2002-03 NHL season

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The 2002-03 NHL season was the 86th regular season of the National Hockey League. Thirty teams each played 82 games. The Stanley Cup winners were the New Jersey Devils, who won the best of seven series 4–3 against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Regular season

As always the regular season saw several surprises. The San Jose Sharks, who many felt would be one of the elite teams in the West, stumbled early and badly and disassembled much of the team. The two-year-old Minnesota Wild, on the other hand, got out to an early start and held onto their first ever playoff berth throughout the season, winning coach Jacques Lemaire the Jack Adams Award.

The elite teams of previous years such as the Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues, Colorado Avalanche and New Jersey Devils, were joined by two younger Canadian teams, the Ottawa Senators and Vancouver Canucks. The Dallas Stars, which had missed the playoffs the year before, returned as a major power, backed by the record-setting goaltending of Marty Turco.

The most surprising team was perhaps the Tampa Bay Lightning, which many had predicted to finish last, contesting for the Southeast Division title and making the playoffs for the first time in seven years. The most disappointing teams, other than the Sharks, were the New York Rangers, who finished out of the playoffs again despite bearing the league's leading payroll, and the Carolina Hurricanes, who finished last overall after a surprise run to the Stanley Cup Finals the year before.

At the midpoint of the season the Canucks lead the Western Conference, and Ottawa lead the East. Vancouver stumbled somewhat over the stretch and lost the Northwest Division title to Colorado and the Western Conference one to Dallas. Ottawa continued to dominate, having the best season in franchise history and winning both the Eastern Conference and the Presidents' Trophy.

The season was also marred by financial difficulties. Despite their success the Ottawa Senators were in bankruptcy protection for almost all of 2003, and at one point could not pay the players. Owner Rod Bryden tried a variety of innovative financing strategies, but these all failed and the team was purchased by billionaire Eugene Melnyk. The Buffalo Sabres also entered bankruptcy protection before being saved by New York businessman Tom Golisano. The financial struggles of the Pittsburgh Penguins continued as the team continued to unload its most expensive players.

The season was marked by a great number of coaches being fired, from Bob Hartley in Colorado to Darryl Sutter in San Jose and Bryan Trottier of the New York Rangers.

Worries over the decline in scoring and the neutral zone trap continued. The season began with an attempted crack down on obstruction and interference, but by the midpoint of the season this effort had petered out. The expansion teams in the southern United States began to suffer financially, with many empty seats to be found in each arena. Most teams lost money on the season. The one bright spot was the increasing value of the Canadian dollar, which made the six Canadian teams more competitive than they had been in years.

Final standings

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points

Atlantic Division	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
New Jersey Devils	46	20	10	6	216	166	108
Philadelphia Flyers	45	20	13	4	211	166	107
New York Islanders	35	34	11	2	224	231	83
New York Rangers	32	36	10	4	210	231	78
Pittsburgh Penguins	27	44	6	5	189	255	65

Northeast Division	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
Ottawa Senators	52	21	8	1	263	182	113
Toronto Maple Leafs	44	28	7	3	236	208	98
Boston Bruins	36	31	11	4	245	237	87
Montreal Canadiens	30	35	8	9	206	234	77
Buffalo Sabres	27	37	10	8	190	219	72

Southeast Division	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
Tampa Bay Lightning	36	25	16	5	219	210	93
Washington Capitals	39	29	8	6	224	220	92
Atlanta Thrashers	31	39	7	5	226	284	74
Florida Panthers	24	36	13	9	176	237	70
Carolina Hurricanes	22	43	11	6	171	240	61

Central Division	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
Detroit Red Wings	48	20	10	4	269	203	110
St. Louis Blues	41	24	11	6	253	222	99
Chicago Blackhawks	30	33	13	6	207	226	79
Nashville Predators	27	35	13	7	183	206	74
Columbus Blue Jackets	29	42	8	3	213	263	69

Northwest Division	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
Colorado Avalanche	42	19	13	8	251	194	105
Vancouver Canucks	45	23	13	1	264	208	104
Minnesota Wild	42	29	10	1	198	178	95
Edmonton Oilers	36	26	11	9	231	230	92
Calgary Flames	29	36	13	4	186	228	75

Pacific Division	W	L	T	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
Dallas Stars	46	17	15	4	245	169	111
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	40	27	9	6	203	193	95
Los Angeles Kings	33	37	6	6	203	221	78
Phoenix Coyotes	31	35	11	5	204	230	78
San Jose Sharks	28	37	9	8	214	239	73

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Peter Forsberg	Colorado	75	29	77	106
Markus Näslund	Vancouver	82	48	56	104
Joe Thornton	Boston	77	36	65	101
Milan Hejduk	Colorado	82	50	48	98
Todd Bertuzzi	Vancouver	82	46	51	97
Pavol Demitra	StLouis	78	36	57	93
Glen Murray	Boston	82	44	48	92
Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh	67	28	63	91
Dany Heatley	Atlanta	77	41	48	89
Ziggy Palffy	Los Angeles	76	37	48	85

Stanley Cup Playoffs

Note: All dates in 2003.

