2002–03 NHL season

Entry draft

The 2002 NHL entry draft was held on June 22 and 23, 2002 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Rick Nash was selected first overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Rule changes

The league approved the following rule changes:^[1][2]

• Following the death of Brittanie Cecil during the previous season, netting at both ends of the rink became mandatory, and the minimum height of the glass around the entire rink was raised to five feet (1.5 m).
• "Hurry-up" faceoff and line-change rules were implemented, similar to ones used by the American Hockey League. Except during the final two minutes of a game and after a goal is scored, the visiting team has five seconds to complete a line change during stoppages, and the home team has eight seconds. The linesman will then blow his whistle and drop the puck within five seconds, regardless if one or both teams' centres are lined up at the faceoff dot. If a centre is offside before getting properly lined up by the five seconds, he will get a warning before getting subsequent delay of game penalties.

All-Star Game

The All-Star Game was played on February 2, 2003, at Office Depot Center in Sunrise, the home of the Florida Panthers. The game returned to an Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference format.

Highlights

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 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 most surprising team was probably the Tampa Bay Lightning, which many had predicted to finish last, winning their first 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. On January 8, 2003, Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Michael Leighton gained a shutout in his NHL debut in a 0–0 tie versus the Phoenix Coyotes. Coyotes goaltender Zac Bierk earned his first career shutout, although it was not his NHL debut. It was the first—and with the abolition of ties two years later, the only—time that two goalies in the same game both earned their first career shutouts.^[3]

At the midpoint of the season, the Canucks led the Western Conference and Ottawa led the East. Vancouver stumbled somewhat over the stretch and lost the Northwest Division title to Colorado and the Western Conference 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 after the season by billionaire Eugene Melnyk. The Buffalo Sabres also entered bankruptcy protection before being bought 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.

Eastern Conference

Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast, SE – Southeast

P – Clinched Presidents Trophy; Y – Clinched division; X – Clinched playoff spot

Western Conference

^[5]

Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points
         Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.

Divisions: PA – Pacific, CE – Central, NW – Northwest

Z – Clinched conference; Y – Clinched division; X – Clinched playoff spot Source: McCarthy, Dave, ed. (2009). NHL Official Guide and Record Book 2009. NHL. p. 156.

Bracket

In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series following a 2–2–1–1–1 format (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). The team with home ice advantage played at home for games one and two (and games five and seven, if necessary), and the other team played at home for games three and four (and game six, if necessary). The top eight teams in each conference made the playoffs, with the three division winners seeded 1–3 based on regular season record, and the five remaining teams seeded 4–8.

The NHL used "re-seeding" instead of a fixed bracket playoff system. During the first three rounds, the highest remaining seed in each conference was matched against the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed played the second-lowest remaining seed, and so forth. The higher-seeded team was awarded home ice advantage. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where home ice advantage was awarded to the team that had the better regular season record.

All-Star teams

Regular season

Playoffs

Eastern Conference

• Atlanta Thrashers: Curt Fraser, Don Waddell and Bob Hartley
• Boston Bruins: Robbie Ftorek and Mike O'Connell
• Buffalo Sabres: Lindy Ruff
• Carolina Hurricanes: Paul Maurice
• Florida Panthers: Mike Keenan
• Montreal Canadiens: Michel Therrien and Claude Julien
• New Jersey Devils: Pat Burns
• New York Islanders: Peter Laviolette
• New York Rangers: Bryan Trottier and Glen Sather
• Ottawa Senators: Jacques Martin
• Philadelphia Flyers: Ken Hitchcock
• Pittsburgh Penguins: Rick Kehoe
• Tampa Bay Lightning: John Tortorella
• Toronto Maple Leafs: Pat Quinn
• Washington Capitals: Bruce Cassidy

Western Conference

• Mighty Ducks of Anaheim: Mike Babcock
• Calgary Flames: Greg Gilbert, Al MacNeil and Darryl Sutter
• Chicago Blackhawks: Brian Sutter
• Colorado Avalanche: Bob Hartley and Tony Granato
• Columbus Blue Jackets: Dave King and Doug MacLean
• Dallas Stars: Dave Tippett
• Detroit Red Wings: Dave Lewis
• Edmonton Oilers: Craig MacTavish
• Los Angeles Kings: Andy Murray
• Minnesota Wild: Jacques Lemaire
• Nashville Predators: Barry Trotz
• Phoenix Coyotes: Bobby Francis
• San Jose Sharks: Darryl Sutter, Cap Raeder and Ron Wilson
• St. Louis Blues: Joel Quenneville
• Vancouver Canucks: Marc Crawford

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 2002–03 (listed with their first team):

• Patrick Sharp, Philadelphia Flyers
• Martin Gerber, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
• Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins
• Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres
• Jordan Leopold, Calgary Flames
• Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets
• Steve Ott, Dallas Stars
• Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings
• Ales Hemsky, Edmonton Oilers
• Jarret Stoll, Edmonton Oilers
• Jay Bouwmeester, Florida Panthers
• Alexander Frolov, Los Angeles Kings
• Cristobal Huet, Los Angeles Kings
• Joe Corvo, Los Angeles Kings
• Mike Cammalleri, Los Angeles Kings
• Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Minnesota Wild
• Francois Beauchemin, Montreal Canadiens
• Anton Volchenkov, Ottawa Senators
• Jason Spezza, Ottawa Senators
• Ray Emery, Ottawa Senators
• Dennis Seidenberg, Philadelphia Flyers
• Jonathan Cheechoo, San Jose Sharks
• Matt Stajan, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last games

The following is a list of players of note who played their last NHL game in 2002–03, listed with their team:

Canada

This was the first season of the league's Canadian national broadcast rights deals with CBC and TSN. CBC continued to air Saturday night Hockey Night in Canada regular season games, while TSN's coverage included Wednesday Night Hockey and other selected weeknights. Stanley Cup playoff coverage on cable expanded beyond the first round, with TSN allowed to televise all-U.S. games up to the Conference Finals. CBC still aired all playoff games involving Canadian teams, as well as exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals.

United States

This was the fourth year of the league's five-year U.S. national broadcast rights deal with ESPN and ABC. ESPN and ESPN2 aired weeknight games throughout the regular season. ABC's coverage included the All-Star Game and five weeks worth of regional games on Saturday afternoons between January and March. During the first two rounds of the playoffs, ESPN and ESPN2 aired selected games, while ABC had Saturday regional telecasts. Each U.S. team's regional broadcaster produced local coverage of first and second-round games (except for those games on ABC). ABC's weekend telecasts continued into the Conference Finals, while ESPN had the rest of the third-round games. ESPN then aired the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals before the rest of the series shifted to ABC.