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2003–04 NHL season

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The 2003-04 NHL season was the 87th season of the NHL. Each team played 82 games.

Regular Season

The 2003-04 season was one overhung by concern over the expiry of the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement. That could lead to a shuttering of the league for the entirety of the next season. During the entire season Commissioner Gary Bettman and Players Association head Bob Nicholson waged a war of words with no agreement being signed.

In August, just before the season was to begin the young Atlanta Thrashers star Dany Heatley crashed his Ferrari in suburban Atlanta, the passenger Thrashers workhorse Dan Snyder was killed and Heatley badly injured and charged with vehicular homicide. The entire NHL thus began the season in mourning.

Going into the season the two favourites were the Ottawa Senators in the east, who had one the Presidents Trophy and come within a goal of the Stanley Cup finals the year before. And the Colorado Avalanche in the west, who despite losing legendary goaltender Patrick Roy to retirement, added both Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya to an already star studded line-up. Neither of these teams were as successful as expected with Ottawa finishing fifth in the conference and Colorado finishing fourth, losing the Northwest Division title for the first time in a decade.

The greatest disappointments were the Anaheim Mighty Ducks who despite making it to game seven of the Stanley Cup finals the year before and adding Sergei Fedorov and Vaclav Prospal failed to make the playoffs. In the east the star laden New York Rangers again failed to make the playoffs. The Washington Capitals, who were regarded as a contender, also stumbled early and never recovered. The end of the season saw two of the most extensive housecleanings in league history as the Rangers and Capitals traded away most of their stars and entered rebuilding mode. The Capitals traded Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra, Sergei Gonchar, Robert Lang, Steve Konawalchuk, and Anson Carter. The Rangers moved Peter Nedved, Brian Leech, Anson Carter, and Alexei Kovalev.

The most surprising teams were the Tampa Bay Lightning who had a remarkable season with only 20 man games lost to injury and finished atop the Eastern Conference. In the west the San Jose Sharks, who were firmly in rebuilding mode after a disastrous campaign the last season, came second in the conference and won the Pacific Division.

Two others teams that did better than expected were carried by surprising young goaltenders. The Calgary Flames ended a seven year playoff drought backed by the surprising play of Miikka Kiprusoff. The Boston Bruins won the Northeast Division by a whisker with the help of Calder Trophy candidate Andrew Raycroft

Goaltending was also the story of the Presidents Trophy wining Detroit Red Wings as the return from retirement of legend Dominik Hasek bumped Curtis Joseph to the minor leagues. At the same time long time back up Manny Legace put up better numbers than both veterans and won the starting job in the playoffs.

Standings

Eastern Conference

Northeast Division
Team--------------------W---L---T--OTL-GF--GA--PTS
Boston Bruins-----------41--19-15--7---209-188-104
Toronto Maple Leafs-----45--24-10--3---242-204-103
Ottawa Senators---------43--23-10--6---262-189-102
Montreal Canadiens------41--30--7--4---208-192--93
Buffalo Sabres----------37--34--7--4---220-221--85

Atlantic Division
Team--------------------W---L---T--OTL-GF--GA--PTS
Philadelphia Flyers-----40--21-15--6---229-186-101
New Jersey Devils-------43--25-12--2---213-164-100
New York Islanders------38--29-11--4---237-211--91
New York Rangers--------27--40--7--8---206-250--69
Pittsburgh Penguins-----23--47--8--4---190-303--58

Southeast Division
Team--------------------W---L---T--OTL-GF--GA--PTS
Tampa Bay Lightning-----46--22--8--6---245-192-106
Atlanta Thrashers-------33--37--8--4---214-243--78
Carolina Hurricanes-----28--34-14--6---172-209--76
Florida Panthers--------28--35-15--4---188-221--76
Washington Capitals-----23--46-10--3---186-253--59

Western Conference

Central Division
Team--------------------W---L---T--OTL-GF--GA--PTS
Detroit Red Wings-------48--21-11--2---255-189-109
St. Louis Blues---------39--30-11--2---191-198--91
Nashville Predators-----38--29-11--4---216-217--91
Columbus Blue Jackets---25--45--8--4---177-238--62
Chicago Blackhawks-----20--42-11--8---188-259--59

Pacific Division
Team--------------------W---L---T--OTL-GF--GA--PTS
San Jose Sharks---------43--21-12--6---219-183-104
Dallas Stars------------41--26-13--2---194-175--97
Los Angeles Kings-------28--29-16--9---205-217--81
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim-29--35-10--8---184-213--76
Phoenix Coyotes---------22--36-18--6---188-245--68

