NHL 2006/07

NHL 2006/07
league	National Hockey League
Period	October 4, 2006 to June 6, 2007
Teams	30th
Games / team	82
Draft
Event	2006 NHL Entry Draft
Top pick	Erik Johnson
Elected by	St. Louis Blues
Regular season
Presidents' Trophy	Buffalo Sabers
MVP	Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh)
Top scorer	Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh)
Playoffs
Stanley Cup winner	Anaheim Ducks
finalist	Ottawa Senators
Playoff MVP	Scott Niedermayer (Anaheim)
NHL seasons
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The 2006/07 season was the 89th regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL). It was actually already the 90th edition, but due to the total failure of the 2004/05 season , another season had to be waited for until the 90th anniversary. The NHL All-Star Game took place at the American Airlines Center in Dallas in the US state of Texas after the failure due to the Olympic Winter Games in Turin in the 2005/06 season .

The regular season began on October 4, 2006 with the game between the reigning champions, the Carolina Hurricanes , and the Buffalo Sabers and lasted uninterrupted until April 8, 2007. This was followed by the Stanley Cup playoffs from April 11, 2007 , which ended on June 6, 2007. The last day for possible player transfers, the so-called trade deadline , was February 27, 2007.

The Stanley Cup was won for the first time by the Anaheim Ducks , who defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-1 in the final series . In the course of the playoffs, the highly traded Buffalo Sabers and Detroit Red Wings , who had finished their respective conference as the best team, both failed in the conference finals due to the eventual finalists. The season was disappointing for the Philadelphia Flyers , who ended the season as by far the worst team in the league.

Since January 27, 2006 it was clear that the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim will shorten their name with the start of the new season in Anaheim Ducks . This also included a new logo and new team colors. The Buffalo Sabers also changed their logo and team colors from silver, red and black to the traditional navy blue, yellow and white.

The salary cap , which is the salary cap for all players in a franchise 's NHL roster , was set at $ 44 million pre-season based on the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement . The minimum wage set was $ 28 million.

Entry Draft

• Main article: 2006 NHL Entry Draft

The 44th NHL Entry Draft took place on June 24, 2006 at General Motors Place in Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada . The order of selection was determined in a lottery on April 20, 2006. These won the St. Louis Blues before the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks .

As a first pick, the Blues drew the experts favored US defender Erik Johnson . Pittsburgh then chose Jordan Staal , the younger brother of Eric Staal , in second place , followed by Jonathan Toews in third place. Phil Kessel , who has long been the most promising candidate to be drawn in first position, was selected in fifth place by the Boston Bruins . As the first goalkeeper, the Los Angeles Kings selected the Canadian Jonathan Bernier as eleventh.

In total, the 30 franchises secured the rights to 213 players. The North American nations Canada and the USA made up the majority with over two thirds of all players . With ten US players, more than ever were selected in the first round of the draft. On the European side, Sweden had the largest contingent with 8% of all players. Furthermore, four Germans , three Swiss and two Austrians were drafted.

Top 5 picks

	player	nationality	Item	NHL team	College / Junior / Club team
1.	Erik Johnson	United States	D.	St. Louis Blues	US National Team Development Program ( NAHL )
2.	Jordan Staal	Canada	C.	Pittsburgh Penguins	Peterborough Petes ( OHL )
3.	Jonathan Toews	Canada	C / W	Chicago Blackhawks	University of North Dakota ( NCAA )
4th	Nicklas Bäckström	Sweden	C.	Washington Capitals	Brynäs IF Gävle ( Elitserien )
5.	Phil Kessel	United States	C / W	Boston Bruins	University of Minnesota (NCAA)

Rule changes

In contrast to the previous year, there were only minor rule changes, with the larger permitted bend of the blade of the ice hockey stick being the most important. For non-compliance with the new rule, new penalties have been set for regular playing time, overtime and the shootout . In addition, the home team was allowed to determine for the first time whether they wanted to start the shootout or whether the visiting team should have the right to make the first attempt. Another change was the stricter punishment of " swallows ", so-called diving attempts .

Contracts, transfers and changes

player

There were some interesting transfers and deals before the season. The goalkeepers Roberto Luongo and Andrew Raycroft were transferred from Florida to the Vancouver Canucks and from Boston to the Toronto Maple Leafs . Brendan Shanahan left the Detroit Red Wings after ten years to sign with the New York Rangers , and star defender Chris Pronger moved from Edmonton to the Anaheim Ducks . Swiss goalkeeper Martin Gerber , who won the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes last season , played the season with the Ottawa Senators and Rob Blake returned to his ex-team in Los Angeles . In addition, Eric Lindros , elected Most Valuable Player in the League in 1995 at the age of 22 , joined the Dallas Stars . Goalkeeper oldie Ed Belfour signed a one-year contract with the Florida Panthers when he was 41. Dominik Hašek's return to the Detroit Red Wings was also a big surprise .

Dominik Hašek moved from the Ottawa Senators back to the Detroit Red Wings before the season

The move of the young Russian Yevgeny Malkin was discussed the most . The 20-year-old superstar of the Russian club Metallurg Magnitogorsk , who was a first-round draft pick from the Pittsburgh Penguins , went into his first NHL season after long negotiations between the officials of the National Hockey League and the Russian Superliga . Furthermore obliged the Nashville Predators with Jason Arnott and Jean-Pierre Dumont , of the Buffalo Sabers had become too expensive, two top players and the New York Islanders endowed their goalkeeper Rick DiPietro with a 67.5 million US dollar doped 15-year Contract.

During the season, the Phoenix Coyotes signed the Canadian center Yanic Perreault on October 29 , who had previously been without a contract. The Chicago Blackhawks also strengthened themselves on December 10th with Slovak winger Peter Bondra , who had not found a new team before the start of the season after his contract with the Atlanta Thrashers had expired the previous season. The first major transfer before the end of the February switchover period took place on February 10th. The Boston Bruins sent Brad Stuart , Wayne Primeau and a draft pick to the Calgary Flames . In return, they received Andrew Ference and Chuck Kobasew . Two days later, the Phoenix Coyotes gave their top scorer Ladislav Nagy to the Dallas Stars for Mathias Tjärnqvist and a first-round draft pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft . The most spectacular transfer came on February 15, when superstar Peter Forsberg was transferred to the Nashville Predators for Scottie Upshall , Ryan Parent , as well as a first-round and a third-round draft pick from the Philadelphia Flyers . On February 25, Keith Tkachuk was transferred from the St. Louis Blues for Glen Metropolit and four draft picks to the Atlanta Thrashers.

The teams got really active again a few hours before the end of the transfer period on February 27th. So goalkeeper Martin Biron was sent by the Buffalo Sabers to the Philadelphia Flyers for a second-round draft pick. Todd Bertuzzi left the Florida Panthers after only half a year and went to the Detroit Red Wings and Bill Guerin moved to the San Jose Sharks . The greatest excitement was caused by the transfer of Ryan Smyth from the Edmonton Oilers to the New York Islanders a few minutes before the transfer deadline, as Smyth had long been part of the Oilers' team and was seen as a role model for the franchise .

Head coach and general manager

Prior to the season, eight of the 30 franchises changed their head coach and six changed the general manager . The New York Islanders , Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings made a change in both positions. The other coach changes were at the New Jersey Devils , Montréal Canadiens , Toronto Maple Leafs , Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks . The Florida Panthers , Pittsburgh Penguins and Colorado Avalanche exchanged general manager .

During the season, the first dismissal at the post of head coach occurred on October 22, 2006, 18 days after the start of the season. After a disastrous start with just one win and three points from their first eight games, the worst in 17 years, the Philadelphia Flyers fired Ken Hitchcock . At the same time, GM Bobby Clarke announced his resignation. As the new coach, John Stevens was presented, who until then had worked as an assistant at Hitchcock's side. Paul Holmgren , previously Assistant General Manager, has been appointed as the new General Manager . On November 13, 2006, the Columbus Blue Jackets resigned their trainer Gerard Gallant the post. These initially determined Gary Agnew as interim trainer before they presented Ken Hitchcock as the new person behind the gang on November 22nd. Just two weeks after Gallant's dismissal, the management of the Chicago Blackhawks also decided to change coach. Trent Yawney had to make way for Denis Savard . As the last franchise in 2006, the St. Louis Blues changed their head coach on December 11th. The unsuccessful Mike Kitchen was followed by Andy Murray , who had previously worked as a coach for Team Canada , among other things .

The probably most surprising change of coach of the entire season took place on April 2, 2007. The general manager of the New Jersey Devils Lou Lamoriello dismissed Claude Julien , who had only been engaged before the start of the season . He had previously easily qualified for the playoffs and led the team close to winning the Atlantic Division . Nevertheless, this did not meet the demands of Lamoriellos, and so he used himself as the new head coach to lead the team in the playoffs to win the Stanley Cup .

The last exchange of the season took place in the position of General Manager of the Phoenix Coyotes . After again not reaching the playoffs, the Coyotes released Michael Barnett on April 11th .

Special occurrences

Honors

In the course of the season, several jersey numbers of deserving players of the individual teams were blocked and hung under the hall ceilings of the respective venues.

