2005–06 NHL season

The modernized NHL shield logo

The 2005-06 NHL season is the 88th season (originally the 89th season) of the National Hockey League. This is the season after the 2004-05 season which was cancelled due to a labour dispute with the NHL Players Association over the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the league and its players.

On July 13, 2005, the NHL and NHLPA jointly announced that they had tentatively agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement which would allow the resumption of hockey for the 2005-06 season. The agreement was voted on July 21 by NHLPA members, and approved by a nearly 7-to-1 margin. The following day, the NHL's board of governors (owners) voted unanimously to approve the new agreement.

A new logo for the NHL was also unveiled, with "NHL" printed in upward-reading letters to project a vibrant, optimistic image, and having silver as the dominant colour to pay homage to the Stanley Cup. [1] American Television will also have a new look. OLN (formerly Outdoor Life Network) will take over broadcasting rights after ESPN decided not to renew their rights on cable television. The network, owned by Comcast, will have Monday and Tuesday night games during the regular season under an exclusivetivity clause prohibiting local telecasts those nights in the two participating teams' markets. NBC returns as the NHL's over-the-air partner after ABC parted ways following the 2003-04 season. They will carry select games on a regional basis starting in January. Comcast high-speed cable internet customers can watch at least 5 games a week over the internet as part of the new TV deal.

Rule changes

A number of new rules were introduced for the 2005-06 season:

In case of a tie game after overtime, there is a shoot out with three shots per team, and if it is still tied, the shootout becomes sudden death. In preseason games (regardless of the outcome) shootouts were held. NOTE: This rule will only be in effect for regular-season games. Playoff games will continue with twenty-minute periods until a sudden-death goal is scored.

Two-line passes are now legal, meaning a player can now pass from inside their blue line to a player on their team on the opponents side of the red line.
The Offside rule has now been changed back (up until 1995 it was this way) to tag-up offside. Under the old rules, a player could not be in the attacking zone before the puck. Now, if the puck leaves the attacking zone, a player can shoot it back in before all his team mates are out of the zone. The only exception to this rule is if the player shooting the puck into the zone directs it towards a player on his team still in the zone.
The size of goaltender equipment was decreased by about 11%. In addition, the only area behind the goal line where a goalie can play the puck is in a new trapezoid-shaped zone directly behind the net.
The goalie may still play the puck forward of the goal line in the same manner as before.
The neutral zone becomes smaller by four feet (1.2 m), while the goal line was moved two feet (0.6 m) closer to the boards.
If a team ices the puck, they are not allowed to make a line change afterwards.
Linesmen are given more discretion when it comes to waving off icing calls when they are accidentally made as the result of a failed pass attempt.
Players who instigate a fight in the last five minutes of a game will be given a game misconduct penalty plus one-game suspension and the player's coach will be fined $10,000 (US).
All referees are equipped with wireless microphones so they can now announce penalties over the public address system.
With multiple penalties, only the first will be announced by the referee calling the penalty, with the others being announced by the arena's PA announcer.

In the minds of the NHL front office, the purpose of these new rule changes are to create a more exciting game and will create more scoring opportunities, and therefore more goals.

Regular season

File:3236.f edited.jpg

This logo appeared on all teams sweaters for their first game and the jerseys were auctioned off to benefit of the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The NHL season began on October 5, and for the first time in the league's history, all of the league's thirty teams played a game on opening night. In the first period of each game, all teams wore a jersey (or "sweater") with a special patch as the league and players association auctioned off those jerseys for the benefit of the Red Cross in both the USA and Canada earmarking the proceeds for Hurricane Katrina victims. On opening night of this season, Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley, of the Ottawa Senators became the first players to score the winning goals for a shoot out in NHL History, they both scored against the Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Ed Belfour. Their sticks were subsequently sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The All-Star Game, which would have been in Phoenix this year, will not take place (they will get the 2009 event as a replacement); the league will instead take a break in February so that its players can participate in the 2006 Winter Olympics. The new schedule will feature more intra-division games in order to promote division rivalries. Consequently, there will be whole divisions in the opposite conference that teams will never play in the season.

Four games had to be rescheduled due to various events. Hurricane Wilma had forced the NHL (among other major league sports) to reschedule two Florida Panthers home games. Their game against Ottawa Senators scheduled on October 22 was rescheduled to December 5, the game against Washington Capitals that was scheduled for October 29 was moved to December 1. The Nashville Predators-Detroit Red Wings game on November 22 was called with 7:30 left in the first period after Red Wings defenseman Jíři Fischer suffered a seizure and had to be reanimated. It was rescheduled to January 23,2006. Thus, the originally scheduled game at Nashville between the two teams was moved to March 30, 2006.

Standings

As of December 27, 2005.

