1993–94 NHL season Totally Explained

Everything about 1993 94 Nhl Season totally explained

The 1993–94 NHL season was the 77th regular season of the National Hockey League. Twenty-six teams each played 84 games. The New York Rangers were the Stanley Cup champions. It was the Rangers' fourth championship. In addition, the final game started the 1994 Stanley Cup riots in Downtown Vancouver.
The spectacular play of Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils and Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres ushered in a new era of goaltending dominance in the NHL. Only three teams reached the 300-goal plateau, and only one team, the Detroit Red Wings, averaged more than four goals scored per game. Goaltenders combined for 99 shutouts during the regular season.

League Business

This season was the first for two expansion teams, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Florida Panthers.
The Minnesota North Stars relocated to Dallas, Texas to become the Dallas Stars. It was the first franchise relocation for the NHL since the Colorado Rockies became the New Jersey Devils in 1982–83.

The San Jose Sharks finally came to San Jose and play ed their first game at the then San Jose Arena (now HP Pavilion at San Jose).

The Chicago Blackhawks played their final season at Chicago Stadium.

The St. Louis Blues played their final season at St. Louis Arena. The names of the conferences were changed from Campbell and Wales to Western and Eastern respectively, and the divisions' names from Adams, Patrick, Norris and Smythe to Northeast, Atlantic, Central and Pacific respectively. New league commissioner Gary Bettman, who had previously worked in the National Basketball Association (NBA), thought the old names could be confusing to non-traditional fans and believed that a change to geographically-named divisions, as used in the NBA and most other North American professional sports, would be more easily understandable to new fans.
In addition, the playoff format was slightly altered to resemble that of the NBA; where playoffs had previously been bracketed and seeded by division, the playoffs were now broken down only by conference: the division winners were seeded one-two by order of point finish, then the top six remaining teams were seeded three through eight. However, unlike the NBA, the NHL matches the highest seeded winners against the lowest seeded winners in the second round. In order to reduce the number of long trips to and from the West Coast, whenever a Central Division team played a Pacific Division team in the playoffs, the format was 2–3–2 rather than the traditional 2–2–1–1–1, a format which lasted only for the 1993–94 season.

Regular season

This was the first and only season (as of the 2007-08 season) that all 4 former WHA teams (Edmonton, Hartford, Quebec, Winnipeg) missed the playoffs since joining in 1979.

Final standings

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

Eastern Conference

Northeast Division>

Team	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
y - Pittsburgh Penguins	84	44	27	13	101	299	285
x - Boston Bruins	84	42	29	13	97	289	252
x - Montreal Canadiens	84	41	29	14	96	283	248
x - Buffalo Sabres	84	43	32	9	95	282	218
Quebec Nordiques	84	34	42	8	76	277	292
Hartford Whalers	84	27	48	9	63	227	288
Ottawa Senators	84	14	61	9	37	201	397

Team	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
z - New York Rangers	84	52	24	8	112	299	231
x - New Jersey Devils	84	47	25	12	106	306	220
x - Washington Capitals	84	39	35	10	88	277	263
x - New York Islanders	84	36	36	12	84	282	264
Florida Panthers	84	33	34	17	83	233	233
Philadelphia Flyers	84	35	39	10	80	294	314
Tampa Bay Lightning	84	30	43	11	71	224	251

Western Conference

Central Division>

Team	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
y - Detroit Red Wings	84	46	30	8	100	356	275
x - Toronto Maple Leafs	84	43	29	12	98	280	243
x - Dallas Stars	84	42	29	13	97	286	265
x - St. Louis Blues	84	40	33	11	91	270	283
x - Chicago Blackhawks	84	39	36	9	87	254	240
Winnipeg Jets	84	24	51	9	57	245	344