On October 5, 2006, the Pittsburgh Penguins blocked Mario Lemieux's number 66 for the second time after November 19, 1997. Lemieux made his comeback in 2000 after having already retired from his career. He then led the Penguins as team captain and team owner for the next six years , but had to end his career, which he culminated in the early 1990s with two Stanley Cup victories, in February 2006 due to heart problems .

One month later, on November 18, 2006, number 18 was banned by the Montreal Canadiens in honor of Serge Savard . With the Canadiens, he won the Stanley Cup eight times between 1967 and 1981 and has led the team on the ice as team captain for the past two years. In addition, the Canadian defender won the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1969 as the most valuable player in the play-offs .

This was followed by Brett Hull's number 16 in the St. Louis Blues on December 5, 2006. The third best scorer in NHL history played for the franchise for over ten years and was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy as the most valuable player in the NHL during this time . He topped the league's top scorer list three times and scored 50 goals in 50 games twice , which had previously only been achieved by four other players. It was only when he left St. Louis that he was able to win the Stanley Cup twice.

Beginning in 2007, Steve Yzerman's number 19 was banned from the Detroit Red Wings on January 2, 2007. Yzerman was active for the Red Wings for 23 years, including 20 years as team captain and thus longer than any other player in NHL history. He led the franchise to three Stanley Cup triumphs and was himself awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy, the Lester B. Pearson Award for best player in the NHL and the Frank J. Selke Trophy for best defensive striker. In the all-time scorer list of the NHL finished sixth when he retired in the summer of 2006.

In the same month, Luc Robitaille was honored, another player who had just ended his career last summer. The Los Angeles Kings blocked the number 20 best left winger in NHL history on January 21, 2007. In 1986, he began his career in Los Angeles, meanwhile also played for the New York Rangers , Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings, with whom he also won the Stanley Cup, but belonged to the Kings franchise for a total of 14 seasons, where he finally ended his career.

Ken Dryden's number 29 was banned from the Montréal Canadiens on January 29, 2007. The Canadian goalkeeper only played eight years in the NHL, but was all the more successful. He won the Stanley Cup six times, received the Vezina Trophy five times as a goalkeeper with the fewest goals conceded and was the winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the best new professional and the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Mike Vernon's number 30 at the Calgary Flames was honored on February 6, 2007. Vernon began his career in 1982 with the Flames, where he established himself as a goalkeeper and was there in 1989 in the franchise's first Stanley Cup win. He won his second Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings, where he was also awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy and the William M. Jennings Trophy . After a few years with the San Jose Sharks and Florida Panthers , he ended his career in Calgary in 2002.

The Edmonton Oilers banned Mark Messier's number 11 on February 27, 2007. The Canadian was part of the franchise's first NHL season in 1979/80 and was a mainstay in the Oilers' five Stanley Cup victories. Messier, who is only surpassed by Gordie Howe in contested NHL games and only by Wayne Gretzky in points scored , won the Hart Memorial Trophy twice and the Conn Smythe Trophy once and celebrated with the New York Rangers, who are already number 11 in January 2006 had another Stanley Cup win.

In addition, the Toronto Maple Leafs honored the numbers of three former players on October 4, 2006, but they are still awarded. According to an internal rule of the franchise, numbers are only blocked if the player has rendered services to the team and had to end his career due to a special incident.

Number 4 from Hap Day and Red Kelly was one of the honored numbers. Hap Day was active as a defender for the Maple Leafs from 1926 to 1937 and won the Stanley Cup once during that time. From 1940 to 1950 he was able to win the trophy five more times as a coach. The honor of the number of the member of the Hockey Hall of Fame was posthumous.

Red Kelly was one of the dominant defenders of the 1950s. He won the Stanley Cup four times with the Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings, was awarded the James Norris Memorial Trophy for best defender once and received the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy four times for his fair play. Like Day, he is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The honored number 21 belonged to the Swede Börje Salming , who was active in Toronto from 1973 to 1989. Salming was the first European player who was able to establish himself long-term in the NHL and was elected six times in the NHL All-Star Teams . He was on the ice for the Maple Leafs in 1,099 games and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame at the end of his career.

Milestones and Records

As in previous seasons, the NHL's active players again set some NHL and personal records over the course of the season. Brendan Shanahan was the first player to score the 600th goal of his NHL career on October 5, 2006, making him only the 15th player in NHL history to do so. During the season, Jaromír Jágr cracked this mark on November 19, 2006 and Joe Sakic on February 15, 2007. Jágr and Sakic also set other personal records. Sakic reached the 1500-point plateau with an assist on October 25, 2006 as the 11th player, as did Jágr on February 10, 2007. The Czech Jágr overtook Jari Kurri on November 21, 2006 with two goals in the ranking of the European with the most goals scored and four days later with two points Stan Mikita in the ranking of the European with the most points. The Finn Teppo Numminen also broke a European record. On November 13, 2006 he stood for the 1252nd time in the NHL on the ice, overtaking his compatriot Jari Kurri in the ranking of the European with the most games in the NHL. With Mats Sundin , also the first Swedish player, on October 14, 2006, Teemu Selänne on November 23, 2006, Peter Bondra and Mark Recchi both on January 26, 2007 and Mike Modano on March 13, 2007, five players reached the this season 500 goals mark. Modano also became the US-born player with the most NHL goals four days later with his 503rd goal. Joe Mullen had held the previous record . Joe Thornton managed on April 5, 2007, with his 90th season assistant, as the third player in NHL history, after Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux , to prepare 90 or more goals in two consecutive seasons. However, goalkeeper Martin Brodeur broke the most important record . After equalizing Bernie Parent's 33-year-old record on April 3, 2007 , who had 47 wins in one season at the time, the Canadian set a new record for a goalkeeper's one-season win two days later with his 48th win on.

Martin Brodeur set a new record with a total of 48 wins this season

Some rookies and young players also set or set significant new records. The Russian Yevgeny Malkin was the first player to score in his first six games since the first NHL season 1917/18 . Jordan Staal posted a hat trick on February 10, 2007 as the youngest player in NHL history . Paul Stastny , son of the famous Peter Šťastný , improved an NHL rook record with 20 consecutive games with at least one point between February 3 and March 17, and Sidney Crosby , who was just 19 years old , was the youngest player to win the scorer's ranking. This makes him the youngest player ever to have achieved this feat in a North American professional league.

With the teams, the Anaheim Ducks remained undefeated until the 16th game of the season, on November 9, 2006, in regular time and set the previous record of the Edmonton Oilers from 1984. The Oilers won the 1000 game in franchise history on January 7, 2007 with an overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings . Another NHL record was set by the San Jose Sharks . You have now played 49 games in a row that ended in regular time and were not decided in overtime or in the shootout . It was the longest run since overtime was introduced in the 1983/84 season . The previous record holder was the Toronto Maple Leafs with 41 games in a row in the 1996/97 season . Another novelty was the Colorado Avalanche , which missed the playoff qualification with 95 points in the regular season. So far, the Montréal Canadiens held the record with 92 points from the 1969/70 season .

Resignations

The captain of the Philadelphia Flyers , Keith Primeau , had to retire before the start of the season on September 14, 2006 because of the aftermath of a concussion he suffered in the preseason .

On October 11, 2006, a week after the season started, Greg Johnson of Detroit Red Wings announced the end of his career. Johnson had only moved to Detroit during the summer break, but doctors at the club's training camp diagnosed the 35-year-old, who had played in the NHL for twelve years, with a congenital heart defect.

Joe Nieuwendyk had started the season with Florida Panthers , but after 15 games he announced his retirement on December 6, 2006 due to chronic back problems. In addition to three Stanley Cups, Nieuwendyk also won Olympic gold with Team Canada in 2002 .

After the elimination of his team, the Atlanta Thrashers , in the first round of the playoffs, the 40-year-old Scott Mellanby ended his career on April 24, 2007 after 21 years and 1,431 games in the NHL and was the player with the third most games without Stanley Cup win in history.

Brian Leetch , one of the best American defenders of all time, retired on May 24, 2007, four days before the start of the Stanley Cup Finals. The American had spent 18 seasons in the NHL, but found no team for the entire 2006/07 season to offer him a new contract. Leetch is the only American-born player to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the best player in the playoffs, having won the Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers in the 1993/94 season .

Long after the end of the season, on August 14, 2007, another player announced the end of his career with Mike Ricci of the Phoenix Coyotes . Ricci played in the NHL for a total of 16 years, and after a neck operation in the summer of 2006 was never really able to build on his previous performance. In the 1995/96 season he won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche .

Lock

Chris Simon was suspended for 25 games after a stick blow

In the game of the New York Islanders against local rivals New York Rangers on March 8, 2007 Islanders player Chris Simon hit his opponent Ryan Hollweg in the style of a baseball player the bat in the face after he had previously checked him in the gang. Three days later, Simon was suspended for 25 games (15 in the regular season + 10 in the play-offs). Because the Islanders played less than ten play-off games, the suspension was extended into the following season.

Sean Hill , defenders of the New York Islanders , received on 20 April 2007 as the first player in the NHL a lock of 20 games after a test of the NHL / NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program , which with the new Collective Bargaining Agreement for The 2005-06 season was introduced, had fallen. The positive test showed traces of the anabolic steroid boldenone , which is on the list of doping agents .

