2009–10 NHL season

The 2009–10 NHL season is the 92nd (and current) season of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the 100th season since the founding of the predecessor National Hockey Association (NHA). It will run from October 1, 2009—including four games in Europe on October 2 and 3—until April 12, 2010, with the Stanley Cup playoffs to follow, all the way up to early June 2010. A mid-season break from February 15 to February 28 will occur to allow participation of NHL players in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Because of the Winter Olympics break there will be no NHL All-Star Game for 2010.

League business

Salary cap

The salary cap will see just a minor increase for 2009–10 season. It is set at $56.8 million, which is $100,000 higher than in the 2008–09 season. The salary floor is at $40.8 million. ^[1]

Entry Draft

The Entry Draft was held June 26-27, 2009 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. The New York Islanders chose John Tavares with the first overall pick.

New uniforms

Several teams (Calgary, Minnesota, Nashville, Florida, and Colorado) will debut new third uniforms this season, while Philadelphia & Edmonton Oilers will be making their third uniform their primary home jersey, and Chicago will make the jersey they wore for last season's Winter Classic their new alternate. In addition, NHL officials will have new uniforms, which debuted at the 2009 All-Star Game.

Preseason

The 2009–10 preseason for most teams started on September 14, 2009.

2009 Kraft Hockeyville

Since 2006, Kraft Foods has sponsored a sweepstakes called Kraft Hockeyville, in which various small cities across Canada compete against each other with the hopes of winning the privilege of having an NHL pre-season game played in a local sports complex or arena, along with a hockey festival named the Stanley Cup Jamboree. The 2009 winner was the city of Terrace, British Columbia. The pre-season matchup was between the home town favorite Vancouver Canucks and the New York Islanders.

Victoria Cup

The Victoria Cup, which was held in Zurich, Switzerland on September 29, 2009, just prior to the regular-season games, was contested between Zurich ZSC Lions and the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks. The game was won by Zurich 2-1.

Regular season

The first goal of the season was scored by Brian Gionta of the Montreal Canadiens against Vesa Toskala of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Premiere series logo

Four teams (Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers and St. Louis Blues) began their season in the NHL Premiere series, each playing two regular-season games in Europe. Detroit played St. Louis in Stockholm, Sweden at Ericsson Globe and Chicago and Florida played in Helsinki, Finland at Hartwall Areena on October 2 and October 3.^[2] This is the second-straight season that Sweden has hosted an NHL regular season game, and the third season of the Premiere series, in which NHL regular season games are held in Europe. Unlike in previous years, the European games are not the inaugural games, as the regular season began October 1 in North America.

The Phoenix bankruptcy court rejected offers from the NHL and Jim Balsillie, ending Balsillie's and Jerry Moyes plan to move the Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton, Ontario. The NHL's offer was rejected because it left out creditors Moyes and Wayne Gretzky. On Balsillie's offer, Judge Redfield T. Baum refused to sanction the use of bankruptcy to force relocation of a franchise on a league. Gretzky, who had stayed away from training camp and was replaced. The Coyotes played their first home game to a sell-out, however attendance was lower at other games in the month of October. Later in the month, the NHL and Moyes came to a tentative agreement to transfer ownership of the Coyotes to the NHL.

The Colorado Avalanche, picked by many in the media to finish last in the Western Conference, instead roared to a 10–3-2 mark for the month of October to lead the Western Conference, partly on the strong play of Craig Anderson in net and rookies Ryan O'Reilly and Matt Duchene. The Coyotes, not expected to make the playoffs started strongly. The team had signed some veterans and demoted some young players to the minors. The Coyotes surprised the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins 3–0 in Pittsburgh.

In the Eastern Conference, the Penguins had the best record after the first month. Teams playing at a higher level than predicted included the Buffalo Sabres, which led the Northeast Division through most of October. On the other end of the scale, 2009 Conference finalist Carolina Hurricanes had a 2–8–3 record for October, the worst in franchise history.

In early November, the Columbus Chamber of Commerce released a report detailing how the Blue Jackets were losing $12 million per year. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the team's ownership is not prepared to continue funding the 'structural problem'. The Blue Jackets spend $5 million annually in arena rent, and are losing money on events at the Nationwide Arena to the amount of $4 million per year. The Arena district is estimated to provide $30 million in taxes. The report by Stephen A. Buser, suggests some options including the use of local and state taxes.^[3]

Two streaks came to an end in November. The New Jersey Devils won nine games in a row on the road to start the season, one short of the league record set in the 2006–07 season by the Buffalo Sabres, before losing in Philadelphia to the Flyers. The Carolina Hurricanes lost a franchise-high 14 games in a row before defeating the Minnesota Wild in a shootout on November 15. The streak included overtime and shootout losses.

The 2009 flu pandemic hit the Edmonton Oilers hard with several players out for stretches in October. Calgary Flames received their flu shots ahead of the general public; causing an Alberta health official to be fired. Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks both had members of their staff "jump the queue" and receive flu shots ahead of the general public and were criticized in the media.

Conference standings

After games of December 4, 2009.^[4]

After games of December 3, 2009.^[4]

Divisional standings

Eastern Conference

After games of November 29, 2009.^[5]

After games of December 01, 2009.^[5]

After games of December 4, 2009.^[5]
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points

Western Conference

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points

After games of December 4, 2009.^[5]

After games of November 25, 2009.^[5]

After games of December 3, 2009.^[5]
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points

Tiebreaking procedures

In the event of a tie in points in the standings at the end of the season, ties are broken using the following tiebreaking procedures.^[6] The higher ranked team is the one with:

1. The greater number of games won.
2. The greater number of points earned in games between the tied clubs.
3. The greater differential between goals for and against for the entire regular season.

Statistical leaders

Scoring leaders

As of games played on December 4, 2009.^[7]

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes

Leading goaltenders

GP = Games Played; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes); W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/Shootout Losses; GA = Goals Against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save Percentage; GAA = Goals Against Average

As of games played on November 27, 2009.

Special events

The Colorado Avalanche retired 19, the number of Joe Sakic, at their home opener on October 1.

Winter Classic

On July 15, 2009, the NHL announced that the third installment of the Winter Classic will take place on January 1, 2010, at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts with the Boston Bruins hosting the Philadelphia Flyers. Because the NHL will not host an All-Star Game in the 2009–10 season due to the 2010 Olympics, this will become the league's showcase event.

Olympics

The NHL will not hold an All-Star Game this season. Instead, many of the league's players will participate in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The Olympic ice hockey tournament is scheduled to be played from February 16 to February 28, 2010. This will mark the first time since the NHL allowed its players to compete in an Olympics that a Winter Olympics will be held in an NHL market, as well as the first to use an NHL-sized ice rink (as opposed to the bigger one normally used for international play). General Motors Place, the Vancouver Canucks' home arena, will be known as "Canada Hockey Place," for being the primary ice hockey venue. The temporary arena name change reflects the fact that the International Olympic Committee does not sell or promote naming rights for its competition venues.

The Olympics will also affect the Canucks, as they will be faced with the longest road trip in NHL history, having to play 14 straight road games from January 27 to March 13, 2010^[8] so that GM Place could be prepared for the Olympics.^[9] One example of this is that the ice surface and dasher boards will need to be redone to reflect said banning of selling or promoting said naming rights.^[9]

See also

• 2009 NHL Entry Draft
• 2009 in sports
• 2010 in sports
• List of 2009–10 NHL Three Star Awards

References

External links

• NHL.com
• 2009–10 NHL season at Hockey Reference
• 2009–10 NHL season at ESPN
• Hockey Database