2007–08 NHL season

The 2007-08 NHL season is the 90th season of the National Hockey League. It began on September 29, 2007, and will run through April 6, 2008, with the Stanley Cup Playoffs to follow, culminating no later than June 9, 2008. The 56th NHL All-Star Game will be held in Atlanta, Georgia as the Atlanta Thrashers will host the event at Philips Arena on January 27, 2008.

League business

The season features Reebok's new Rbk EDGE hockey jerseys. This is the first league-wide uniform innovation "in the history of any major North American professional sports league".

Partially due to the league-wide uniform changes, 7 teams (Boston, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, Washington, Ottawa, San Jose and Columbus) unveiled new logos prior to the season's beginning.

On March 1, 2007, the NHL officially announced the regular season would open on September 29, 2007 with the first of back-to-back games in London at The O₂. They were the first NHL regular season games ever played in Europe. Both games featured the Anaheim Ducks - who played their first games in their defense of the Stanley Cup - and the Los Angeles Kings (who are owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group, the same company that owns The O₂).

On September 17, 2007, the NHL announced the first outdoor game in over four years would be played between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills, on January 1, 2008. The event - which will be known as the AMP NHL Winter Classic - will be the first time an NHL regular-season game has been played outdoors in the United States. The last outdoor NHL game was the Heritage Classic played between the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers at Commonwealth Stadium on November 22, 2003.

During board of governors meetings held on September 18, 2007 in Chicago, cities including Las Vegas, Kansas City, Seattle, and Winnipeg were discussed as possible expansion destinations. The NHL also discussed the current 'unbalanced' schedule and will vote on a new schedule format at the next board meetings in November, so that all teams will play each other at least once and reduce divisional play in the 2008-09 season. The sale of the Lightning and Predators teams were not completed for board approval.

The New Jersey Devils began playing in their new arena, the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. However, since it wasn't ready by the beginning of the season, they began their season with a nine-game road trip.

Interconference division play will have the Northeast travel to the Pacific, the Pacific travel to the Atlantic, the Atlantic travel to the Northwest, the Northwest travel to the Southeast, the Southeast travel to the Central, and the Central travel to the Northeast.

The Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators will match up for the first time since the 2007 Stanley Cup Final on March 3, 2008.

Mike Cammalleri of the Los Angeles Kings scored the first goal of the season against the Anaheim Ducks on September 29 in the opening game played in London, England.

Regular Season

After games played on Wednesday, November 28 [1]

Note: W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Pittsburgh Penguins	82	47	27	8	247	216	102
2	New Jersey Devils	82	46	29	7	206	197	99
3	New York Rangers	82	42	27	13	213	199	97
4	Philadelphia Flyers	82	42	29	11	248	233	95
5	New York Islanders	82	35	38	9	194	243	79

Northeast Division

		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	Montreal Canadiens	82	47	25	10	262	222	104
2	Ottawa Senators	82	43	31	8	261	247	94
3	Boston Bruins	82	41	29	12	212	222	94
4	Buffalo Sabres	82	39	31	12	255	242	90
5	Toronto Maple Leafs	82	36	35	11	231	260	83

Southeast Division

		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	y – Washington Capitals	82	43	31	8	242	231	94
2	Carolina Hurricanes	82	43	33	6	252	249	92
3	Florida Panthers	82	38	35	9	216	226	85
4	Atlanta Thrashers	82	34	40	8	216	272	76
5	Tampa Bay Lightning	82	31	42	9	223	267	71

Western Conference

Central Division

		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	p – Detroit Red Wings	82	54	21	7	257	184	115
2	Nashville Predators	82	41	32	9	230	229	91
3	Chicago Blackhawks	82	40	34	8	239	235	88
4	Columbus Blue Jackets	82	34	36	12	193	218	80
5	St. Louis Blues	82	33	36	13	205	237	79

Northwest Division

		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	y – Minnesota Wild	82	44	28	10	223	218	98
2	Colorado Avalanche	82	44	31	7	231	219	95
3	Calgary Flames	82	42	30	10	229	227	94
4	Edmonton Oilers	82	41	35	6	235	251	88
5	Vancouver Canucks	82	39	33	10	213	215	88

Pacific Division

		GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	Pts
1	y – San Jose Sharks	82	49	23	10	222	193	108
2	Anaheim Ducks	82	47	27	8	205	191	102
3	Dallas Stars	82	45	30	7	242	207	97
4	Phoenix Coyotes	82	38	37	7	214	231	83
5	Los Angeles Kings	82	32	43	7	231	266	71

Tiebreaking Procedures

If two or more clubs are tied in points during the regular season, the standing of the clubs is determined in the following order: [2]

1. The fewer number of games played (i.e., superior points percentage).
2. The greater number of games won.
3. The greater number of points earned in games between the tied clubs.
4. The greater differential between goals for and against.

Milestones

• On October 7, Joe Sakic scored his 1,591 point, moving him past Phil Esposito for 8th all-time in scoring.
• On October 8, Chris Chelios played in his 1,550th game, moving him past Hall of Famer Alex Delvecchio for eighth place on the career list.
• On October 11, Mats Sundin scored his 390th goal as a Leaf, and got his 917th point as a Leaf breaking Darryl Sittler's record as the all-time Maple Leafs goals and points leader.
• On October 12, Jaromir Jagr scored his 1,533rd career point, passing Paul Coffey for 11th all-time in scoring.
• On November 3, Al Arbour coached his 1,500th game with the New York Islanders and earned his 740th win with the team. Both are NHL records for coaching a single team. At 75 years old, he was the oldest man to coach in an NHL game.
• On November 7, Mike Modano broke Phil Housley's all-time career point record for a U.S.-born player.
• On November 10, Jeremy Roenick scored his 500th career NHL goal, becoming only the 40th player in the history of the league to do so, and only the 3rd American.
• On November 17, Martin Brodeur won his 500th career win, becoming only the 2nd goaltender in the history of the league to do so. He is trailing only Patrick Roy who retired with 551 career wins.
• On November 27, Mats Sundin scored his 400th goal, becoming the first player to score 400 goals in a Maple Leafs uniform.
• On November 29, Jarome Iginla moved ahead of Al Macinnis with all-time leader in games played for the Calgary Flames with 804 games played.

See also

• 2007 NHL Entry Draft
• 2007-08 NHL transactions
• 56th National Hockey League All-Star Game
• National Hockey League All-Star Game
• AMP NHL Winter Classic
• 2007 in ice hockey
• List of current NHL team rosters

References

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com