A similar incident to the New York Rangers game against the New York Islanders occurred on April 21, 2007 in the sixth game of the Western Conference quarterfinals between the Detroit Red Wings and the Calgary Flames . Jamie McLennan , who was put in goal for Miikka Kiprusoff at the score of 1: 5 for the Red Wings , received a five-game suspension after a stick blow against Detroit's Johan Franzén .

Furthermore, there were several small offenses that were punished with a ban of a maximum of three games.

Others

When Phil Kessel , Rookie of the Boston Bruins , was 2,006 on December 11, testicular cancer diagnosed, and he left the team to undergo surgery. Five days later, the successful removal of the tumor was reported and Kessel returned to the team on January 9, 2007, in order to come back for the same.

After the Los Angeles Kings were followed by bad luck with injuries in the goalkeeper position in December and January, they first called the Japanese Yutaka Fukufuji into the squad on December 15, but did not use him for the time being. After his interim return to the farm team , he returned to the Kings on January 12th. Since the regular goalkeeper Barry Brust had to concede five goals in the game against the St. Louis Blues in the first two thirds, coach Marc Crawford decided to change goalkeeper, making Fukufuji the first Japanese with a use in the NHL on January 13th . He conceded a goal on his 20-minute debut.

With the Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers prematurely failing in the regular season, the Stanley Cup winners and the preseason finalist did not participate in the play-offs for the first time in NHL history . The last time the defending champions failed to make it to the finals was in the 1995/96 season when the New Jersey Devils failed to qualify for the play-offs.

On June 6, the New York Islanders paid off the four-year contract of their team captain Alexei Yashin and separated from him. Yashin had received a ten-year contract for a total of 87.5 million US dollars in 2001, but has not shown the hoped-for performance in recent years. That is why the Islanders management decided to take this step. The Islanders have to pay the outstanding 17.63 million US dollars in eight annual installments of 2.2 million US dollars each. The rates will also be kept on the Islanders payroll for the next eight seasons.

Failed sale and relocation of the Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins were in financial trouble as early as the 1990s, and the expensive and outdated Mellon Arena , home of the Penguins, added financial problems. A solution seemed to be found when the Penguins announced on October 5, 2006 that entrepreneur and billionaire Jim Balsillie had agreed to buy the team for 175 million US dollars. Even before that, however, there were rumors that Balsillie wanted to relocate the franchise to eastern Canada.

The "stumbling block": The Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh

On December 15, 2006, Balsillie withdrew his consent to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins, as he had not come to an agreement with the league management about the framework conditions for the team takeover. The NHL had demanded that the Penguins stay in Pittsburgh, which Balsillie disagreed with. However, the future of the franchise became increasingly uncertain in the days and weeks that followed. Relying on a new ice hockey arena, the team management hoped that the Isle of Capri Casinos gambling chain would receive a license for the state of Pennsylvania , as the company had promised to build a multi-purpose arena in Pittsburgh worth $ 290 million in this case, and thus its continued existence Ensure the penguins in Pittsburgh. However, just five days after Jim Balsillie stepped down from buying the franchise, the state of Pennsylvania decided that the gambling chain would not be licensed. Shortly thereafter, Mario Lemieux , co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, stated that the team would no longer be for sale despite other interested parties and that negotiations were being started with cities that would be possible destinations for relocation.

In January 2007, Lemieux met with officials from the city of Kansas City , Missouri, and began negotiations about a possible relocation of the penguins there. With the Sprint Center, Kansas City had a new multifunctional arena that the team could have used rent-free. At the same time, the management of the Penguins tried to work out a plan to finance a new arena with those responsible for the city of Pittsburgh and the state of Pennsylvania. After these negotiations were broken off in the meantime and a move to Kansas City became more and more probable, an agreement on a financing plan for a new arena was reached on March 13, 2007. The agreement guarantees that the Penguins will remain in Pittsburgh for at least 30 years and that the new home stadium will be completed during the 2010/11 season .

Media presence and audience numbers

The teams were able to post record attendance numbers after the end of the regular season. A total of 20,861,787 spectators came to the 1,230 games, resulting in a utilization of the arenas of 91.7 percent. The front runner in terms of visitor numbers were the Montréal Canadiens , who were able to fill the Center Bell , which holds 21,273 spectators in each of their 41 home games . It was followed by the Detroit Red Wings , whose 20,066 seats in the Joe Louis Arena were also occupied in every game. As a result, they set a record, as the Joe Louis Arena was sold out since December 10, 1996 and thus in 452 consecutive games including play-offs. A total of 16 of the 30 teams achieved a capacity utilization of at least 97 percent.

In terms of audience ratings, ice hockey suffered setbacks , at least in the United States , so that it continued to rank well behind baseball , American football and basketball in team sports . The television stations NBC and Versus , which held the rights for the live broadcast throughout the United States, were particularly affected . NHL on NBC's average ratings dropped slightly compared to the previous season. While an average of 1.1 percent of all US households tuned into the broadcasts in the 2005/06 season , it was only 1.0 percent in the 2006/07 season. The decline in odds was particularly evident during the broadcast of finals 3 to 5 of the Stanley Cup , as the odds were 20 percent lower than in the previous year and thus represented a negative record. The ratings of the cable broadcaster Versus, on the other hand, could be viewed as a success after the negative forecasts due to the lockout in the 2004/05 season . While ESPN , which held the cable rights for NHL games until 2004, attracted an average of 209,000 viewers in the 2003/04 season , this season the current rights holder Versus had 216,000 viewers.

With a look at other sports, these numbers could not be considered a great success. In the quota ranking of sports broadcasts for the week from April 16 to 24 in the New York Metro Area, the NBC-broadcast Saturday game of the NHL play-offs between the New York Rangers and the Atlanta Thrashers only came in twelfth, with 1, 9 percent market share. Broadcasts of poker , basketball, NASCAR , golf , baseball and even wrestling were better placed .

The regional television stations showed a mixed picture after the first few months of the season. The Chicago Blackhawks emerged as one of the winners in the television market when their local television broadcaster CSN Chicago achieved better than expected ratings for broadcasts. Due to the young stars Sidney Crosby , Jewgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal , FSN Pittsburgh was able to increase the ratings for the broadcasts of the Pittsburgh Penguins by 40 percent compared to the previous year, but this was one of the exceptions on the US market. FSN Florida expected the Florida Panthers to have a one percent audience rating, but it fell 77 percent below expectations. The Atlanta Thrashers' regional TV partner SportSouth missed the expected ratings by 70 percent, which was just 0.1 percent, and FSN New York posted an even lower rating for the New York Islanders . Even the Detroit Red Wings , which is based in one of the most lucrative ice hockey markets in the USA, suffered losses of almost 50 percent compared to the previous season. However, this decline was partly related to the sudden upswing of the Detroit Tigers baseball team from the MLB , which after more than ten years without any notable successes improved greatly in the 2006 season and advanced to the finals of the World Series .

The importance of ice hockey in the United States became apparent during a play-off game between the Buffalo Sabers and the Ottawa Senators . After 60 minutes there was a tie and the game went into overtime, but instead of showing the rest of the game, NBC began pre-reporting the Preakness Stake , a horse race. The viewers were then referred to the cable channel Versus, which only 62.5 percent of all households could receive. NBC continued to broadcast the game only for viewers in the Buffalo Sabers TV market.

In Canada, however, the broadcast of NHL games enjoyed great popularity, as in previous years, and ice hockey retained its reputation as the most popular team sport. The show Hockey Night in Canada was the flagship of the television station CBC and was able to present itself among the ten shows with the highest ratings almost every week. In the week from April 4th to April 10th, the broadcast of the Stanley Cup finals even held the top position. The cable broadcaster TSN was also able to post positive numbers, although they mainly broadcast games from US teams and thus those less interesting for the Canadian audience. At the beginning of the play-offs, they were already able to record a 20 percent better audience rating than last year.

In most of Europe, NHL games were broadcast live and time-shifted via NASN . NASN used the entire reporting of the broadcasters CBC, TSN, Versus and FSN. In addition, the broadcaster Five showed NHL games in Great Britain . When two teams, each with an Austrian player, met in the second round of the play-offs with the New York Rangers and the Buffalo Sabers, the public Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) acquired the broadcasting rights for the series at short notice. The ORF continued the live coverage in the final of the Eastern Conference between the Ottawa Senators and the Buffalo Sabers with the Austrian Thomas Vanek and also broadcast the Stanley Cup final without the participation of an Austrian player.

Regular season

mode

The 30 NHL teams are divided into two conferences , the Eastern and the Western Conference , of 15 teams each. The two conferences are split up into three further divisions , each with five teams, which are roughly in the same region of the country.

In total, each team plays 82 season games during the regular season , 41 of them on home ice and 41 on that of the opposing team. In contrast to the common method in Europe of playing the same number of games against each team in the course of the season, the NHL teams compete with each other differently often. Teams that belong to the same division play against each other eight times during the season. Teams that are in the same conference but not in the same division play against each other four times. Each team plays a total of ten games against teams in the opposing conference, which means that a team does not play any games at all against five teams despite a game schedule comprising 82 games. The ten games are divided into five home games each, which are all played against teams from one division, and five away games, which are also played against another division.

