1993-94 NHL season

The 1993–94 NHL season was the 77th regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL). The season lasted from October 5, 1993 to June 14, 1994.

The New York Rangers were the Stanley Cup champions. It was the Rangers' fourth championship overall, and their first in 54 seasons, since 1939–40.

The spectacular play of 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, a mark that broke the all-time regular-season record of 85 set in 1974-75.

League business[]

For this season, the names of the conferences were changed from Campbell and Wales to Slim and Gaston respectively, and the divisions' names were changed from Adams, Patrick, Norris, and Smythe to Gogan, Esme, McCarthy, and Tin Man respectively.

Each division had changes.

The Gogan Division would welcome the Pittsburgh Penguins, previously from the Patrick Division.

The Esme Division would welcome the newcomer Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning, previously from the Norris Division.

The McCarthy Division would welcome the Winnipeg Jets, previously from the Smythe Division. The Tin Man Division would welcome the newcomer Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

New league commissioner Gary Bettman, who had previously worked in the 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.

Whereas the playoffs had previously been bracketed and seeded by division, they 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 in the conference 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 McCarthy Division team played a Tin Man 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.

Franchise changes[]

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Florida Panthers started play this season.

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 the 1982-83 NHL season.

This was the first season that the San Jose Sharks actually played in San Jose, California, moving into the new HP Pavilion at San Jose after spending their first two years at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California.

It was the final season that the St. Louis Blues played at the St. Louis Arena.

Regular season[]

Final standings[]

The division first-place finishers qualify for the playoffs as 1-2 seeding.

The next six per conference are the teams with the six best records of the non-division winners.

Eastern Conference[]

Template:1993–94 NHL Atlantic Division standings

Template:1993–94 NHL Northeast Division standings

Western Conference[]

Template:1993–94 NHL Central Division standings

Template:1993–94 NHL Pacific Division standings

Note: z = won Presidents' Trophy.
No = Division rank, CR = Conference rank, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points

Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Head coaches of the Gaston Conference[]

Team	Coach	Comments
Boston Bruins	Brian Sutter
Buffalo Sabres	John Muckler
Florida Panthers	Roger Neilson
Hartford Whalers	Pierre McGuire	Replaced midseason by Paul Holmgren
Montreal Canadiens	Jacques Demers
New Jersey Devils	Jacques Lemaire
New York Islanders	Al Arbour
New York Rangers	Mike Keenan
Ottawa Senators	Rick Bowness
Philadelphia Flyers	Terry Simpson
Pittsburgh Penguins	Eddie Johnston
Quebec Nordiques	Pierre Page
Tampa Bay Lightning	Terry Crisp
Washington Capitals	Terry Murray	Replaced late in the season by Jim Schoenfeld

Head coaches of the Slim Conference[]

Team	Coach	Comments
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim	Ron Wilson
Calgary Flames	Dave King
Chicago Blackhawks	Darryl Sutter
Dallas Stars	Bob Gainey
Detroit Red Wings	Scotty Bowman
Edmonton Oilers	Ted Green	Replaced early in the season by Glen Sather
Los Angeles Kings	Barry Melrose
St. Louis Blues	Bob Berry
San Jose Sharks	Kevin Constantine
Toronto Maple Leafs	Pat Burns
Vancouver Canucks	Pat Quinn
Winnipeg Jets	John Paddock

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
Pavel Bure	Vancouver	74	60	47	107
Jeremy Roenick	Chicago	84	46	61	107
Mark Recchi	Philadelphia	84	40	67	107
Brendan Shanahan	St. Louis	81	52	50	102
Dave Andreychuk	Toronto	83	53	46	99
Jaromir Jagr	Pittsburgh	80	32	67	99

Playoffs[]

Main article: 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs

For the first time, all four former WHA teams (Edmonton, Hartford, Quebec, and Winnipeg) failed to make the playoffs in the same year.

Playoff bracket[]

Template:NHLBracket

Final[]

Main article: 1994 Stanley Cup Finals

The Final pitted the New York Rangers, seeking to win their first Cup since 1940, versus the Vancouver Canucks, looking for their first-ever Cup win. The series was hard-fought and went the full seven games.

The Rangers took a 3–1 series lead, but the Canucks won the next two to force a game seven in New York. The Rangers won the game 3–2 to win their fourth Stanley Cup.

**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
Gaston Trophy:	New York Rangers
Slim Bowl:	Vancouver Canucks
Art Ross 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, Los Angeles Kings

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
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

1994 trading deadline[]

