The 2001–02 NHL season was the 85th regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL). Thirty teams each played 82 games. The season lasted from October 3, 2001 to June 13, 2002.
The Stanley Cup winners were the Detroit Red Wings, who won the best of seven series 4–1 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
League Business[]
The cash-strapped Pittsburgh Penguins, desperate to dump payroll, could no longer afford perennial superstar Jaromir Jagr.
He would be traded (along with Frantisek Kucera) to the Washington Capitals in exchange for Kris Beech, Ross Lupaschuk, Michal Sivek and $4.9 million.
Despite Mario Lemieux's return last season, the absence of Jagr proved devastating to the Penguins and they missed the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. They would continue to miss the playoffs until the Sidney Crosby era began.
The Dallas Stars moved their home games from Reunion Arena to American Airlines Center.
The NHL honored the victims of 9/11 by having all players wear a patch on their jerseys, a ribbon sticker on the back of their helmet as well as a red, white and blue ribbon painted on the ice behind each net (with the Canadian teams having a red and white ribbon painted on the ice behind either net).
On September 20, 2001, in the middle of a pre-season game between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers with both teams tied up 2–2, nine days after the attacks, the game was stopped.
A message from United States President George W. Bush about the 9/11 attacks was broadcast on the arena video screen. After the message, the game did not resume and was declared a 2–2 tie.
Regular season[]
Final standings[]
Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points
Eastern Conference[]
| Northeast Division | W | L | T | OTL | GF | GA | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Bruins | 43 | 24 | 6 | 9 | 236 | 201 | 101 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 43 | 25 | 10 | 4 | 249 | 207 | 100 |
| Ottawa Senators | 39 | 27 | 9 | 7 | 243 | 208 | 94 |
| Montreal Canadiens | 36 | 31 | 12 | 3 | 207 | 209 | 87 |
| Buffalo Sabres | 35 | 35 | 11 | 1 | 213 | 200 | 82 |
| Atlantic Division | W | L | T | OTL | GF | GA | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia Flyers | 42 | 27 | 10 | 3 | 234 | 192 | 97 |
| New York Islanders | 42 | 28 | 8 | 4 | 239 | 220 | 96 |
| New Jersey Devils | 41 | 28 | 9 | 4 | 205 | 187 | 95 |
| New York Rangers | 36 | 38 | 4 | 4 | 227 | 258 | 80 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 28 | 41 | 8 | 5 | 198 | 249 | 69 |
| Southeast Division | W | L | T | OTL | GF | GA | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carolina Hurricanes | 35 | 26 | 16 | 5 | 217 | 217 | 91 |
| Washington Capitals | 36 | 33 | 11 | 2 | 228 | 240 | 85 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 27 | 40 | 11 | 4 | 178 | 219 | 69 |
| Florida Panthers | 22 | 44 | 10 | 6 | 180 | 250 | 60 |
| Atlanta Thrashers | 19 | 47 | 11 | 5 | 187 | 288 | 54 |
Western Conference[]
| Central Division | W | L | T | OTL | GF | GA | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit Red Wings | 51 | 17 | 10 | 4 | 251 | 187 | 116 |
| St. Louis Blues | 43 | 27 | 8 | 4 | 227 | 188 | 98 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 41 | 27 | 13 | 1 | 216 | 207 | 96 |
| Nashville Predators | 28 | 41 | 13 | 0 | 196 | 230 | 69 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 22 | 47 | 8 | 5 | 164 | 255 | 57 |
| Pacific Division | W | L | T | OTL | GF | GA | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose Sharks | 44 | 27 | 8 | 3 | 248 | 189 | 99 |
| Phoenix Coyotes | 40 | 27 | 9 | 6 | 228 | 210 | 95 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 40 | 27 | 11 | 4 | 214 | 190 | 95 |
| Dallas Stars | 36 | 28 | 13 | 5 | 215 | 213 | 90 |
| Mighty Ducks of Anaheim | 29 | 42 | 8 | 3 | 175 | 198 | 69 |
| Northwest Division | W | L | T | OTL | GF | GA | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Avalanche | 45 | 28 | 8 | 1 | 212 | 169 | 99 |
| Vancouver Canucks | 42 | 30 | 7 | 3 | 254 | 211 | 94 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 38 | 28 | 12 | 4 | 205 | 182 | 92 |
| Calgary Flames | 32 | 35 | 12 | 3 | 201 | 220 | 79 |
| Minnesota Wild | 26 | 35 | 12 | 9 | 195 | 238 | 73 |
Scoring leaders[]
Note: GP = Games Played, G = Goals, A = Assists, Pts = Points
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jarome Iginla | Calgary | 82 | 52 | 44 | 96 |
| Markus Näslund | Vancouver | 81 | 40 | 50 | 90 |
| Todd Bertuzzi | Vancouver | 72 | 36 | 49 | 85 |
| Mats Sundin | Toronto | 82 | 41 | 39 | 80 |
| Jaromir Jagr | Washington | 69 | 31 | 48 | 79 |
| Joe Sakic | Colorado | 82 | 26 | 53 | 79 |
| Pavol Demitra | St. Louis | 82 | 35 | 43 | 78 |
| Adam Oates | Washington/ Philadelphia |
80 | 14 | 64 | 78 |
| Mike Modano | Dallas | 78 | 34 | 43 | 77 |
| Ron Francis | Carolina | 80 | 27 | 50 | 77 |
Stanley Cup playoffs[]
- Main article: 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs
Playoff bracket[]
Template:NHLBracket
The Stanley Cup
Note: All dates in 2002.