Here is a tabular explanation of the mode using the example of the reigning Stanley Cup winner Carolina Hurricanes , who plays in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference:

Conference	division	Enemy team	Games	Home games	Away games	total
Eastern Conference	Southeast Division	Atlanta Thrashers	8th	4th	4th	32
		Florida panthers	8th	4th	4th
		Tampa Bay Lightning	8th	4th	4th
		Washington Capitals	8th	4th	4th
	Atlantic Division	New Jersey Devils	4th	2	2	20th
		New York Rangers	4th	2	2
		New York Islanders	4th	2	2
		Philadelphia Flyers	4th	2	2
		Pittsburgh Penguins	4th	2	2
	Northeast Division	Boston Bruins	4th	2	2	20th
		Buffalo Sabers	4th	2	2
		Montréal Canadiens	4th	2	2
		Ottawa Senators	4th	2	2
		Toronto Maple Leafs	4th	2	2
Western Conference	Pacific Division	Anaheim Ducks	1	1	0	5
		Dallas Stars	1	1	0
		Los Angeles Kings	1	1	0
		Phoenix Coyotes	1	1	0
		San Jose Sharks	1	1	0
	Northwest Division	Calgary Flames	1	0	1	5
		Colorado Avalanche	1	0	1
		Edmonton Oilers	1	0	1
		Minnesota Wild	1	0	1
		Vancouver Canucks	1	0	1
	Central Division	Chicago Blackhawks	0	0	0	0
		Columbus Blue Jackets	0	0	0
		Detroit Red Wings	0	0	0
		Nashville Predators	0	0	0
		St. Louis Blues	0	0	0
Total number of season games			82	41	41	82

At the end of the regular season, the three division winners from each conference, as well as the five other teams with the highest points in the conference, qualify for the play-offs , which take place after the regular season and are played in the knockout system . The team with the best points of the season is awarded the Presidents' Trophy .

For games that remain tied after the regular playing time of 60 minutes, there is a five-minute overtime , which is played with four instead of the regular five field players per team. If there is no winner even after the overtime, there is a shootout between the teams until a winner is found.

If there is a tie between two or more teams, the first thing that counts is the larger number of games won, then the direct comparison between the teams and finally the better goal difference over the entire season.

Season course

October 2006

The defending champion Carolina Hurricanes started the season with a classic false start and could not win any of the first four games. The Buffalo Sabers, on the other hand, presented themselves in very good shape right from the start and set the 14-year-old record of the Toronto Maple Leafs with ten wins in a row . Only in the eleventh and last game of the month did they concede their first defeat, but this only in the shootout , so that the Sabers remained undefeated for the entire month of October after regular time. The same was achieved by the Anaheim Ducks , who lost three games in their first twelve games of the season, but only after extra time or shootout. The Phoenix Coyotes around their coach Wayne Gretzky got the worst start to the season, losing nine of their first twelve games. They strengthened themselves at the end of the month with the free agent Yanic Perreault, who had previously had no contract . The Philadelphia Flyers did not start the new season much better . After winning just one of their first eight games, they fired coach Ken Hitchcock and general manager Bobby Clarke resigned. One of the early starters among the players was Martin Havlát of the Chicago Blackhawks , who had already booked 13 points after seven games. Marián Hossa from the Atlanta Thrashers was just as strong . Havlát was injured on October 21 and was unable to continue his streak for the time being. He didn't return to the Blackhawks' roster until early December.

The Philadelphia Flyers (white jerseys), here in the duel against the New York Rangers , started the season poorly

For player of the month was Ryan Miller , the goalkeeper of the Buffalo Sabers selected. He had been unbeaten in nine regular-time games throughout the month. The award for " Rookie of the Month " went to Yevgeny Malkin from the Pittsburgh Penguins , who scored one goal in each of his first five NHL games.

November 2006

The Anaheim Ducks were able to build on their good performance from the previous month and captured the top position in the league before the Buffalo Sabers. Another Californian team had a very successful month with the San Jose Sharks . They were able to win ten of their 13 games. The Columbus Blue Jackets, on the other hand, which were already weak at the beginning of the season, were in a crisis that led to the dismissal of coach Gerard Gallant , who could only get eleven points from 15 games. However, the personnel change had no effect for the time being, and in the remaining eight games in November they only won one game and lost seven. The Chicago Blackhawks also changed their head coach Trent Yawney two weeks later after he could not meet the expectations placed on him. Jaromír Jágr of the New York Rangers was able to take the lead in the ranking of the best scorer with twelve goals and 25 assists from 25 games ahead of Marián Hossa of the Atlanta Thrashers , who got 35 points.

On November 15th, the Mark Messier Leadership Award was presented for the first time . Together with former NHL player Mark Messier , the NHL introduced this trophy, which is awarded five times during the season to the best leader of the month and at the end of the season to the best leader of the season. The first recipient of this new award was Brendan Shanahan of the New York Rangers.

The league named Anaheim's player of the month Finnish striker Teemu Selänne , who had led his team to the top of the league and with 23 points in November, had collected the most of all players. As in October, Yevgeny Malkin was voted rookie of the month .

December 2006

The Detroit Red Wings presented themselves as the strongest team of the month and won eleven of their 15 games. The Columbus Blue Jackets were able to recover from their crisis after their coaching change in November and presented themselves in good form, especially in the first two weeks of the month with a five-game winning streak. The Buffalo Sabers continued to prove that they could play consistently at a high level and retained the top position in the east. Despite a small period of weakness, the Anaheim Ducks , who continued to defend first place , were not enough to lead the table in the entire NHL . The pre-season Stanley Cup finalists, the Edmonton Oilers , had their first phase of weakness after a solid start to the season. After they recorded three wins at the beginning of December, they lost eight of the ten subsequent games. As a result, the five teams of the Northwest Division slipped against each other in the middle of the month in the table to within two points. The weakest team in the league remained the Philadelphia Flyers , who suffered ten defeats in a row. The St. Louis Blues drew the consequences from their sporting downturn and dismissed head coach Mike Kitchen . The New York Rangers presented themselves inconsistently when a five-game winning streak was followed by seven defeats.

Jarome Iginla was named December Player of the Month

In the battle for the title of best scorer, Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins overtook Jaromír Jágr, who had been the leader until then . Crosby scored 14 points in four consecutive games, the climax of which was the 8-4 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on December 13, when he scored one goal, prepared five more and took the lead in the scorer list.

Goalkeeper Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils provided outstanding performances in December . On December 8th, he celebrated his 462nd victory of his NHL career with a success over the Philadelphia Flyers and thus moved to second place in the all-time leaderboard. On December 26, he also succeeded in his 85th career shutout , which had previously only succeeded Terry Sawchuk and George Hainsworth in NHL history .

The honor for the player of the month were Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames to some who with 26 points, the most points of all the players gathered in December, and the Pole Wojtek Wolski from the Colorado Avalanche won the award for rookie of the month .

January 2007

In January, the Nashville Predators took first place in the league for the first time. With ten wins in 13 games, they were the strongest team of the month, overtaking both the Anaheim Ducks and Buffalo Sabers , who both showed weaknesses. The New Jersey Devils , who were able to significantly narrow the gap in the Eastern Conference, benefited from the weakness of the Sabers . The battle for the championship lead in the Northwest Division was still tight, but the Edmonton Oilers and the Colorado Avalanche had easily lost touch. At the bottom of the NHL table were the Philadelphia Flyers , who won only two of their twelve games. The Chicago Blackhawks , who had been one of the strongest teams the month before after the coaching change, had to be satisfied with the same yield of victories . The Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings were also in crisis.

Dany Heatley , who had contributed significantly to the upswing of the Ottawa Senators with his performance , received the award for Player of the Month . For rookie of the month was Ryane Clowe of the San Jose Sharks selected, who had played after injuries early in the season in shape.

NHL All-Star Game

• Main article: 55th National Hockey League All-Star Game

The 55th NHL All-Star Game took place on January 24, 2007 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas , Texas . As part of the event, there were several competitions and official dates on the days before, such as the YoungStars Game , the SuperSkills Competition and the presentation of the jerseys newly developed by Reebok , but which will be worn for the 2007/08 season .

The climax was the All-Star Game, for which the best players from the Eastern and Western Conference teams were selected by the fans and All-Star coaches Lindy Ruff and Randy Carlyle . After an even first period between the two teams, which were led by Brendan Shanahan and Joe Sakic , the All-Star Team of the Western Conference gained a clear lead in the second period. In the last third, the team of the Eastern Conference could not shorten and finally lost the game with 9:12 goals. Nevertheless, Daniel Brière, a player from the losing team, was named All-Star Game MVP because he scored one goal himself and prepared three more. The encounter, however, was disappointing for the superstars Joe Thornton and Sidney Crosby , who could not score either a goal or an assist .

