NHL 2002/03

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NHL 2002/03
league NHL Logo 2005.svg National Hockey League
Period October 9, 2002 to June 9, 2003
Teams 30th
Games / team 82
Draft
Event NHL Entry Draft 2002
Top pick CanadaCanada Rick Nash
Elected by Columbus Blue Jackets
Regular season
Presidents' Trophy Ottawa Senators
MVP SwedenSweden Peter Forsberg (Colorado)
Top scorer SwedenSweden Peter Forsberg (Colorado)
Playoffs
Stanley Cup winner New Jersey Devils
finalist Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Playoff MVP CanadaCanada Jean-Sébastien Giguère (Anaheim)
NHL seasons
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The 2002/2003 NHL season was the 86th season in the National Hockey League . 30 teams played 82 games each. The Stanley Cup won the New Jersey Devils after a 4: 3 win in the final series against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim . Only for the third time after 1955 and 1965 were the final series celebrated exclusively home wins.

After a North American team had competed against an international selection of NHL players for five years, the mode of play in the NHL All-Star Game was changed back to “Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference "changed. It was also the last season that the teams wore their white jerseys at home games.

Regular season

As usual, there were a few surprises this season. The San Jose Sharks , which were expected to be far ahead, got into serious trouble early on and exchanged a large part of the team. The Minnesota Wild, on the other hand, reached the playoffs for the first time in the third year of their existence after a good start to the season, which earned their coach Jacques Lemaire the Jack Adams Award .

The young Canadian teams of the Ottawa Senators and the Vancouver Canucks joined the top teams of previous years such as the Detroit Red Wings , the St. Louis Blues , the Colorado Avalanche and the New Jersey Devils . The Dallas Stars , who missed the playoffs in the preseason, celebrated an impressive comeback, not least thanks to the outstanding performance of their goalkeeper Marty Turco .

The biggest surprise was probably the Tampa Bay Lightning , who, expected far back, played for the title in the Southeast Division and made it back to the playoffs for the first time in seven years. The biggest disappointments besides the Sharks were the New York Rangers , who missed the playoffs despite the highest salary budget, as well as the bottom of the league Carolina Hurricanes , after surprisingly reaching the Stanley Cup final the year before.

Mid-season, the Canucks led the Western Conference and Ottawa led the Eastern Conference . However, Vancouver then fell back and lost the title in the Northwest Division to Colorado and the Conference title to Dallas. Ottawa was able to maintain its position and achieved the best result in the history of the club by winning the title in the Eastern Conference and the Presidents' Trophy .

The season was also marked by financial problems for some clubs. Despite their sporting success, the Ottawa Senators had to be placed under bankruptcy protection for almost the entire year 2003 and were once unable to pay players' salaries. The owner Rod Bryden failed with various innovative financing concepts, so that the team was finally sold to the billionaire Eugene Melnyk . The Buffalo Sabers were also placed under bankruptcy protection before being rescued by New York businessman Tom Golisano . In addition, the financial problems of the Pittsburgh Penguins continued, so that the team had to give up more expensive players.

Again, a number of coaches were released early, from Bob Hartley in Colorado to Darryl Sutter in San Jose to Bryan Trottier with the Rangers.

The further decline in goals scored and the increasingly defensive style of play were worrying. At the beginning of the season, the referees tried to punish handicaps and hooks more consistently, but these measures increasingly petered out over the course of the season. The teams in the southern United States , which had only recently been in the league, ran into financial problems due to declining attendance figures and the majority of clubs ended the season with a loss. An economic ray of hope was the rise in the Canadian dollar , which improved the competitiveness of the six Canadian teams compared to previous years.

Abbreviations: W = wins (2 points), L = defeats (0 points), T = draws (1 point), OTL = defeat after extra time (1 point), GF = goals scored, GA = goals conceded, Pts = points

Closing tables

Abbreviations: GP = games, W = wins, L = defeats, T = draws after overtime , OTL = defeats after overtime , GF = goals scored, GA = goals conceded, Pts = points
Explanations: The position within the conference is in brackets;     = Playoff qualification,     = division winner,     = conference winner,     = Presidents' Trophy winner

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division GP W. L. T OTL GF GA Pts
New Jersey Devils (2) 82 46 20th 10 6th 216 166 108
Philadelphia Flyers (3) 82 45 20th 13 4th 211 166 107
New York Islanders (8) 82 35 34 11 2 224 231 83
New York Rangers (9) 82 32 36 10 4th 210 231 78
Pittsburgh Penguins (14) 82 27 44 6th 5 189 255 65
Northeast Division GP W. L. T OTL GF GA Pts
Ottawa Senators (1) 82 52 21st 8th 1 263 182 113
Toronto Maple Leafs (4) 82 44 28 7th 3 236 208 98
Boston Bruins (7) 82 36 31 11 4th 245 237 87
Montreal Canadiens (10) 82 30th 35 8th 9 206 234 77
Buffalo Sabers (12) 82 27 37 10 8th 190 219 72
Southeast Division GP W. L. T OTL GF GA Pts
Tampa Bay Lightning (5) 82 36 25th 16 5 219 210 93
Washington Capitals (6) 82 39 29 8th 6th 224 220 92
Atlanta Thrashers (11) 82 31 39 7th 5 226 284 74
Florida Panthers (13) 82 24 36 13 9 176 237 70
Carolina Hurricanes (15) 82 22nd 43 11 6th 171 240 61

