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning;Marek Malik, Vancouver Canucks
Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award:	Dwayne Roloson, Minnesota Wild
Vezina Trophy: 	Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
William M. Jennings Trophy: 	Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
===All-Star teams===
First Team 	  Position  	Second Team
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils 	G 	Roberto Luongo, Florida Panthers
Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey Devils 	D 	Chris Pronger, St. Louis Blues
Zdeno Chara, Ottawa Senators 	D 	Bryan McCabe, Toronto Maple Leafs
Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche 	C 	Mats Sundin, Toronto Maple Leafs
Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning	RW 	Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames
Markus Naslund, Vancouver Canucks 	LW 	Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers
==Debuts==
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 2003-04 (listed with their first team):
*Chris Kunitz, Anaheim Mighty Ducks
*Joffrey Lupul, Anaheim Mighty Ducks
*Kari Lehtonen, Atlanta Thrashers
*Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
*Derek Roy, Buffalo Sabres
*Jason Pominville, Buffalo Sabres
*Matthew Lombardi, Calgary Flames
*Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
*Tuomo Ruutu, Chicago Blackhawks
*John-Michael Liles, Colorado Avalanche
*Marek Svatos, Colorado Avalanche
*Nikolai Zherdev, Columbus Blue Jackets
*Pascal Leclaire, Columbus Blue Jackets
*Nathan Horton, Florida Panthers
*Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings
*Zbynek Michalek, Minnesota Wild
*Chris Higgins, Montreal Canadiens
*Michael Ryder, Montreal Canadiens
*Tomas Plekanec, Montreal Canadiens
*Dan Hamhuis, Nashville Predators
*Jordin Tootoo, Nashville Predators
*Marek Zidlicky, Nashville Predators
*Paul Martin, New Jersey Devils
*Antoine Vermette, Ottawa Senators
*Antero Niittymaki, Philadelphia Flyers
*Joni Pitkanen, Philadelphia Flyers
*Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins
*Ryan Malone, Pittsburgh Penguins
*Brad Boyes, San Jose Sharks
*Christian Ehrhoff, San Jose Sharks
*Milan Michalek, San Jose Sharks
*Tom Preissing, San Jose Sharks
*Kyle Wellwood, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals
==Last games==
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 2003-04 (listed with their last team):
*Byron Dafoe, Atlanta Thrashers
*Felix Potvin, Boston Bruins
*Rob Zamuner, Boston Bruins
*James Patrick, Buffalo Sabres
*Dave Lowry, Calgary Flames
*Roman Turek, Calgary Flames
*Arturs Irbe, Carolina Hurricanes
*Tommy Salo, Colorado Avalanche
*Don Sweeney, Dallas Stars
*Ron Tugnutt, Dallas Stars
*Shayne Corson, Dallas Stars
*Valeri Bure, Dallas Stars
*Steve Thomas, Detroit Red Wings
*Adam Oates, Edmonton Oilers
*Donald Audette, Florida Panthers
*Joe Juneau, Montreal Canadiens
*Stephane Quintal, Montreal Canadiens
*Igor Larionov, New Jersey Devils
*Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils
*Cliff Ronning, New York Islanders
*Kenny Jonsson, New York Islanders
*Mark Messier, New York Rangers
*Curtis Leschyshyn, Ottawa Senators
*Rob Ray, Ottawa Senators
*Kelly Buchberger, Pittsburgh Penguins
*Vincent Damphousse, San Jose Sharks
*Al MacInnis, St. Louis Blues
*Murray Baron, St. Louis Blues
*Drake Berehowsky, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Calle Johansson, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Mikael Renberg, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Robert Reichel, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Ron Francis, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Mike Keane, Vancouver Canucks
*Marc Bergevin, Vancouver Canucks
==Hat tricks==
==See also==
*List of Stanley Cup champions
*2003 NHL Entry Draft
*54th National Hockey League All-Star Game
*2003-04 NHL transactions
*NHL All-Star Game
*NHL All-Rookie Team
==References==
*Hockey Database
*NHL Official Website
NHL season
NHL season