February 2007

In February, the Buffalo Sabers regained leadership in the NHL. The Tampa Bay Lightning were among the best teams of the month with nine wins in 13 games and were thus able to convert the deficit of initially ten points to the Atlanta Thrashers into a two-point advantage in the Southeast Division by the end of the month. While Tampa Bay was in its prime, Atlanta only won three out of twelve games. The New York Rangers and Montréal Canadiens , among others, suffered setbacks in the fight for the play-off places, while the New York Islanders were able to consolidate their position in the play-offs with nine wins. In the Northeast Division , the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers had to accept setbacks, as the gap to the three teams placed in front of them grew bigger and the gap to the play-off positions in the Western Conference continued to grow. For the Pittsburgh Penguins , a more than a month-long streak of success came to an end in mid-February when they lost again after 60 minutes for the first time after 16 games. During the 16 games they were able to record 14 wins and were only defeated once after overtime and once in the penalty shootout.

The Carolina Hurricanes with Captain Rod Brind'Amour (left) visiting the White House of US President George W. Bush

On February 2, the team of the reigning Stanley Cup winner Carolina Hurricanes visited the White House in Washington and met US President George W. Bush there .

A game between the Buffalo Sabers and the Ottawa Senators on February 22nd caused a stir . After a tough check from Ottawa's Chris Neil against Buffalo's star striker Chris Drury , who then had to leave the ice injured, a mass brawl developed a little later between the best row of the Senators and the toughest players of the Sabers, in which the two goalkeepers Martin Biron and Ray Emery were involved. Both were then excluded from the game. A total of 102 penalty minutes were given to the players involved and Buffalo's coach Lindy Ruff had to pay a fine of US $ 10,000 because the league management was of the opinion that he had encouraged his players to take revenge.

One of the highlights of the month was the end of the transfer window on February 27th. There have been many transfers between the teams in the last few hours. Probably the most spectacular transfer took place a few minutes before the transfer deadline, when Ryan Smyth , the "face" and top scorer of the Edmonton Oilers, was transferred to the New York Islanders.

Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg , who was named Player of the Week twice during the month, was named Player of the Month . He had booked 25 points during the month and scored five game-winning goals. After Wojtek Wolski in December, Paul Stastny , another rookie from the Colorado Avalanche, was named Rookie of the Month .

March 2007

In March, the Buffalo Sabers continued to defend the lead in the NHL, but the lead over the Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings was only one point and the Nashville Predators two points. The Pittsburgh Penguins presented themselves as the best team of the month, taking the lead in the Atlantic Division with twelve wins from 17 games . In the Western Conference several preliminary decisions were made in the battle for the play-off places during the month. While seven teams were able to qualify for the play-offs, six teams had no more hopes and only the Calgary Flames and the Colorado Avalanche fought for the last remaining qualification place. Colorado were seven points behind at the end of the month, but there was still a small chance, especially since they had to play two of their last four games of the season in April against their direct rivals from Calgary. In the Eastern Conference , defending champion Carolina Hurricanes' hopes of participating in the play-offs faded , while a pentathlon between the Toronto Maple Leafs , Tampa Bay Lightning , Montréal in the battle for the last three play-off places in the east Canadiens , New York Rangers and New York Islanders , with the Islanders with the fewest points of the five teams having the worst chances. The Edmonton Oilers had a very bitter month when they could only win one of 14 games.

Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks ensured that the battle for the title of best scorer was once again exciting when he came within four points of leader Sidney Crosby with a goal and an assist on March 24th . But Crosby was able to extend his lead to twelve points in the last four games of the month. Another player from the San Jose Sharks was also able to draw attention to himself with a special performance in March. Goalkeeper Yevgeny Nabokov managed three shutouts in four games , which no other goalkeeper managed during the season.

The last monthly player of the month award went to Colorado goalkeeper Peter Budaj , who celebrated ten wins in twelve games and suffered only two defeats after extra time. Buffalo's striker Drew Stafford was named Rookie of the Month for scoring nine goals in 15 games.

April 2007

The Buffalo Sabers secured the Presidents' Trophy as the best team of the regular season with 113 points for the first time in their history with a win in the penultimate game over the Washington Capitals on April 7th . First place in the Western Conference went to the Detroit Red Wings , who scored as many points as Buffalo, but brought in fewer wins. Although the Calgary Flames lost all four games in April, the Colorado Avalanche could not overtake them in the battle for the final play-off spot in the West. In the Eastern Conference the decision about the last place for the qualification should be made between the Montréal Canadiens , Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders . The Maple Leafs had to face both rivals in their last two games of the season and if they had already beaten the New York Islanders in the first game, the US team could have buried any hope of qualifying. The Islanders won the game and the Maple Leafs were forced to beat the Montréal Canadiens. In a fighting game, Toronto took a 3-1 lead, but the Canadiens turned the game into a 3-5. In the end, however, the Maple Leafs could cheer, who won the game 6-5. Toronto had to hope that the New York Islanders would lose their last game against the New Jersey Devils , but that didn't happen. Although the Islanders suffered a severe setback when the Devils prevented the Islanders' victory, which they had believed to be safe, and scored the 2: 2, the Islanders finally won in the shootout and moved into the play-offs. The Atlanta Thrashers celebrated a premiere as they qualified for the play-offs for the first time and won the Southeast Division .

Joe Thornton achieved second place in the scorer ranking through a strong second half of the season

The New Jersey Devils caused a surprise when they fired head coach Claude Julien on April 2nd . Julien was in his debut season with the Devils and had 47 wins from 79 games, leading the Atlantic Division. He was succeeded by General Manager Lou Lamoriello .

Joe Thornton was particularly strong in the last four games of the season, scoring nine points and thus securing his second place in the ranking of the best scorers.

The Detroit Red Wings ended the season as the best home team. They won 29 of their 41 home games, only lost four times in regular time and eight times in overtime or shootout . In total they achieved 66 of their 113 points at home. The Buffalo Sabers went into the play-off phase with the best away record. They had collected 54 points in the foreign arenas and won a total of 25 games. Most away wins with 26 were celebrated by the San Jose Sharks .

The winners of the game year included the Pittsburgh Penguins , who with the help of their "baby storm" were able to increase by 47 points compared to the previous year, which was the fourth largest improvement in NHL history. The Atlanta Thrashers also surprised by winning the Southeast Division and qualifying for the first play-offs in franchise history . They were even able to leave the two ex-champions from Carolina and Tampa Bay behind. Another surprise was the Vancouver Canucks , who were able to secure the Northwest Division's win in the strong Western Conference in the shadow of the big teams, after narrowly missing out on the play-offs last year. On the losing side, the Philadelphia Flyers stood out in particular , worsening 45 points and ending up at the bottom of the league. The year was also disappointing for the Carolina Hurricanes, Montréal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers , all of whom missed the play-off qualification and thus the season minimum goal.

Closing tables

Abbreviations: GP = games, W = wins, L = defeats, OTL = defeat after overtime or shootout , GF = goals scored, GA = goals conceded, Pts = points
Explanations: The position within the conference is in brackets; = Play-off qualification , = Division winner , = Conference winner , = Presidents' Trophy winner

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division	GP	W.	L.	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
New Jersey Devils (2)	82	49	24	9	216	201	107
Pittsburgh Penguins (5)	82	47	24	11	277	246	105
New York Rangers (6)	82	42	30th	10	242	216	94
New York Islanders (8)	82	40	30th	12	248	240	92
Philadelphia Flyers (15)	82	22nd	48	12	214	303	56

Northeast Division	GP	W.	L.	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
Buffalo Sabers (1)	82	53	22nd	7th	308	242	113
Ottawa Senators (4)	82	48	25th	9	288	222	105
Toronto Maple Leafs (9)	82	40	31	11	258	269	91
Montreal Canadiens (10)	82	42	34	6th	245	256	90
Boston Bruins (13)	82	35	41	6th	219	289	76

Southeast Division	GP	W.	L.	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
Atlanta Thrashers (3)	82	43	28	11	246	245	97
Tampa Bay Lightning (7)	82	44	33	5	253	261	93
Carolina Hurricanes (11)	82	40	34	8th	241	253	88
Florida Panthers (12)	82	35	31	16	247	257	86
Washington Capitals (14)	82	28	40	14th	235	286	70

Western Conference

Central Division	GP	W.	L.	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
Detroit Red Wings (1)	82	50	19th	13	274	199	113
Nashville Predators (4)	82	51	23	8th	272	212	110
St. Louis Blues (10)	82	34	35	13	214	254	81
Columbus Blue Jackets (11)	82	33	42	7th	201	249	73
Chicago Blackhawks (13)	82	31	42	9	200	258	71

Northwest Division	GP	W.	L.	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
Vancouver Canucks (3)	82	49	26th	7th	221	201	105
Minnesota Wild (7)	82	48	26th	8th	235	191	104
Calgary Flames (8)	82	43	29	10	258	226	96
Colorado Avalanche (9)	82	44	31	7th	272	251	95
Edmonton Oilers (12)	82	32	43	7th	195	248	71

Pacific Division	GP	W.	L.	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
Anaheim Ducks (2)	82	48	20th	14th	258	208	110
San Jose Sharks (5)	82	51	26th	5	258	199	107
Dallas Stars (6)	82	50	25th	7th	226	197	107
Los Angeles Kings (14)	82	27	41	14th	227	283	68
Phoenix Coyotes (15)	82	31	46	5	216	284	67

Best scorer

Sidney Crosby became the youngest player ever to win the Art Ross Trophy

The only 19-year-old Sidney Crosby took over on December 13, 2006 after a 6-point game against the Philadelphia Flyers the lead in the scorer ranking and did not give it up until the end of the regular season, making him the youngest player in the NHL history secured the Art Ross Trophy . Over the course of the season, he continuously expanded his lead on Tampa's duo Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis . The previous leaders Marián Hossa and Jaromír Jágr , however, fell back slightly. In the second half of the season, defending Joe Thornton started a furious comeback and missed winning the Art Ross Trophy again by six points.