Western Conference

Central Division GP W. L. T OTL GF GA Pts
Detroit Red Wings (2) 82 48 20th 10 4th 269 203 110
St. Louis Blues (5) 82 41 24 11 6th 253 222 99
Chicago Blackhawks (9) 82 30th 33 13 6th 207 226 79
Nashville Predators (13) 82 27 35 13 7th 183 206 74
Columbus Blue Jackets (15) 82 29 42 8th 3 213 263 69
Northwest Division GP W. L. T OTL GF GA Pts
Colorado Avalanche (3) 82 42 19th 13 8th 251 194 105
Vancouver Canucks (4) 82 45 23 13 1 264 208 104
Minnesota Wild (6) 82 42 29 10 1 198 178 95
Edmonton Oilers (8) 82 36 26th 11 9 231 230 92
Calgary Flames (12) 82 29 36 13 4th 186 228 75
Pacific Division GP W. L. T OTL GF GA Pts
Dallas Stars (1) 82 46 17th 15th 4th 245 169 111
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (7) 82 40 27 9 6th 203 193 95
Los Angeles Kings (10) 82 33 37 6th 6th 203 221 78
Phoenix Coyotes (11) 82 31 35 11 5 204 230 78
San Jose Sharks (14) 82 28 37 9 8th 214 239 73

Best scorer

His 77 assists laid the foundation for Peter Forsberg as top scorer. It was impressive that he led the plus / minus together with Milan Hejduk . Both had +52. Hejduk was the top scorer of the season with 50 goals. 20.5% of Milan Hejduk's shots found their way into the goal. Extraordinary that the top scorer also had the best odds. Todd Bertuzzi led the scoring for the overpaid goals with 25. The best outnumbered was Shawn Bates with 6 hits. With 331 shots, Glen Murray fired the most. With 249 penalty minutes, Jody Shelley was the penalty box king. 52 assists and 68 points were the best performances that Al MacInnis had for defenders. The previous year's top scorers among defenders Sergei Gontschar and Nicklas Lidström were the top scorers with 18 goals each. Abbreviations: GP = games, G = goals, A = assists , Pts = points, +/- = plus / minus , PIM = penalty minutes; Bold: Season best

As in the previous year, Markus Näslund was the second best scorer of the season
player team GP G A. Pts +/- PIM
Peter Forsberg Colorado 75 29 77 106 +52 70
Markus Näslund Vancouver 82 48 56 104 +6 52
Joe Thornton Boston 77 36 65 101 +12 109
Milan Hejduk Colorado 82 50 48 98 +52 32
Todd Bertuzzi Vancouver 82 46 51 97 +2 144
Pavol Demitra St. Louis 78 36 57 93 0 32
Glen Murray Boston 82 44 48 92 +9 64
Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh 67 28 63 91 −25 43
Dany Heatley Atlanta 77 41 48 89 −8 58
Žigmund Pálffy los Angeles 76 37 48 85 +22 47
Mike Modano Dallas 79 28 57 85 +34 30th

Best goalkeeper

Abbreviations: GP = games, TOI = ice age (in minutes), W = wins, L = defeats, T = draws, GA = goals conceded, SO = shutouts , Sv% = shots saved (in%), GAA = average goal conceded; Bold: Season best

player team GP TOI W. L. T GA SO Sv% ATM
Marty Turco Dallas 55 3203 31 10 10 92 7th 0.932 1.72
Roman Čechmánek Philadelphia 58 3350 33 15th 10 102 6th 0.925 1.83
Dwayne Roloson Minnesota 40 2945 23 16 8th 98 4th 0.927 2.00
Martin Brodeur New Jersey 73 4374 41 23 9 147 9 0.914 2.02
Patrick Lalime Ottawa 67 3943 39 20th 7th 142 8th 0.911 2.16

Best rookie scorer

22 goals and 44 points were the best scores that Henrik Zetterberg set for the rookies. Niko Kapanen put on 29 hits and was thus the best template provider and also in the plus / minus rating none came close to his +25. The rookie of the year, Barret Jackman , topped the list of penalty minutes for the newcomers with 190.

