(Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Another NHL regular season is in the books, and this one may be one of the most exciting in the past decade.
Seven coaches were fired mid-season, countless players had breakthrough years, and the race for the league’s best record came down to the last two days. Here is a look back into the 2008-2009 season:
For the second year in a row, the NHL started in its season in Europe.
The New York Rangers and the Tampa Bay Lightning played two games in the Czech Republic, and the Pittsburgh Penguins squared off with the Ottawa Senators in Sweden. Tampa was hoping to turn a corner this year, acquiring Steven Stamkos as the number one pick in the 2008 NHL draft, as well as making big trades and picking up talent off of the free agent market.
Tampa hired former Kings coach and ESPN analyst Barry Melrose, in hopes that the veteran coach would light a fire and spark the team into a possible playoff contender, but the Rangers new offensive style and solid goaltending held Tampa to without a point in Europe.
The Penguins and Senators split their games in Sweden, and with the amount of talent present on all four teams, the NHL decided to start the ‘09-10 seasons in Europe as well.
On Jan. 1, the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks played the second Winter Classic on historic Wrigley Field in the heart of Chicago.
Thousands of fans came out to cheer on their team while thousands of other hockey fans came just for the experience—the teams didn’t disappoint either—the crowd of over 40,000 was treated to an action filled game with Detroit skating to a 6-4 victory.
Chicago came out flying in the first period with Kris Versteeg scoring three and a half minutes in, and a monster hit by Chicago’s Brent Seabrook on Detroit’s Dan Cleary. Chicago lead, 3-1, after the first, but Detroit’s Jiri Hudler tallied twice in the second along with Pavel Datsyuk scoring on a signature breakaway, which put Detroit ahead by one going into the final frame.
Detroit scored twice in 17-seconds in the third and Duncan Keith tallied in the final 10-seconds of the game to close the eventful day with final score of 6-4.
This Original Six matchup may be the highlight of the regular season, but it is important to mention the value of the two points that game had to offer in the Central Division.
As a part of the celebration of the Montréal Candiens 100th NHL season, the league paid tribute by having the city host the 2009 NHL All-Star Game.
As in years past, fans were given the opportunity to vote on who they believed to be worthy as the starters. Seeing as Montréal was hosting the game and there would be mostly Canadiens fans filling the Bell Centre, the Candiens’ players on the ballot jumped out to an early and formidable lead.
After much investigation, it became clear that the Montréal fans had been using automated voting systems thanks to a Mozilla Firefox add on.
The NHL stepped in and docked 250,000 votes from every Montréal player—each one on pace to be a starter—in order to discourage cheating and to give every player a fair chance.
Not only did this news anger Canadiens fans, but it also played a role in the increasing interest in fan voting.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin saw there vote totals sky rocket in front of the Canadiens forwards, having Crosby set a new record for most votes, surpassing former Penguin Jaromir Jagr.
After the voting period had ended, Crosby, Malkin, and Alexei Kovalev took the starting forward roles, while Canadiens Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek manned the blueline.
Fellow Canadien Carey Price started between the pipes for the East. On the Western side, Ryan Getzlaf, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews started up front, with Scott Neidermayer and Brian Campbell on defense.
Duck’s goalie, Jean-Sebastian Giguere, was in net for the opening period.
As the weekend approached, Sidney Crosby announced that he was unable to play in the game due to an injury he decided was too severe to play with—after this, Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Lidstrom also pulled out due to injury—to Crosby’s credit, and much endearment by the league, the Penguin’s star attended the festivities and supported his league while the Detroit players stayed home and nursed their injuries.
Crowd favorite, mainly due to his home province of Quebec, and the circulating trade rumors, Vincent Lecavalier was name the starter in Crosby’s absence while Sharks’ forward Patrick Marleau and Stars’ defenseman Stephan Robidas filled in for the missing Red Wings.
The weekend kicked off with a Superskills Competition full of attractions for fans and a sea of talent.
Events
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