Crosby finished the season with a total of 120 points, Vincent Lecavalier received the Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy for his league-leading 52 goals and Thornton provided the most goals with 92.

With the defenders the Canadian Scott Niedermayer was ahead with 69 points. In addition, he led the defender statistics with his 54 goal preparations together with Sergei Gonchar . Most goals scored Sheldon Souray of the Montreal Canadiens with 26, well ahead of Dan Boyle with 20th

Abbreviations: GP = games, G = goals, A = assists , Pts = points, +/− = plus / minus , PIM = penalty minutes; Bold: Season best

The Art Ross Trophy for the player with the highest points of the regular season

player	team	GP	G	A.	Pts	+/-	PIM
Sidney Crosby	Pittsburgh	79	36	84	120	+10	60
Joe Thornton	San Jose	82	22nd	92	114	+24	44
Vincent Lecavalier	Tampa Bay	82	52	56	108	+2	44
Dany Heatley	Ottawa	82	50	55	105	+31	74
Martin St. Louis	Tampa Bay	82	43	59	102	+7	28
Marián Hossa	Atlanta	82	43	57	100	+18	49
Joe Sakic	Colorado	82	36	64	100	+2	46
Jaromír Jágr	NY Rangers	82	30th	66	96	+26	78
Marc Savard	Boston	82	22nd	74	96	−19	96
Daniel Brière	Buffalo	81	32	63	95	+17	89

Best goalkeeper

For a long time the goalkeepers looked like a duel between the experienced Dominik Hašek and Martin Brodeur , who for a long time fought head-to-head. It was only when Niklas Bäckström took over the regular goalkeeper post at the Minnesota Wild towards the end of the season that he took the lead for the lowest goals against and the highest catch rate.

Backström won the Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award for the highest catch quota at the end of the regular season , and together with his teammate Manny Fernandez he secured the game the William M. Jennings Trophy for the fewest goals conceded in the entire league.

For the most important goalkeeper trophy, the Vezina Trophy , four goalkeepers were nominated for the first time: Martin Brodeur, who set a new NHL record with a total of 48 wins, Miikka Kiprusoff , Henrik Lundqvist and Roberto Luongo . In the end, Brodeur prevailed against the three competitors and received the award for the third time.

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

player	team	GP	TOI	W.	L.	OTL	GA	SO	Sv%	ATM
Niklas Bäckström	Minnesota	41	2226: 31	23	8th	6th	73	5	.929	1.97
Dominik Hašek	Detroit	56	3340: 51	38	11	6th	114	8th	.913	2.05
Martin Brodeur	New Jersey	78	4696: 33	48	23	7th	171	12	.922	2.18
Marty Turco	Dallas	67	3763: 52	38	20th	5	140	6th	.910	2.23
Jean-Sébastien Giguère	Anaheim	56	3244: 38	36	10	4th	122	5	.918	2.26

Best rookie scorer

The Calder Memorial Trophy for the best rookie of the season

Even with the Rookies won with Evgeni Malkin a player of the Pittsburgh Penguins , the scorer standings. Malkin, who was finally able to play in the NHL after a long quarrel between the NHL and his ex-team, HK Metallurg Magnitogorsk , took the lead early on. Paul Stastny improved an NHL rookie record between February 3 and March 17 in 20 consecutive games with at least one point and ultimately finished second.

Other rookies worth mentioning were Jordan Staal , also from Pittsburgh, who became the youngest player in NHL history to score a hat-trick and also set another rook record with seven undernumbered goals. Anže Kopitar , the first Slovenian in the NHL, presented himself as a promising talent with 61 points in his first season. The 19-year-old Marc-Édouard Vlasic from the San Jose Sharks drew attention to himself with his mellow style of play and had the most ice age of all rookies.

Yevgeny Malkin won the Calder Memorial Trophy as best rookie. In addition to Malkin, his teammate Jordan Staal and Paul Stastny from the Colorado Avalanche were nominated .

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

player	team	GP	G	A.	Pts	+/-	PIM
Yevgeny Malkin	Pittsburgh	78	33	52	85	+2	80
Paul Stastny	Colorado	82	28	50	78	+4	42
Anže Kopitar	los Angeles	72	20th	41	61	−12	24
Wojtek Wolski	Colorado	76	22nd	28	50	+2	14th
Dustin Penner	Anaheim	82	29	16	45	−2	58

Stanley Cup playoffs

→ Main article : 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Conference quarterfinals

Conference semifinals

Conference finals

Stanley Cup Final

1

Buffalo Sabers

4th

1

Buffalo Sabers

4th

8th

New York Islanders

1

6th

New York Rangers

2

2

New Jersey Devils

4th

Eastern Conference

7th

Tampa Bay Lightning

2

1

Buffalo Sabers

1

4th

Ottawa Senators

4th

3

Atlanta Thrashers

0

6th

New York Rangers

4th

4th

Ottawa Senators

4th

2

New Jersey Devils

1

5

Pittsburgh Penguins

1

4th

Ottawa Senators

4th

E4

Ottawa Senators

1

(The teams are reset after the first round.)

W2

Anaheim Ducks

4th

1

Detroit Red Wings

4th

1

Detroit Red Wings

4th

8th

Calgary Flames

2

5

San Jose Sharks

2

2

Anaheim Ducks

4th

7th

Minnesota Wild

1

1

Detroit Red Wings

2

2

Anaheim Ducks

4th

3

Vancouver Canucks

4th

6th

Dallas Stars

3

Western Conference

4th

Nashville Predators

1

2

Anaheim Ducks

4th

5

San Jose Sharks

4th

3

Vancouver Canucks

1

NHL Awards and trophies awarded

• Main article: 2007 NHL Awards

The first trophy winners were already known after the end of the regular season. Sidney Crosby became the youngest player in NHL history to win the Art Ross Trophy for the most points player of the regular season. Vincent Lecavalier was the first Tampa Bay Lightning player to win the Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy for top scorer. The two-time trophy winner was Finnish goalkeeper Niklas Bäckström , who received the Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award for the best catch rate and the William M. Jennings Trophy for the fewest goals conceded. However, he had to share the latter with his teammate Manny Fernandez . The NHL Plus / Minus Award went to the Austrian Thomas Vanek , whose team, the Buffalo Sabers, also won the Presidents' Trophy as the team with the best points of the season. At the first presentation of the Mark Messier Leadership Award , the winner of which was announced on May 30, 2007, the oldest player in the league, Chris Chelios , won .

During the play-offs, the Ottawa Senators won the Prince of Wales Trophy for the first time by winning the Eastern Conference Finals and the Anaheim Ducks secured the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl for the second time after 2003 , and for the first time after the final victory over Ottawa in franchise history, the Stanley Cup . Scott Niedermayer from the victorious Ducks team won the Conn Smythe Trophy for the best player in the play-offs. Furthermore, as part of the final series of the Stanley Cup, the trophies were awarded to the winners of the Art Ross Trophy, Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy, Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award and William M. Jennings Trophy.

The ceremonial presentation of the NHL Awards took place on the evening of June 14, 2007 in Toronto, Canada in the province of Ontario . There the remaining, outstanding winners were named. The big winner of the awards show was Sidney Crosby, who received both the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Lester B. Pearson Award , making a total of three trophies this season. Martin Brodeur was honored with the Vezina Trophy for the best goalkeeper for the third time in his career , the Swede Nicklas Lidström received the James Norris Memorial Trophy for the best defender for the fifth time and Rod Brind'Amour defended by winning the Frank J. Selke Trophy for the title of best defensive striker. As the best rookie , Yevgeny Malkin was awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy . Other trophies went to Boston rookie Phil Kessel , who made a successful comeback during the season after contracting testicular cancer, Montreal's captain Saku Koivu for his social commitment, the head coach of the Vancouver Canucks Alain Vigneault and Pawel Dazjuk , who defended his title as the fairest player.

The Lester Patrick Trophy was presented at an independent ceremony on November 7, 2007 in New York City . Former NHL professional Brian Leetch , Olympic champion Cammi Granato , television commentator and specialist literature writer Stan Fischler, and official John Halligan were honored as winners who have made outstanding contributions to ice hockey in the United States . Equally independent, on October 16, 2007, the NHL Foundation Player Award was presented to Joe Sakic , the captain of the Colorado Avalanche , for his special commitment to charitable causes in society.