Henrik Zetterberg was the most dangerous rookie

Abbreviations: GP = games, G = goals, A = assists , Pts = points, +/- = plus / minus , PIM = penalty minutes

player team GP G A. Pts +/- PIM
Henrik Zetterberg Detroit 79 22nd 22nd 44 +6 8th
Tyler Arnason Chicago 82 19th 20th 39 +7 20th
Rick Nash Columbus 74 17th 22nd 39 -27 78
Aleš Kotalík Buffalo 68 21st 14th 35 -2 30th
Niko Kapanen Dallas 82 5 29 34 +25 44

Stanley Cup playoffs

  Conference quarterfinals Conference semifinals Conference finals Stanley Cup Final
                                   
1  Ottawa Senators 4th   1  Ottawa Senators 4th        
8th  New York Islanders 1 4th  Philadelphia Flyers 2  
2  New Jersey Devils 4th Eastern Conference
7th  Boston Bruins 1
1  Ottawa Senators 3
  2  New Jersey Devils 4th  
3  Tampa Bay Lightning 4th
6th  Washington Capitals 2
4th  Philadelphia Flyers 4th 2  New Jersey Devils 4th
5  Toronto Maple Leafs 3 3  Tampa Bay Lightning 1  
E2  New Jersey Devils 4th
(The teams are reset after the first round.)
  W7  Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 3
1  Dallas Stars 4th   1  Dallas Stars 2
8th  Edmonton Oilers 2 7th  Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 4th  
2  Detroit Red Wings 0
7th  Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 4th
7th  Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 4th
  6th  Minnesota Wild 0  
3  Colorado Avalanche 3
6th  Minnesota Wild 4th Western Conference
4th  Vancouver Canucks 4th 4th  Vancouver Canucks 3
5  St. Louis Blues 3 6th  Minnesota Wild 4th  

NHL Awards and trophies awarded

Martin Brodeur was the best goalkeeper of the season
Award player team
Art Ross Trophy : Peter Forsberg Colorado Avalanche
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy : Steve Yzerman Detroit Red Wings
Calder Memorial Trophy : Barret Jackman St. Louis Blues
Conn Smythe Trophy Jean-Sébastien Giguère Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Frank J. Selke Trophy : Jere Lehtinen Dallas Stars
Hart Memorial Trophy : Peter Forsberg Colorado Avalanche
Jack Adams Award : Jacques Lemaire Minnesota Wild
James Norris Memorial Trophy : Nicklas Lidström Detroit Red Wings
King Clancy Memorial Trophy : Brendan Shanahan Detroit Red Wings
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy : Alexander Mogilny Toronto Maple Leafs
Lester B. Pearson Award : Markus Näslund Vancouver Canucks
Lester Patrick Trophy : Willie O'Ree
Raymond Bourque
Ron DeGregorio
Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy : Milan Hejduk Colorado Avalanche
NHL Plus / Minus Award : Peter Forsberg & Milan Hejduk Colorado Avalanche
Vezina Trophy : Martin Brodeur New Jersey Devils
William M. Jennings Trophy : Martin Brodeur and
Roman Čechmánek / Robert Esche 		New Jersey Devils
Philadelphia Flyers
Presidents' Trophy Ottawa Senators
Prince of Wales Trophy New Jersey Devils
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Stanley Cup New Jersey Devils

NHL All-Star Teams

NHL First All-Star Team

Abbreviations: GP = games, G = goals, A = assists , Pts = points, W = wins, SO = shutouts , GAA = conceded goals

player position team GP G A. Pts
Peter Forsberg center Colorado Avalanche 75 29 77 106
Markus Näslund Winger Vancouver Canucks 82 48 56 104
Todd Bertuzzi Winger Vancouver Canucks 82 46 51 97
Nicklas Lidström defender Detroit Red Wings 82 18th 44 62
Al MacInnis defender St. Louis Blues 80 16 52 68
player position team GP W. SO ATM
Martin Brodeur goalkeeper New Jersey Devils 73 41 9 2.02

NHL Second All-Star Team

Abbreviations: GP = games, G = goals, A = assists , Pts = points, W = wins, SO = shutouts , GAA = conceded goals

Milan Hejduk was on the NHL All-Rookie Team four years earlier
player position team GP G A. Pts
Joe Thornton center Boston Bruins 77 36 65 101
Paul Kariya Winger Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 82 25th 56 81
Milan Hejduk Winger Colorado Avalanche 82 50 48 98
Sergei Gonchar defender Washington Capitals 82 18th 49 67
Derian Hatcher defender Dallas Stars 82 8th 22nd 30th
player position team GP W. SO ATM
Marty Turco goalkeeper Dallas Stars 55 31 7th 1.72

NHL All-Rookie Team

Abbreviations: GP = games, G = goals, A = assists , Pts = points, W = wins, SO = shutouts , GAA = conceded goals

Rick Nash , gave hope to Columbus Blue Jackets fans .
player position team GP G A. Pts
Rick Nash striker Columbus Blue Jackets 74 17th 22nd 39
Henrik Zetterberg striker Detroit Red Wings 79 22nd 22nd 44
Tyler Arnason striker Chicago Blackhawks 82 19th 20th 39
Barret Jackman defender St. Louis Blues 82 3 16 19th
Jay Bouwmeester defender Florida panthers 82 4th 12 16
player position team GP W. SO ATM
Sébastien Caron goalkeeper Pittsburgh Penguins 24 7th 2 2.64

See also

Web links