Team	GP	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
y - Calgary Flames	84	42	29	13	97	302	256
x - Vancouver Canucks	84	41	40	3	85	279	276
x - San Jose Sharks	84	33	35	16	82	252	265
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	84	33	46	5	71	229	251
Los Angeles Kings	84	27	45	12	66	294	322
Edmonton Oilers	84	25	45	14	64	261	305

Note: x = clinched playoff berth, y = clinched division title, z = won Presidents' Trophy

Scoring leaders

Player	Team	GP	G	A	PTS
Wayne Gretzky	Los Angeles	81	38	92	130
Sergei Fedorov	Detroit	82	56	64	120
Adam Oates	Boston	77	32	80	112
Doug Gilmour	Toronto	83	27	84	111
Jeremy Roenick	Chicago	84	46	61	107
Pavel Bure	Vancouver	74	60	47	107
Mark Recchi	Philadelphia	84	40	67	107
Brendan Shanahan	St. Louis	81	52	50	102
Jaromir Jagr	Pittsburgh	80	32	67	99
Dave Andreychuk	Toronto	83	53	46	99

Stanley Cup Playoffs

Playoff bracket

Conference Quarterfinals

Eastern Conference

NY Rangers (1) vs. NY Islanders (8)>

Date	Away	Home
April 17	NY Islanders 0	6 NY Rangers
April 18	NY Islanders 0	6 NY Rangers
April 21	NY Rangers 5	1 NY Islanders
April 24	NY Rangers 5	2 NY Islanders
*NY Rangers wins series 4–0*

Pittsburgh (2) vs. Washington (7)>

Date	Away	Home
April 17	Washington 5	3 Pittsburgh
April 19	Washington 1	2 Pittsburgh
April 21	Pittsburgh 0	2 Washington
April 23	Pittsburgh 1	4 Washington
April 25	Washington 2	3 Pittsburgh
April 27	Pittsburgh 3	6 Washington
*Washington wins series 4–2*

New Jersey (3) vs. Buffalo (6)>

Date	Away	Home	OT
April 17	Buffalo 2	0 New Jersey
April 19	Buffalo 1	2 New Jersey
April 21	New Jersey 2	1 Buffalo
April 23	New Jersey 3	5 Buffalo
April 25	Buffalo 3	5 New Jersey
April 27	New Jersey 0	1 Buffalo	4 OT
April 29	Buffalo 1	2 New Jersey
*New Jersey wins series 4–3*

Boston (4) vs. Montreal (5)>

Date	Away	Home	OT
April 16	Montreal 2	3 Boston
April 18	Montreal 3	2 Boston
April 21	Boston 6	3 Montreal
April 23	Boston 2	5 Montreal
April 25	Montreal 2	1 Boston	OT
April 27	Boston 3	2 Montreal
April 29	Montreal 3	5 Boston
*Boston wins series 4–3*

Western Conference

Detroit (1) vs. San Jose (8)>

Date	Away	Home
April 18	San Jose 5	4 Detroit
April 20	San Jose 0	4 Detroit
April 22	Detroit 3	2 San Jose
April 23	Detroit 3	4 San Jose
April 26	Detroit 4	6 San Jose
April 28	San Jose 1	7 Detroit
April 30	San Jose 3	2 Detroit
*San Jose wins series 4–3*

Calgary (2) vs. Vancouver (7)>

Date	Away	Home	OT
April 18	Vancouver 5	0 Calgary
April 20	Vancouver 5	7 Calgary
April 22	Calgary 4	2 Vancouver
April 24	Calgary 3	2 Vancouver
April 26	Vancouver 2	1 Calgary	OT
April 28	Calgary 2	3 Vancouver	OT
April 30	Vancouver 4	3 Calgary	2 OT
*Vancouver wins series 4–3*

Toronto (3) vs. Chicago (6)>

Date	Away	Home	OT
April 18	Chicago 1	5 Toronto
April 20	Chicago 0	1 Toronto	OT
April 22	Toronto 4	5 Chicago
April 24	Toronto 3	4 Chicago	OT
April 26	Chicago 0	1 Toronto
April 28	Toronto 1	0 Chicago
*Toronto wins series 4–2*