Northwest Division
Team--------------------W---L---T--OTL-GF--GA--PTS
Vancouver Canucks-------43--24-10--5---235-194-101
Colorado Avalanche------40--22-13--7---236-198-100
Calgary Flames----------42--30--7--3---200-176--94
Edmonton Oilers---------36--29-12--5---221-208--89
Minnesota Wild----------30--29-20--3---188-183--83

Leading Scorers

Player, Club---------------------GP-G--A--PTS
Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay------82-38-56--94
Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta----------81-41-46--87
Joe Sakic, Colorado--------------81-33-54--87
Markus Naslund, Vancouver--------78-35-49--84
Marian Hossa, Ottawa-------------81-36-46--82
Patrik Elias, New Jersey---------82-38-43--81
Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa--------77-32-48--80
Cory Stillman, Tampa Bay---------81-25-55--80
Robert Lang, Washington, Detroit-69-30-49--79
Brad Richards, Tampa Bay---------82-26-53--79
Alex Tanguay, Colorado-----------69-25-54--79

GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, PTS = Points, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Over Time Loss, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against

Stanley Cup Playoffs

The 2004 playoffs were considered to be wide open with no clear favourite. All of the top teams had weaknesses Tampa Bay and the Bruins were both young teams with no history of recent post-season success. Detroit, Ottawa, Colorado, and Philadelphia all had major questions in goal. New Jersey was marred by injuries to Scott Stevens and Brian Rafalski while Vancouver was missing the suspended Todd Bertuzzi.

The first round Eastern Conference match-ups were notable for the number of heated rivalries. The Ottawa Senators met their Ontario neighbours Toronto Maple Leafs for the fourth time in five years in the always passion filled Battle of Ontario. The Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens met in a resumption of the most common of all NHL playoffs series, and one which the Canadiens have thoroughly dominated, including an upset win two years ago. The Philadelphia Flyers played hated division rival the New Jersey Devils. The only none rivalry was the Tampa Bay- New York Islanders series.

The west saw the resumption of the Vancouver-Calgary rivalry, which had been somewhat dormant as the Flames had missed the playoffs for 8 years in a row. less passionate, but still interesting match-ups. Detroit played division rival Nashville, who they had struggled against during the regular season. San Jose met the St. Louis Blues. The always difficult four-five match-up saw Colorado and Dallas meet.

All dates in 2004

Conference Quarter-Finals

Tampa Bay vs. New York Islanders

Tampa Bay wins series 4-1

Boston vs. Montreal


Philadelphia vs. New Jersey

  • April 8: Philadelphia 3-2 New Jersey
  • April 10: Philadelphia 3-2 New Jersey
  • April 12: New Jersey 4-2 Philadelphia
  • April 14: Philadelphia 3-0 New Jersey
  • April 17: Philadelphia 3-1 New Jersey

Philadelphia wins series 4-1

Toronto vs. Ottawa

  • April 8: Ottawa 4-2 Toronto
  • April 10: Toronto 2-0 Ottawa
  • April 12: Toronto 2-0 Ottawa
  • April 14: Ottawa 4-1 Toronto
  • April 16: Toronto 2-0 Ottawa

Detroit vs. Nashville

  • April 7: Detroit 3-1 Nashville
  • April 10: Detroit 2-1 Nashville
  • April 11: Nashville 3-1 Detroit
  • April 13: Nashville 3-0 Detroit
  • April 15: Detroit 4-1 Nashville
  • April 17: Detroit 2-0 Nashville

Detroit wins series 4-2

San Jose vs. St. Louis

  • April 8: San Jose 1-0 St. Louis (OT)
  • April 10: San Jose 3-1 St. Louis
  • April 12: St. Louis 4-1 San Jose
  • April 13: San Jose 4-3 St. Louis
  • April 15: San Jose 3-1 St. Louis

San Jose wins series 4-1

Vancouver vs. Calgary

  • April 7: Vancouver 5-3 Calgary
  • April 9: Calgary 2-1 Vancouver
  • April 11: Vancouver 2-1 Calgary
  • April 13: Calgary 4-0 Vancouver
  • April 15: Calgary 2-1 Vancouver
  • April 17: Vancouver 5-4 Calgary (3OT)

Colorado vs. Dallas

  • April 7: Colorado 3-1 Dallas
  • April 9: Colorado 5-2 Dallas
  • April 12: Dallas 4-3 Colorado (OT)
  • April 14: Colorado 3-2 Dallas (2OT)
  • April 17: Colorado 5-1 Dallas

Colorado wins series 4-1

OT = Over Time

Preceded by:
2002-03 NHL season

List of NHL seasons

Followed by:
2004-05 NHL season

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