Joe Sakic , the winner of the NHL Foundation Player Award

Nicklas Lidström , five-time winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy

Award	player	team
Art Ross Trophy	Sidney Crosby	Pittsburgh Penguins
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy	Phil Kessel	Boston Bruins
Calder Memorial Trophy	Yevgeny Malkin	Pittsburgh Penguins
Conn Smythe Trophy	Scott Niedermayer	Anaheim Ducks
Frank J. Selke Trophy	Rod Brind'Amour	Carolina Hurricanes
Hart Memorial Trophy	Sidney Crosby	Pittsburgh Penguins
Jack Adams Award	Alain Vigneault	Vancouver Canucks
James Norris Memorial Trophy	Nicklas Lidström	Detroit Red Wings
King Clancy Memorial Trophy	Saku Koivu	Montréal Canadiens
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy	Pavel Datsyuk	Detroit Red Wings
Lester B. Pearson Award	Sidney Crosby	Pittsburgh Penguins
Lester Patrick Trophy	Stan Fischler
	Cammi Granato
	John Halligan
	Brian Leetch
Mark Messier Leader of the Year Award	Chris Chelios	Detroit Red Wings
Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy	Vincent Lecavalier	Tampa Bay Lightning
NHL Foundation Player Award	Joe Sakic	Colorado Avalanche
NHL Plus / Minus Award	Thomas Vanek	Buffalo Sabers
Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award	Niklas Bäckström	Minnesota Wild
Vezina Trophy	Martin Brodeur	New Jersey Devils
William M. Jennings Trophy	Niklas Bäckström	Minnesota Wild
	Manny Fernandez
Presidents' Trophy		Buffalo Sabers
Prince of Wales Trophy		Ottawa Senators
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl		Anaheim Ducks
Stanley Cup		Anaheim Ducks

NHL All-Star Teams

In addition, the All-Star Teams and All-Rookie Team of the season were named as part of the NHL Awards Show.

NHL First All-Star Team

Dany Heatley was on one of the All-Star teams for the second time

The NHL First All-Star Team were as center Sidney Crosby when winger Dany Heatley and Alexander Ovechkin , as a defender Nicklas Lidstrom and Scott Niedermayer and as a goalkeeper Martin Brodeur selected.

Apart from Crosby, who found himself in the line-up of one of the two All-Star teams for the first time, Lidström received his eighth, Brodeur his sixth, Niedermayer his fourth and Heatley his second nomination for one of the teams.

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

player	position	team	GP	G	A.	Pts
Sidney Crosby	center	Pittsburgh Penguins	79	36	84	120
Dany Heatley	Winger	Ottawa Senators	82	50	55	105
Alexander Ovechkin	Winger	Washington Capitals	82	46	46	92
Nicklas Lidström	defender	Detroit Red Wings	80	13	49	62
Scott Niedermayer	defender	Anaheim Ducks	79	15th	54	69

player	position	team	GP	W.	SO	ATM
Martin Brodeur	goalkeeper	New Jersey Devils	78	48	12	2.18

NHL Second All-Star Team

Roberto Luongo received the nomination for the Second All-Star Team for the second time since 2004

The NHL Second All-Star Team consisted of center Vincent Lecavalier , wingers Martin St. Louis and Thomas Vanek , defenders Dan Boyle and Chris Pronger and goalkeeper Roberto Luongo . A total of three Tampa Bay Lightning players made it to receive a nomination.

Lecavalier, Vanek and Boyle were all nominated for one of the All-Star Teams for the first time. St. Louis and Luongo had already been elected to the First and Second All-Star Team, respectively, and Pronger was appointed to one of the two teams for the fourth time.

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

player	position	team	GP	G	A.	Pts
Vincent Lecavalier	center	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	52	56	108
Martin St. Louis	Winger	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	43	59	102
Thomas Vanek	Winger	Buffalo Sabers	82	43	41	84
Dan Boyle	defender	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	20th	43	63
Chris Pronger	defender	Anaheim Ducks	66	13	46	59

player	position	team	GP	W.	SO	ATM
Roberto Luongo	goalkeeper	Vancouver Canucks	76	47	5	2.29

NHL All-Rookie Team

The all-rookie team included two players from the Pittsburgh Penguins and two from the San Jose Sharks . The Penguins nominated forwards Yevgeny Malkin and Jordan Staal . The assault line completed Colorado's Paul Stastny , the son of NHL legend Peter Šťastný . The defense consisted of Marc-Édouard Vlasic and Matt Carle exclusively from players of the Sharks. Mike Smith received the nomination for the goalkeeper position .

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

player	position	team	GP	G	A.	Pts
Yevgeny Malkin	striker	Pittsburgh Penguins	78	33	52	85
Jordan Staal	striker	Pittsburgh Penguins	81	29	13	42
Paul Stastny	striker	Colorado Avalanche	82	28	50	78
Matt Carle	defender	San Jose Sharks	77	11	31	42
Marc-Édouard Vlasic	defender	San Jose Sharks	81	3	23	26th

player	position	team	GP	W.	SO	ATM
Mike Smith	goalkeeper	Dallas Stars	23	12	3	2.23

literature

• Dan Diamond: NHL Official Guide and Record Book. Triumph Books, 2007, ISBN 1-60078-037-7