Finals[]
- Main article: 2002 Stanley Cup Finals
NHL Awards[]
The NHL Awards presentation took place in Toronto.
All-Star teams[]
| First Team | Position | Second Team |
|---|---|---|
| Patrick Roy, Colorado Avalanche | G | Jose Theodore, Montreal Canadiens |
| Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings | D | Rob Blake, Colorado Avalanche |
| Chris Chelios, Detroit Red Wings | D | Sergei Gonchar, Washington Capitals |
| Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche | C | Mats Sundin, Toronto Maple Leafs |
| Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames | RW | Bill Guerin, Boston Bruins |
| Markus Naslund, Vancouver Canucks | LW | Brendan Shanahan, Detroit Red Wings |
Debuts[]
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 2001-02 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
- Ilya Bryzgalov, Anaheim Mighty Ducks
- Dany Heatley, Atlanta Thrashers
- Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers
- Ales Kotalik, Buffalo Sabres
- Henrik Tallinder, Buffalo Sabres
- Erik Cole, Carolina Hurricanes
- Tyler Arnason, Chicago Blackhawks
- Radim Vrbata, Colorado Avalanche
- Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
- Sean Avery, Detroit Red Wings
- Kristian Huselius, Florida Panthers
- Stephen Weiss, Florida Panthers
- Nick Schultz, Minnesota Wild
- Martin Erat, Nashville Predators
- Brian Gionta, New Jersey Devils
- Raffi Torres, New York Islanders
- Trent Hunter*, New York Islanders
- Chris Neil, Ottawa Senators
- Vesa Toskala, San Jose Sharks
- Barret Jackman, St. Louis Blues
- Alex Auld, Vancouver Canucks
Last games[]
The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 2001-02 (listed with their last team):
- Jeff Norton, Boston Bruins
- Bob Essensa, Buffalo Sabres
- Mike Vernon, Calgary Flames
- Bob Probert, Chicago Blackhawks
- John MacLean, Dallas Stars
- Pat Verbeek, Dallas Stars
- Dave Manson, Dallas Stars
- Steve Duchesne, Detroit Red Wings
- John Vanbiesbrouck, New Jersey Devils
- Valeri Kamensky, New Jersey Devils
- Stephane Richer, New Jersey Devils
- Kevin Stevens, Philadelphia Flyers
- Rick Tocchet, Philadelphia Flyers
- Gary Suter, San Jose Sharks
- Ray Ferraro, St. Louis Blues
- Grant Ledyard, Tampa Bay Lightning
- Dmitri Khristich, Washington Capitals
- Benoit Hogue, Washington Capitals
Trading Deadline[]
- March 19, 2002: Anaheim traded C Dave Roche to NY Islanders for RW Ben Guite and the rights to RW Bjorn Melin.
- March 19, 2002: Atlanta traded D Jiri Slegr to Detroit for C Yuri Butsayev and Detroit’s third-round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft.
- March 19, 2002: Atlanta traded LW Darcy Hordichuk and Atlanta’s fourth and fifth-round picks in the 2002 Entry Draft to Phoenix for D Kirill Safronov, the rights to RW Ruslan Zainullin and Phoenix’s fourth-round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft.
- March 19, 2002: Atlanta traded C Bob Corkum to Buffalo for Buffalo’s fifth-round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft.
- March 19, 2002: Boston traded LW Greg Crozier to Minnesota for LW Darryl Laplante.
- March 19, 2002: Boston traded D Bobby Allen to Edmonton for D Sean Brown.
- March 19, 2002: Chicago traded D Jaroslav Spacek and Chicago’s second round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft to Columbus for D Lyle Odelein.
- March 19, 2002: Columbus traded RW Blake Sloan to Calgary for D Jamie Allison.
- March 19, 2002: Colorado Avalanche obtain D Darius Kasparaitis from Pittsburgh for D Rick Berry and LW Ville Nieminen.
- March 19, 2002: New Jersey Devils obtain Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner from the Dallas Stars for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay]] and 2002 first round draft pick (Daniel Paille, later traded).
- March 19, 2002: Edmonton Oilers traded D Tom Poti and C Rem Murray to the New York Rangers for C Mike York and the Rangers' fourth-round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft (Ivan Koltsov).
- March 19, 2002: Florida traded D Darren Van Impe to NY Islanders for the Islanders' fifth-round pick in the 2003 Entry Draft.
- March 19, 2002: Florida traded D Jeff Norton to Boston for Boston’s sixth-round pick in the 2002 Entry Draft.
- March 19, 2002: Los Angeles traded G Stephane Fiset to Montreal for future considerations.
- March 19, 2002: Nashville traded D Richard Lintner to the New York Rangers for D Peter Smrek.
- March 19, 2002: Pittsburgh traded RW Stephane Richer to New Jersey for a conditional pick in the 2003 Entry Draft.
- March 19, 2002: Washington Capitals traded C Adam Oates to Philadelphia Flyers for G Maxime Ouellet and Philadelphia's first, second and third-round picks in the 2002 Entry Draft (Martin Vagner, Maxime Daigneault and Derek Krestanovich).
- March 18, 2002: Florida Panthers traded Pavel Bure and 2002 second round draft pick (Lee Falardeau) to the New York Rangers for Igor Ulanov, rights to Filip Novak and 2002 first and second round draft picks (Petr Taticek and Rob Globke).
See also[]
- List of Stanley Cup champions
- 2001 NHL Entry Draft
- 52nd National Hockey League All-Star Game
- NHL All-Star Game
- NHL All-Rookie Team