The Stanley Cup playoffs were one of shocking upsets in the Western Conference and hard fought battles in the Eastern Conference.

The most closely watched series in the first round was that between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers. Two teams built around physical play with high salary and front-page trade deadline acquisitions. The series did not disappoint and the Flyers ousted the Leafs in seven games. The Senators easily dispatched the New York Islanders, who had traded away their starting goaltender (Chris Osgood) before the playoffs. Despite losing the first two games, Tampa Bay rallied and defeated their division rival the Washington Capitals. New Jersey easily defeated the Boston Bruins, effectively shutting down star player Joe Thornton.

In the west, the first round was one of unmitigated shock to all hockey watchers. The defending champions and perennial cup favourite Detroit Red Wings were swept by the underdog Mighty Ducks of Anaheim behind the goaltending of Jean-Sebastien Giguere. After losing three out of the first four games, the Minnesota Wild came back and defeated the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche in game seven. Vancouver also lost three of its first games with the St. Louis Blues, but then rallied and won game seven. The only round that surprised no one was round seven of the Dallas Stars-Edmonton Oilers grudge match that saw the first place Stars oust the Oilers with only some difficulty.

The second round in the west brought more upsets. The Minnesota Wild again fell 3–1 behind while playing Vancouver, but rallied and defeated them in seven games. Giguere's stellar goaltending continued to triumph as the Ducks ousted the Stars in six games. The Western Conference final was a meeting of two dark horse teams, but the superb goaltending of Giguere and the Ducks triumphed over the tight checking of the Minnesota Wild.

The east was far more predictable as Tampa Bay's youth showed when playing the grizzled veterans of the New Jersey Devils and the Ottawa Senators dispatched a tired Flyers team for the second year in a row. The Eastern Conference finals were a contrast of styles between the offensively explosive Senators and the defense minded Devils. The Devils came out to an early lead in the series, Ottawa rallied, winning games five and six on the energizing play of rookie Jason Spezza, but then the Devils regained their form as goaltender Martin Brodeur helped them win game seven and advance to the Stanley Cup finals for the third time in four years.

The Stanley Cup finals were a duel between two elite goaltenders, but after seven games the Devils triumphed to win their third Cup in seven years. The series also saw Scott Stevens land one of his prototypical crushing hits on Anaheim captain Paul Kariya, similar to the one that had knocked out Eric Lindros, then of the Flyers in the 2000 Playoffs. Unlike Lindros, Kariya returned to the series, and helped extend it to seven games.

Conference Quarterfinals

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals

|- | valign="top" | | valign="top" | |} ¹As of 2006, this playoff game is the 18th longest NHL overtime game ever. 53 minutes and 34 seconds of overtime were played before Mark Recchi scored the game-winning goal.

Western Conference Quarterfinals

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Conference Semifinals

Eastern Conference Semifinals

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Western Conference Semifinals

| valign="top" | |} ²As of 2006, this playoff game is the 4th longest NHL overtime game. 80 minutes and 48 seconds of overtime were played before Petr Sykora scored the game-winning goal.

Conference Finals

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Stanley Cup Finals

Scoring leaders

''Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points

NHL awards

The NHL Awards presentation took place in Toronto.

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 2003 Stanley Cup Playoffs
• 2002 NHL Entry Draft
• 53rd National Hockey League All-Star Game
• NHL All-Star Game
• NHL All-Rookie Team
• 2002 in sports
• 2003 in sports

References

• [Hockey Database]
• [NHL Official Website]

National Hockey League 1917 to present

Current teams : Anaheim | Atlanta | Boston | Buffalo | Calgary | Carolina | Chicago | Colorado | Columbus | Dallas | Detroit | Edmonton | Florida | Los Angeles | Minnesota | Montreal | Nashville | New Jersey | NY Islanders | NY Rangers | Ottawa | Philadelphia | Phoenix | Pittsburgh | San Jose | St. Louis | Tampa Bay | Toronto | Vancouver | Washington

Trophies and awards: Stanley Cup | Prince of Wales | Clarence S. Campbell | Presidents' Trophy | Adams | Art Ross | Calder | Conn Smythe | Crozier | Hart | Jennings | King Clancy | Lady Byng | Masterton | Norris | Patrick | Pearson | Plus/Minus | Rocket Richard | Selke | Vezina

 

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