Dallas (4) vs. St. Louis (5)>

Date	Away	Home	OT
April 17	St. Louis 3	5 Dallas
April 20	St. Louis 2	4 Dallas
April 22	Dallas 5	4 St. Louis	OT
April 24	Dallas 2	1 St. Louis
*Dallas wins series 4–0*

Conference Semifinals

NY Rangers (1) vs. Washington (7)>

Date	Away	Home
May 1	Washington 3	6 NY Rangers
May 3	Washington 2	5 NY Rangers
May 5	NY Rangers 3	0 Washington
May 7	NY Rangers 2	4 Washington
May 9	Washington 3	4 NY Rangers
*NY Rangers win series 4–1*

New Jersey (3) vs. Boston (4)>

Date	Away	Home	OT
May 1	Boston 2	1 New Jersey
May 3	Boston 6	5 New Jersey	OT
May 5	New Jersey 4	2 Boston
May 7	New Jersey 5	4 Boston	OT
May 9	Boston 0	2 New Jersey
May 11	New Jersey 5	3 Boston
*New Jersey wins series 4–2*

Toronto (3) vs. San Jose (8)>

Date	Away	Home	OT
May 2	San Jose 3	2 Toronto
May 4	San Jose 1	5 Toronto
May 6	Toronto 2	5 San Jose
May 8	Toronto 8	3 San Jose
May 10	Toronto 2	5 San Jose
May 12	San Jose 2	3 Toronto	OT
May 14	San Jose 2	4 Toronto
*Toronto wins series 4–3*

Dallas (4) vs. Vancouver (7)>

Date	Away	Home	OT
May 2	Vancouver 6	4 Dallas
May 4	Vancouver 3	0 Dallas
May 6	Dallas 4	3 Vancouver
May 8	Dallas 1	2 Vancouver	OT
May 10	Dallas 2	4 Vancouver
*Vancouver wins series 4–1*

Conference Finals

NY Rangers (1) vs. New Jersey (3)>

Date	Away	Home	OT
May 15	New Jersey 4	3 NY Rangers	2 OT
May 17	New Jersey 0	4 NY Rangers
May 19	NY Rangers 3	2 New Jersey	2 OT
May 21	NY Rangers 1	3 New Jersey
May 23	New Jersey 4	1 NY Rangers
May 25	NY Rangers 4	2 New Jersey
May 27	New Jersey 1	2 NY Rangers	2 OT
NY Rangers wins series 4–3 and Prince of Wales Trophy

Toronto (3) vs. Vancouver (7)>

Date	Away	Home	OT
May 16	Vancouver 2	3 Toronto	OT
May 18	Vancouver 4	3 Toronto
May 20	Toronto 0	4 Vancouver
May 22	Toronto 0	2 Vancouver
May 24	Toronto 3	4 Vancouver	2OT
Vancouver wins series 4–1 and Clarence S. Campbell Bowl

Finals

NY Rangers (1) vs. Vancouver (7)>

Date	Away	Score	Home	Score	OT
May 31	Vancouver	3	New York	2	OT
June 2	Vancouver	1	New York	3
June 4	New York	5	Vancouver	1
June 7	New York	4	Vancouver	2
June 9	Vancouver	6	New York	3
June 11	New York	1	Vancouver	4
June 14	Vancouver	2	New York	3
New York Rangers wins series 4–3 and Stanley Cup
Brian Leetch (NY Rangers) wins Conn Smythe Trophy

NHL Awards

The NHL Awards presentation took place on June 16, 1994.