Web links

Commons : NHL 2006/07  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Latimes.com, Sabers Beat Hurricanes
2. ↑ nhl.com, Ducks won't be "Mighty" next season
3. ↑ nhl.com, Mighty no more: Anaheim Ducks change their name, uniforms, logo
4. ↑ sportslogos.net, Sabers Confirm Logo, Announce Alt Jersey ( Memento of the original from October 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ sports.espn.go.com, Show me the money: Salary cap increased to $ 44M
6. ↑ nhl.com, St. Louis Blues retain first pick after NHL draft lottery in New York  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ nhl.com, St. Louis Blues make American defender Erik Johnson the No. 1 draft pick
8. ↑ nhl.com, Record-setting 10 US-born players selected in the first round of 2006 NHL Entry Draft
9. ↑ nhl.com, NHL board approves minor rules changes
10. ↑ nhl.com, On eve of NHL Draft, Bertuzzi goes to Florida for Luongo
11. ↑ nhl.com, Shanahan agrees to deal with Rangers Associated Press, July 10, 2006
12. ↑ NHL.com, Edmonton Oilers trade Chris Pronger to Anaheim for package with Lupul
13. ↑ nhl.com, Senators sign Gerber to multi-year contract; say goodbye to Hasek
14. ↑ nhl.com, BLAKE RETURNS TO KINGS DEFENSEMAN SIGNS TWO-YEAR CONTRACT.
15. ↑ nhl.com, Dallas Stars officially sign free agent center Eric Lindros ( Memento of the original from April 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
16. ↑ nhl.com, Florida Panthers sign free-agent goalie Ed Belfour to one-year contract
17. ↑ USA Today , Red Wings sign veteran goaltender Hasek , July 31, 2006, accessed March 5, 2014
18. ↑ nhl.com, Malkin signs with Penguins after mystery-cloaked journey to USA
19. ↑ NHL.com, Nashville Predators sign center Jason Arnott to five-year deal
20. ↑ nhl.com, Predators sign Dumont to two-year deal (Kentucky New Era - Aug. 30, 2006)
21. ↑ nhl.com, DiPietro sticking around Long Island for a long time
22. ↑ ^{a b} nhl.com, Center Yanic Perreault signs one-year deal with Phoenix Coyotes
23. ↑ NHL.com, Blackhawks sign veteran forward Peter Bondra
24. ↑ nhl.com, Bruins send Stuart and Primeau to Calgary for Ference and Kobasew
25. ↑ nhl.com, page no longer available , search in web archives: Stars answer the Flames as arms race escalates in Western Conference
26. ↑ NHL.com, Decision made: Flyers send Forsberg to Nashville
27. ↑ nhl.com, Blues trade Tkachuk to Thrashers
28. ↑ nhl.com, Flyers shore up goaltending, acquire Biron
29. ↑ nhl.com, Bertuzzi heads to Detroit - Feb. 2007 ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
30. ↑ nhl.com, Sharks grab Guerin from Blues
31. ↑ ^{a b} nhl.com, Oilers trade Smyth to Islanders for prospects and picks
32. ↑ ^{a b} nhl.com, Broad Street breakup: Flyers GM Clarke resigns, Hitchcock fired
33. ↑ ^{a b} nhl.com, Blue Jackets fire coach Gallant; expected to name replacement Tuesday
34. ↑ nhl.com, Blue Jackets hire former Stars, Flyers head coach Ken Hitchcock
35. ↑ ^{a b} nhl.com, Chicago Blackhawks fire coach Trent Yawney, hire Denis Savard
36. ↑ ^{a b} nhl.com, Blues fire head coach Mike Kitchen
37. ↑ ^{a b} nhl.com, Julien fired as Devils coach; Lamoriello takes over
38. ↑ NHL.com, Coyotes fire GM Mike Barnett, Cliff Fletcher and Laurence Gilman
39. ↑ nhl.com, Penguins again raise Lemieux banner
40. ↑ nhl.com, Savard becomes second defender in Canadiens history to have jersey retired
41. ↑ nhl.com, Blues retire Brett Hull's jersey, announce "Brett Hull Way"
42. ↑ nhl.com, Red Wings retire Yzerman's No. 19 jersey
43. ↑ nhl.com, Luc Robitaille's No. 20 raised to rafters by Kings
44. ↑ nhl.com, Dryden's No. 29 retired by Canadiens
45. ↑ nhl.com, Michael “Mikey” Vernon  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
46. ↑ nhl.com, Mark Messier and No. 11 Oilers jersey saluted by adoring fans at Rexall Place ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
47. ↑ ^{a b c} mapleleafs.nhl.com, Sens Take Round One ( Memento of the original from December 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
48. ↑ NHL.com, Five NHL home openers to remember
49. ↑ nhl.com, Jaromir Jagr scores 600th goal as Rangers defeat Lightning 4-1
50. ↑ nhl.com, Sakic reaches 600-goal plateau as Avalanche beats Flames 7-5
51. ↑ nhl.com, Avalanche's Sakic records 1,500th point of career ( memento of the original from April 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
52. ↑ nhl.com, Jagr reaches 1,500-point mark in Rangers' 5-2 win over capitals
53. ↑ nhl.com, Jagr passes Kurri on another milestone night
54. ↑ radio.cz, Jaromir Jagr sets new milestones: NHL goal and point record for Europeans
55. ↑ sports.espn.go.com, Numminen sets record for games played by European
56. ↑ nhl.com, Sundin's 500th career goal lifts Leafs to OT win over Flames ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
57. ↑ nhl.com, Selanne nets No. 500; Blue Jackets hire Hitchcock ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
58. ↑ nhl.com, Modano scores 500th career goal to lead Stars to 3-2 victory over Flyers
59. ↑ nhl.com, Predators spoil Modano's record-breaking night
60. ↑ sharks.nhl.com, Thornton joins Elite Club with Gretzky and Lemieux  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
61. ↑ ^{a b} nhl.com, Brodeur matches Parent's goalie win mark
62. ↑ ^{a b} pittsburghpenguins.com, Staal continues to surge in rookie season for Penguins ( Memento from April 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
63. ↑ ^{a b c} nhl.com, Penguins' Crosby captures Art Ross Trophy as NHL scoring champion  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
64. ↑ nhl.com, Flyers' Primeau retires because of lingering concussion
65. ↑ nhl.com, Red Wings center Greg Johnson retires with heart abnormality
66. ↑ nhl.com, Chronic back problems force Florida Panthers center Joe Nieuwendyk to retire
67. ↑ nhl.com, Scott Mellanby named pro scout for Vancouver Canucks ( Memento from September 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
68. ↑ NHL.com, Brian Leetch Retires From Hockey
69. ↑ cbc.ca, Mike Ricci retires from NHL
70. ↑ nhl.com, Simon suspended for the rest of the season, playoffs
71. ↑ nhl.com, Islanders' defenceman Hill suspended 20 games for violating NHL drug policy
72. ↑ nhl.com, NHL suspends Flames goalie 5 games
73. ↑ nhl.com, Boston Bruins rookie Phil Kessel being treated for "medical issue"
74. ↑ NHL.com, Bruins rookie coming to terms with cancer diagnosis
75. ↑ NHL.com, boiler Recalled by Bruins
76. ↑ nhl.com, Fukufuji becomes first Japanese player in NHL
77. ↑ nhl.com, Islanders buy out four remaining years of Yashin contract
78. ↑ NHL.com, Research in Motion head Balsillie signs agreement to buy Pittsburgh Penguins
79. ↑ nhl.com, Balsillie withdraws offer to buy Pittsburgh Penguins
80. ↑ nhl.com, Future of Penguins up in the air as Isle of Capri fails to land slots license ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
81. ↑ nhl.com, Lemieux wants to investigate moving penguins
82. ↑ NHL.com, Lemieux, courted by Kansas City, meets with Pa. officials about new arena
83. ↑ espn.com, Penguins to aggressively explore relocation
84. ↑ nhl.com, Penguins, officials strike arena deal to keep team in Pittsburgh
85. ↑ nhl.com, Penguins to open new arena in 2010-11 season, one year later than planned
86. ↑ nhl.com, Turnstile Tracker: Final NHL Eastern Conference Attendance ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
87. ↑ ^{a b} theglobeandmail.com, Get ready for Crosby more often on NBC ( Memento of the original from July 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
88. ↑ sports.espn.go.com, Ratings for Stanley Cup finals down 20 percent
89. ↑ mikedunshee.com, NHL TV Ratings Very Poor ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
90. ↑ canada.com, TV ratings going south ( Memento of the original from December 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
91. ↑ thestar.com, NBC spanks NHL and the league likes it
92. ↑ bbm.ca, 2006-07 National Top Program Reports Archive ( Memento of the original dated February 8, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
93. ↑ bbm.ca, Total Programs - Total Canada (June 4 - 10, 2007; PDF) ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
94. ^ Thestar.com, View from the couch
95. ↑ nhl.com, Carolina Hurricanes: 2006-2007 Regular Season Schedule / Results  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
96. ↑ nhl.com, October 22, 2006 Martin Havlat nie zagra przez dwa do trzech tygodni
97. ↑ nhl.com, Miller, Kovalchuk and Niedermayer named NHL's 'Three Stars' of the month for October
98. ↑ nhl.com, Pens' Malkin named NHL Rookie Of The Month for October
99. ↑ nhl.com, COLD-fX (TM) + * and the National Hockey League (R) Present the 'Mark Messier Leadership Award' ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
100. ↑ nhl.com, SHAN-ING MOMENT - BRENDAN GIVEN INAUGURAL MESSIER AWARD
101. ↑ nhl.com, Selanne, Hossa, Huet get star treatment  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
102. ↑ nhl.com, page no longer available , search in web archives: Malkin named NHL rookie of the month; Selanne wins first star for November
103. ↑ ^{a b} tsn.ca, Crosby's six points leads Pens to win
104. ↑ nhl.com, Brodeur makes 26 saves for 85th career shutout as Devils top Penguins 3-0
105. ↑ nhl.com, Iginla, Hasek and Crosby named December's 'Three Stars'
106. ↑ nhl.com, Avalanche's Wolski named NHL Rookie Of The Month
107. ↑ nhl.com, Heatley, Crosby and Luongo named January's 'Three Stars'
108. ↑ nhl.com, Sharks' Clowe named NHL Rookie Of The Month
109. ↑ nhl.com, East 9, West 8
110. ↑ NHL.com, Crosby delivers for Eastern Conference in skills competition
111. ↑ marketwire.com, Reebok and NHL to unveil new technologically-advanced uniform system, Rbk EDGE Uniform System to make on-ice debut during NHL All-Star Celebration
112. ↑ nhl.com, West beats East in NHL all-star game despite MVP Briere's five points ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
113. ^ Whitehouse.gov, President Bush Welcomes Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes
114. ↑ nhl.com, Both goalies ejected, Sabers, Senators in wild brawl after Drury hurt
115. ↑ nhl.com, Sabers coach fined for role in brawl with Sens
116. ↑ nhl.com, Zetterberg, DiPietro and Brodeur named February 'Three Stars'
117. ↑ nhl.com, Colorado's Stastny named NHL Rookie of the Month
118. ↑ nhl.com, Oilers lose seventh in a row, Nabokov perfect again in Sharks 3-0 victory
119. ↑ nhl.com, Budaj, Thornton and Lecavalier named March 'Three Stars'
120. ↑ nhl.com, SABRES DOSE: Stafford is Rookie of the Month
121. ↑ nhl.com, Maple Leafs 6, Canadiens 5  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
122. ↑ nhl.com, Crosby gets Penguins into Play-offs - much faster than Lemieux did
123. ↑ ^{a b} nhl.com, Third time's the charm for Brodeur  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
124. ↑ nhl.com, When it comes to hockey, it's a small world  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
125. ↑ ^{a b} nhl.com, NHL awards: The five year post-lockout edition - NHL - Yahoo Canada Sports
126. ↑ ^{a b c} nhl.com, Brodeur among finalists for NHL MVP award ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
127. ↑ nhl.com, Brodeur among finalists for NHL MVP award ( Memento of the original from April 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
128. ↑ nhl.com, Chris Chelios receives Messier Leader of the Year Award
129. ↑ nhl.com, Crosby takes home Ross, Lecavalier Richard Trophy  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
130. ↑ nhl.com You gotta have Hart: Crosby does  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
131. ↑ nhl.com, Sidney Crosby completes rare triple in winning all the major NHL awards ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
132. ↑ nhl.com, Crosby youngest MVP since Gretzky
133. ↑ nhl.com, Nobody does it better: Lidstrom wins Norris  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
134. ↑ nhl.com, Brind'Amour captures second straight Selke Trophy as NHL's top defensive forward
135. ↑ nhl.com, Vigneault wins Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year
136. ↑ nhl.com, Datsyuk repeat winner of Lady Byng Trophy as most gentlemanly player  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
137. ↑ nhl.com, Leetch, Granato, Fischler and Halligan selected as recipients of 2007 Lester Patrick Award  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
138. ↑ nhl.com, Sakic receives NHL Foundation Player Award for outstanding community service
139. ↑ ^{a b} nhl.com, NHL announces 2006-07 All-Star Teams  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
140. ↑ nhl.com, NHL announces 2006-07 All-Rookie Team  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on July 21, 2007 .