2014–15 NHL season

The 2014–15 NHL season was the 98th season of operation (97th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). It lasted from October 8, 2014 to June 15, 2015.

The Los Angeles Kings became the first team to miss the playoffs after winning the cup the previous season since the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006–07.

The Boston Bruins also became the third defending Presidents' Trophy winner to miss the playoffs (and the first since the Buffalo Sabres missed the playoffs in 2007–08 after winning the Presidents' Trophy in 2007).

The Winnipeg Jets clinched a playoff berth for the first time since the team's relocation from Atlanta in 2011.

The San Jose Sharks' playoff streak ended at ten years. The Ottawa Senators also became the first team in NHL history to make the post-season after trailing for the final playoff spot by 14 points.

League Business

Canadian TV Rights

The 2014–15 season brought a significant realignment for NHL broadcast rights in Canada, as it marked the first year of Rogers Communications' 12-year, $5.2 billion contract for national television and digital media rights to the league.

The networks of Sportsnet (including the Sportsnet regional channels, Sportsnet One, and Sportsnet 360) replaced TSN as the English-language cable broadcasters of the league.

National French-language rights were sub-licensed by Rogers to Quebecor Media with TVA Sports replacing RDS as the national French-language television broadcaster of the NHL in Canada.

CBC Television (the previous over-the-air television broadcaster of the NHL) continues to participate in coverage to an extent: Rogers reached a deal with CBC to license the "Hockey Night in Canada" brand and maintain the network's traditional Saturday night games, along with post-season coverage and exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Final. HNIC began to air across CBC, City, the Sportsnet networks and FX Canada (typically an all-U.S. game).

As part of the arrangement, CBC did not pay a rights fee to either Rogers or the NHL, but all of the telecasts are brokered and produced by Sportsnet. CBC is allotted advertising time during the games to promote its own programming, but Rogers receives all ad revenue from the telecasts.

City also introduced a new primetime game of the week on Sunday nights (known as Rogers Hometown Hockey) which was hosted on-location from various cities by Ron MacLean. Similarly to TSN under the previous contract, Sportsnet also has a flagship, national Wednesday night game.

With the loss of national cable rights, TSN's NHL coverage began consisting solely of regional coverage using its new TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5 channels. The three channels broadcast regional Winnipeg Jets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators games respectively.

Regional rights to the Toronto Maple Leafs were split between TSN4 and Sportsnet Ontario beginning this season with TSN4 airing 26 of these games; Bell and Rogers own a joint majority stake in the team's parent company Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

TSN5 began airing regional Senators games as part of a new 12-year deal between the team and TSN's parent company Bell Media (which also included French-language regional rights for RDS, and an extension of CFGO's radio rights), replacing Sportsnet East. The Senators were replaced on Sportsnet East by the Montreal Canadiens under a new three-year deal with Rogers.

TVA Sports' national French-language coverage consisted of themed games on selected nights of the week; its flagship telecasts, La super soiré LNH, primarily aired the Montreal Canadiens' Saturday night games, along with the All-Star Game, Winter Classic, and Stanley Cup playoffs.

RDS continued its long-standing relationship with the Montreal Canadiens for French-language television coverage under a new, 12-year regional contract.

As such, French-language broadcasts of the Canadiens on RDS are now blacked out for viewers outside of the team's home market of Quebec and eastern Canada.

Agreement with GoPro

Midway through the season, the league signed an agreement with GoPro to use the company's wearable cameras to record content for the league's television broadcasts and other video productions.

They were first used by players in the 2015 All-Star Game.

Changes to the NHL Draft Lottery

On June 24, 2014, the NHL Board of Governors approved changes to the draft lottery format, starting with the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Beginning in 2015, the odds of winning the first overall pick will be adjusted down for the first four lowest point-gaining teams and adjusted up for the following ten.

The change was made in order to "reflect the current state of competitive balance in the League."

In 2016, the Draft Lottery will be used to choose the first three overall picks, rather than just the first.

Rule Changes

The following rule changes were voted upon by the NHL Board of Governors in June of 2014 and were approved by the Players' Association in September of 2014:

• The trapezoidal areas behind each net in which goaltenders are allowed to play the puck are to be made 4 feet (1.2 m) wider than their current width.

• The width of the hashmarks outside the faceoff circles will be extended from their current 3.5 feet to five feet, seven inches apart (international markings).

• Prior to any overtime period, both teams will change ends and the ice will be dry-scraped by an ice resurfacer. The league hopes that the "long line changes" and the better ice surfaces will increase scoring in overtime, and thus decrease shootouts.

• Coaches no longer have to submit a list of shootout participants as it begins. The coaches will be free as to who they will pick next.

• Teams that ice the puck can only use one center to take the ensuing faceoff. If that player attempts to get kicked out of the faceoff to buy his team time, he'll get a two-minute delay-of-game penalty.

• The NHL's "situation room" will have more latitude to conduct video reviews of goals that don't fall under the guidelines of what can be reviewed but that clearly weren't scored legally.

• The wording "embellishment" will be changed to allow an escalating scale of fines to repeat-offense players and coaches.

• The "spin-o-rama" will no longer be allowed on penalty shots and during the shootout.

At the league's General Managers Meeting in November, it was decided to immediately end the dry-scrap prior to overtime, as it was felt that the average time of five minutes was too long and it seemed to have no significant difference.

The GMs also voted to allow officials in the "situation Room" to buzz the arena to have play immediately stopped for a video review without waiting for a whistle.