March 19, 1994: Donald Dufresne traded from Tampa Bay to Los Angeles for Los Angeles's sixth round pick in 1994 Entry Draft.
March 19, 1994: Jeff Daniels traded from Pittsburgh to Florida for Greg Hawgood.
March 19, 1994: Doug Zmolek and Mike Lalor traded from San Jose to Dallas for Ulf Dahlen.
March 21, 1994: Joe Juneau traded from Boston to Washington for Al Iafrate.
March 21, 1994: Craig Janney traded from Vancouver to St. Louis for Jeff Brown, Bret Hedican and Nathan Lafayette
March 21, 1994: Jim Johnson traded from Dallas to Washington for Alan May and Washington's seventh round pick in 1995 Entry Draft.
March 21, 1994: Joe Reekie traded from Tampa Bay to Washington for Enrico Ciccone and Washington's third round pick in 1994 Entry Draft and a conditional draft pick.
March 21, 1994: Steve Konroyd traded from Detroit to Ottawa for Daniel Berthiaume.
March 21, 1994: Phil Bourque traded from NY Rangers to Ottawa for future considerations.
March 21, 1994: Tony Amonte and the rights to Matt Oates traded from NY Rangers to Chicago for Stephane Matteau and Brian Noonan.
March 21, 1994: Peter Andersson traded from NY Rangers to Florida for future considerations.
March 21, 1994: Robert Dirk traded from Vancouver to Chicago for Chicago's fourth round pick in 1994 Entry Draft.
March 21, 1994: Mike Gartner traded from NY Rangers to Toronto for Glenn Anderson, the rights to Scott Malone and Toronto's fourth round pick in 1994 Entry Draft.
March 21, 1994: Craig MacTavish traded from Edmonton to NY Rangers for Todd Marchant.
March 21, 1994: Paul Ysebaert traded from Winnipeg to Chicago for Chicago's third round pick in 1995 Entry Draft.
March 21, 1994: Alexei Kasatonov traded from Anaheim to St. Louis for Maxim Bets and St. Louis's sixth round pick in 1995 Entry Draft.
March 21, 1994: Mike Needham traded from Pittsburgh to Dallas for Jim McKenzie.
March 21, 1994: Kevin Todd traded from Chicago to Los Angeles for Los Angeles's fourth round pick in the 1994 Entry Draft.
March 21, 1994: Pelle Eklund traded from Philadelphia to Dallas for future considerations.
March 21, 1994: Roy Mitchell and Reid Simpson traded from Dallas to New Jersey for future considerations.
March 21, 1994: Steve Passmore traded from Quebec to Edmonton for Brad Werenka.

Neutral site games[]

There were a series of neutral-site games in this season which created a few interesting scenarios:

The Stars played a neutral-site game in their previous hometown of Minneapolis, where they were greeted enthusiastically.

The Minnesota North Stars' tradition of playing on New Year's 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 Flyers and Bruins. Also, the game was played at the Target Center in Minneapolis rather than the Met Center in Bloomington.

The Lightning vs. 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 Devils and Rangers, whose arenas were located twelve miles apart, played over 1,000 miles away and in a different country (at Halifax, Nova Scotia).

Similarly, the Canadiens and 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 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	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Score	OT	City	State/Province	Arena	Attendance
01 !October 21, 1993	St. Louis	5	San Jose	2		Sacramento	CA	ARCO Arena	07144 !7,144
02 !October 31, 1993	NY Rangers	4	New Jersey	1		Halifax	NS	Halifax Metro Centre	08200 !8,200
03 !November 3, 1993	Pittsburgh	6	Buffalo	2		Sacramento	CA	ARCO Arena	10117 !10,117
04 !November 9, 1993	Anaheim	4	Dallas	2		Phoenix	AZ	America West Arena	08143 !8,143
05 !November 18, 1993	NY Islanders	5	Montréal	1		Hamilton	ON	Copps Coliseum	17008 !17,008
06 !December 9, 1993	Dallas	6	Ottawa	1		Minneapolis	MN	Target Center	14058 !14,058
07 !December 23, 1993	Vancouver	4	Calgary	3		Saskatoon	SK	SaskPlace	11429 !11,429*
08 !December 31, 1993	Philadelphia	4	Boston	3		Minneapolis	MN	Target Center	10855 !10,855
09 !January 4, 1994	Tampa Bay	1	Toronto	0		Hamilton	ON	Copps Coliseum	17526 !17,526*
10 !January 5, 1994	Montréal	2	Québec	0		Phoenix	AZ	America West Arena	11393 !11,393
11 !January 6, 1994	St. Louis	2	Hartford	1		Cleveland	OH	Richfield Coliseum	06956 !6,956
12 !January 16, 1994	Detroit	6	Tampa Bay	3		Minneapolis	MN	Target Center	08764 !8,764
13 !January 23, 1994	Vancouver	5	Edmonton	4	(OT)	Saskatoon	SK	SaskPlace	N/A
14 !January 24, 1994	Calgary	3	Los Angeles	3	(OT)	Phoenix	AZ	America West Arena	14864 !14,864
15 !February 2, 1994	Washington	5	Philadelphia	2		Cleveland	OH	Richfield Coliseum	08312 !8,312
16 !February 8, 1994	San Jose	4	Chicago	3		Sacramento	CA	ARCO Arena	14182 !14,182*
17 !February 22, 1994	Florida	3	Winnipeg	2		Hamilton	ON	Copps Coliseum	06291 !6,291
18 !February 24, 1994	Detroit	3	Hartford	0		Cleveland	OH	Richfield Coliseum	11621 !11,621
19 !March 4, 1994	Winnipeg	6	Ottawa	1		Minneapolis	MN	Target Center	06388 !6,388
20 !March 8, 1994	Chicago	3	Anaheim	0		Phoenix	AZ	America West Arena	13847 !13,847
21 !March 9, 1994	NY Rangers	7	Washington	5		Halifax	NS	Halifax Metro Centre	09200 !9,200*
22 !March 18, 1994	Buffalo	2	NY Islanders	2	(OT)	Minneapolis	MN	Target Center	08016 !8,016
23 !March 23, 1994	Florida	1	Toronto	1	(OT)	Hamilton	ON	Copps Coliseum	17096 !17,096*
24 !March 27, 1994	New Jersey	5	Quebec	2		Minneapolis	MN	Target Center	06222 !6,222
25 !April 3, 1994	Pittsburgh	6	Boston	2		Cleveland	OH	Richfield Coliseum	17224 !17,224
26 !April 3, 1994	Los Angeles	6	Edmonton	1		Sacramento	CA	ARCO Arena	10363 !10,363