Shaded denotes top eight teams in each conference (playoff spots)

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
File:PhiladelphiaFlyers 100.png Philadelphia Flyers	35	22	8	5	132	110	49
File:NewYorkRangers 100.png New York Rangers	37	21	12	4	113	95	46
File:NewYorkIslanders 100.png New York Islanders	35	17	16	2	116	127	36
File:NewJerseyDevils 100.png New Jersey Devils	36	15	16	5	100	113	35
File:PittsburghPenguins 100.png Pittsburgh Penguins	34	8	19	7	92	138	23

Northeast Division	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
File:OttawaSenators 100.png Ottawa Senators	34	25	6	3	148	75	53
File:BuffaloSabres 100.png Buffalo Sabres	37	25	11	1	123	113	51
File:TorontoMapleLeafs 100.png Toronto Maple Leafs	36	19	14	3	118	117	41
File:Montrealcanadienslogo.gif Montreal Canadiens	34	17	11	6	97	109	40
File:BostonBruins 100.png Boston Bruins	35	12	17	6	101	115	30

Southeast Division	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
File:CarolinaHurricanes 100.png Carolina Hurricanes	35	23	9	3	130	112	49
File:TampaBayLightning 100.png Tampa Bay Lightning	37	19	15	3	116	119	41
File:AtlantaThrashers 100.png Atlanta Thrashers	37	16	16	5	128	132	37
File:FloridaPanthers 100.png Florida Panthers	38	13	20	5	98	122	31
File:WashingtonCapitals 100.png Washington Capitals	33	12	19	2	96	129	26

Western Conference

Central Division	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
File:DetroitRedWings 100.png Detroit Red Wings	36	24	9	3	136	97	51
File:NashvillePredators 100.png Nashville Predators	33	23	7	3	109	92	49
File:ChicagoBlackhawks 100.png Chicago Blackhawks	35	13	18	4	98	126	30
File:StLouisBlues 100.png St. Louis Blues	33	8	21	4	90	133	20
File:ColumbusBlueJackets 100.png Columbus Blue Jackets	35	9	25	1	72	129	19

Northwest Division	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
File:Edmonton Oilers.gif Edmonton Oilers	37	21	12	4	125	115	46
File:CalgaryFlames 100.png Calgary Flames	36	21	11	4	92	89	46
File:VancouverCanucks 100.png Vancouver Canucks	36	20	11	5	122	113	45
File:ColoradoAvalanche 100.png Colorado Avalanche	37	19	15	3	139	125	41
File:MinnesotaWild 100.png Minnesota Wild	36	16	16	4	101	89	36

Pacific Division	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
File:DallasStars 100.png Dallas Stars	34	23	10	1	118	92	47
File:LosAngelesKings 100.png Los Angeles Kings	38	23	14	1	131	110	47
File:PhoenixCoyotes 100.png Phoenix Coyotes	37	18	17	2	104	103	38
File:AnaheimMightyDucks 100.png Anaheim Mighty Ducks	36	16	14	6	103	101	38
File:SanJoseSharks 100.png San Jose Sharks	35	15	15	5	105	111	35

Scoring leaders

As of December 25, 2005 9:46 AM

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Jaromir Jagr	New York Rangers	37	23	32	55	28
Daniel Alfredsson	Ottawa Senators	34	23	29	52	16
Dany Heatley	Ottawa Senators	34	23	28	51	30
Eric Staal	Carolina Hurricanes	35	26	25	51	22
Peter Forsberg	Philadelphia Flyers	29	12	38	50	22
Joe Thornton	San Jose Sharks	34	12	38	50	17
Marc Savard	Atlanta Thrashers	37	16	33	49	60
Ilya Kovalchuk	Atlanta Thrashers	33	23	25	48	38
Jason Spezza	Ottawa Senators	30	13	34	47	23
Pavol Demitra	Los Angeles Kings	38	18	28	46	26

Leading goaltenders

As of December 27, 2005. Minimum 500 minutes played.

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	OT	GA	SO	Sv%	GAA
Marty Turco	Dallas Stars	28	1638	18	9	1	69	2	.900	2.53
Tomas Vokoun	Nashville Predators	25	1474	18	5	2	62	1	.919	2.52
Dominik Hasek	Ottawa Senators	25	1513	18	5	2	53	3	.928	2.10
Miikka Kiprusoff	Calgary Flames	32	1901	18	10	4	72	5	.912	2.27
Martin Gerber	Carolina Hurricanes	26	1467	17	6	2	65	2	.912	2.66

Stanley Cup playoffs

Stanley Cup finals

NHL awards

Presidents' Trophy:
Prince of Wales Trophy:
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy:
Calder Memorial Trophy:
Conn Smythe Trophy:
Frank J. Selke Trophy:
Hart Memorial Trophy:
Jack Adams Award:
James Norris Memorial Trophy:
King Clancy Memorial Trophy:
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:
Lester B. Pearson Award:
Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy:
NHL Plus/Minus Award:
Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award:
Vezina Trophy:
William M. Jennings Trophy:
Lester Patrick Trophy:

References

Preceded by 2004-05 NHL season	NHL seasons	Succeeded by 2006-07 NHL season