1993–94 NHL Awards
Presidents' Trophy:	New York Rangers
Prince of Wales Trophy:	New York Rangers
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:	Vancouver Canucks
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:	Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles Kings
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy:	Cam Neely, Boston Bruins
Calder Memorial Trophy:	Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
Conn Smythe Trophy:	Brian Leetch, New York Rangers
Frank J. Selke Trophy:	Sergei Fedorov, Detroit Red Wings
Hart Memorial Trophy:	Sergei Fedorov, Detroit Red Wings
Jack Adams Award:	Jacques Lemaire, New Jersey Devils
James Norris Memorial Trophy:	Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins
King Clancy Memorial Trophy:	Adam Graves, New York Rangers
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:	Wayne Gretzky, Los Angeles Kings
Lester B. Pearson Award:	Sergei Fedorov, Detroit Red Wings
NHL Plus/Minus Award:	Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils
Vezina Trophy:	Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres
William M. Jennings Trophy:	Dominik Hasek and Grant Fuhr, Buffalo Sabres
Lester Patrick Trophy:	Wayne Gretzky

All-Star teams

First Team	Position	Second Team
Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres	G	John Vanbiesbrouck, Florida Panthers
Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins	D	Al MacInnis, Calgary Flames
Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils	D	Brian Leetch, New York Rangers
Sergei Fedorov, Detroit Red Wings	C	Ron Francis, Pittsburgh Penguins
Pavel Bure, Vancouver Canucks	RW	Cam Neely, Boston Bruins
Brendan Shanahan, St. Louis Blues	LW	Adam Graves, New York Rangers

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1993–94 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Mariusz Czerkawski, Boston Bruins

Chris Osgood, Detroit Red Wings

Darren McCarty, Detroit Red Wings

Greg Johnson, Detroit Red Wings

Jason Arnott, Edmonton Oilers

Kirk Maltby, Edmonton Oilers

Rob Niedermayer, Florida Panthers

Chris Pronger, Hartford Whalers

Donald Brashear, Montreal Canadiens

Jason Smith, New Jersey Devils

Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils

Zigmund Palffy, New York Islanders

Mattias Norstrom, New York Rangers

Todd Marchant, New York Rangers

Alexandre Daigle, Ottawa Senators

Alexei Yashin, Ottawa Senators

Pavol Demitra, Ottawa Senators

Mikael Renberg, Philadelphia Flyers

Markus Naslund, Pittsburgh Penguins

Jocelyn Thibault, Quebec Nordiques

Ian Laperriere, St. Louis Blues

Chris Gratton, Tampa Bay Lightning

Yanic Perreault, Toronto Maple Leafs

Mike Peca, Vancouver Canucks

Jason Allison, Washington Capitals

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1993–94 (listed with their last team):

Gordie Roberts, Boston Bruins

Dave Christian, Chicago Blackhawks

Michel Goulet, Chicago Blackhawks

Mike Foligno, Florida Panthers

Brian Propp, Hartford Whalers

Dave Taylor, Los Angeles Kings

Mark Hardy, Los Angeles Kings

Keith Acton, New York Islanders

Rob Ramage, Philadelphia Flyers

Bryan Trottier, Pittsburgh Penguins

Trivia

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals was the most-watched game in NHL history, whether it was on ESPN in the United States, MSG Network, or on the CBC in Canada. (ESPN was blacked out in the New York City area and in the border cities).(External Link

) This was the last time the NHL played a schedule of neutral-site regular-season games. This created a few borderline absurd situations:

The Dallas Stars played a neutral-site game in their previous hometown of Minneapolis, where they were greeted enthusiastically (excluding owner Norm Green.

The Minnesota North Stars' tradition of playing on New Years' Eve and holding a post-game skate on the ice was continued. However, the North Stars having moved to Dallas, organizers had to attempt to emulate it by scheduling the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins. Also, the game was played at the Target Center in Minneapolis rather than the Met Center in Bloomington.

The Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Detroit Red Wings contest at Minneapolis was scheduled for Martin Luther King Day, a Monday, necessitating an afternoon face-off at 2:05 PM. Due to an error on the NHL's part, however, the Lightning believed themselves to be playing at 7:35 PM, an error that was only discovered two weeks prior to the game by reporters. The Lightning ended up playing an 8:05 PM game in Winnipeg, flying back to the U.S., and playing again just 18 hours later in Minneapolis.

The New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers, whose arenas were located twelve miles apart, played over 1,000 miles away and in a different country (at Hamilton, Ontario).

Similarly, the Montréal Canadiens and the Quebec Nordiques, both hailing from the province of Quebec, played each other 2,500 miles from home (in Phoenix, AZ), travelling not only to another country but also from a French- to an English-speaking city.

The Florida Panthers, in the midst of a playoff race, played a March "home" game against the Maple Leafs 30 miles from Toronto, at Hamilton. In total, 26 such games were played:

Complete List of Neutral-Site Games

Date	Score	City	Arena	Attendance
	St. Louis Blues 5, San Jose Sharks 2	Sacramento, CA	ARCO Arena	7,144
	New York Rangers 4, New Jersey Devils 1	Halifax, N.S.	Halifax Metro Centre	8,200
November 3, 1993	Pittsburgh Penguins 6, Buffalo Sabres 2	Sacramento, CA	ARCO Arena	10,117
November 9, 1993	Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 4, Dallas Stars 2	Phoenix, AZ	America West Arena	8,143
	New York Islanders 5, Montréal Canadiens 1	Hamilton, ON	Copps Coliseum	17,008
	Dallas Stars 6, Ottawa Senators 1	Minneapolis, MN	Target Center	14,058
	Vancouver Canucks 4, Calgary Flames 3	Saskatoon, Sask.	SaskPlace	11,429*
	Philadelphia Flyers 4, Boston Bruins 3	Minneapolis, MN	Target Center	10,855
	Tampa Bay Lightning 1, Toronto Maple Leafs 0	Hamilton, ON	Copps Coliseum	17,526*
	Montréal Canadiens 2, Québec Nordiques 0	Phoenix, AZ	America West Arena	11,393
	St. Louis Blues 2, Hartford Whalers 1	Cleveland, OH	Richfield Coliseum	6,956
	Detroit Red Wings 6, Tampa Bay Lightning 3	Minneapolis, MN	Target Center	8,764
	Vancouver Canucks 5, Edmonton Oilers 4 (OT)	Saskatoon, Sask.	SaskPlace	-
	Los Angeles Kings 3, Calgary Flames 3 (OT)	Phoenix, AZ	America West Arena	14,864
	Washington Capitals 5, Philadelphia Flyers 2	Cleveland, OH	Richfield Coliseum	8,312
	San Jose Sharks 4, Chicago Blackhawks 3	Sacramento, CA]	ARCO Arena	14,182*
	Florida Panthers 3, Winnipeg Jets 2	Hamilton, ON	Copps Coliseum	6,291
	Detroit Red Wings 3, Hartford Whalers 0	Cleveland, OH	Richfield Coliseum	11,621
	Winnipeg Jets 6, Ottawa Senators 1	Minneapolis, MN	Target Center	6,388
	Chicago Blackhawks 3, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 0	Phoenix, AZ	America West Arena	13,847
	New York Rangers 7, Washington Capitals 5	Halifax, N.S.	Halifax Metro Centre	9,200*
	New York Islanders 2, Buffalo Sabres 2	Minneapolis, MN	Target Center	8,016
	Toronto Maple Leafs 1, Florida Panthers 1 (OT)	Hamilton, ON	Copps Coliseum	17,096*
	New Jersey Devils 5, Quebec Nordiques 2	Minneapolis, MN	Target Center	6,222
	Pittsburgh Penguins 6, Boston Bruins 2	Cleveland, OH	Richfield Coliseum	17,224
	Los Angeles Kings 6, Edmonton Oilers 1	Sacramento, CA	ARCO Arena	10,363

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