2000–01 NHL season

The 2000–01 NHL season was the 84th regular season of the National Hockey League. With the addition of the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild, 30 teams each played 82 games. The Stanley Cup winners were the Colorado Avalanche, who won the best of seven series 4–3 against the New Jersey Devils. The focus of Colorado's Stanley Cup run was on star defenceman Ray Bourque, who was on a quest to win his first Stanley Cup championship in his illustrious 22-year career.

League business

Expansion

Two expansion teams, the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets, joined the league at the beginning of the season, increasing the number of NHL teams to 30. The Blue Jackets would join the Central Division, while the Wild would join the Northwest Division. This divisional alignment would remain static until the 2012–13 season, while the league did not expand again until the 2017–18 season when the Vegas Golden Knights entered the league. This was the first time the NHL would have a team in Minnesota since the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas, Texas in 1993, and the first time for Ohio since the Cleveland Barons merged with the North Stars in 1978.
The 2000 NHL expansion draft was held on June 23, 2000 to fill the rosters of the new expansion teams.

Entry draft

The 2000 NHL entry draft was held on June 24 and 25, 2000, at the Pengrowth Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta. Rick DiPietro was selected first overall by the New York Islanders.

Rule changes

The four-official system become mandatory for all games. It was previously used for selected regular season games in 1998–99 and 1999–2000, but all playoff games in both of those seasons.

Preseason games in Europe

This was the first preseason of the NHL Challenge, where selected NHL teams traveled to Europe to play exhibition games against European teams. The Vancouver Canucks traveled to Stockholm Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, to play against Swedish teams MoDo Örnsköldsvik on September 13, 2000, and Djurgården Stockholm on September 15.

Uniform changes

Buffalo: New Red Alternates.
Calgary: Previous Black Alternates become the new road uniforms.
Carolina: Black outline added to players' names.
Chicago: 75th-anniversary patch.
Colorado: NHL All-Star Game Patch.
Columbus: White Jerseys with red and blue stripes, Blue road jerseys have Red stripe. Team also wears an inaugural season patch. Alt marks are on the shoulders.
Detroit: 75th-anniversary patch
Minnesota: White Jerseys with red and green stripes, the Green jerseys have just the red stripe. Alt marks are on the shoulders.
New York Rangers: 75th-anniversary patch.
Ottawa: The team introduces a new alternate jersey—this one black with the forward-looking centurion crest.
Pittsburgh: The Penguins introduce a new alternate jersey, welcoming back the skating penguin and introducing Vegas gold.
San Jose: 10th Anniversary patch.
Toronto: Alternates from 1998 to 1999 return, as well as a new TML Patch.
Washington: Black alternates from 1999 to 2000 become new road uniforms.

Arenas

The Calgary Flames' home arena, Canadian Airlines Saddledome, was renamed Pengrowth Saddledome as part of a new naming rights agreement with Pengrowth Energy.
The expansion Columbus Blue Jackets moved into Nationwide Arena, named after the arena's original majority owner, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.
The Dallas Stars played their final season at the Reunion Arena before moving to the American Airlines Center.
The expansion Minnesota Wild moved into Xcel Energy Center, with Xcel Energy acquiring the naming rights.
The St. Louis Blues's home arena, the Kiel Center, was renamed the Savvis Center as part of a new naming rights agreement with Savvis.

Cheerleaders

Cheerleaders and Ice Girls were introduced to the league during this season, with the New York Islanders Ice Girls making their debut.

Regular season

International games

The NHL opened the season in Japan with two games between the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 9 and 10, at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama.

All-Star Game

The All-Star Game was played on February 4, at the Pepsi Center in Denver, the home of the Colorado Avalanche.

Highlights

On December 27, 2000, Mario Lemieux returned from his three-and-a-half-year retirement and, in a game nationally televised on Hockey Night in Canada and ESPN National Hockey Night, registered his first assist 33 seconds into the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He went on to add a goal and finish with three points, solidifying his return and bringing a struggling Jaromir Jagr back to his elite status, who went on to win his fourth straight Art Ross Trophy, narrowly surpassing Joe Sakic. Despite playing in only 43 games in 2000–01, Lemieux scored 76 points to finish 26th in scoring, finishing the season with the highest points-per-game average that season among NHL players. Lemieux was one of the three finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy and Lester B. Pearson Award.
The record for most shutouts in a season was eclipsed, as 186 shutouts were recorded.

Playoffs

Bracket

In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series following a 2–2–1–1–1 format. The team with home ice advantage played at home for games one and two, and the other team played at home for games three and four. The top eight teams in each conference made the playoffs, with the three division winners seeded 1–3 based on regular season record, and the five remaining teams seeded 4–8.
The NHL used "re-seeding" instead of a fixed bracket playoff system. During the first three rounds, the highest remaining seed in each conference was matched against the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed played the second-lowest remaining seed, and so forth. The higher-seeded team was awarded home ice advantage. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where home ice advantage was awarded to the team that had the better regular season record.

Awards

The presentation ceremonies were held in Toronto.

Award	Recipient	Runner-up/Finalists
Presidents' Trophy	Colorado Avalanche	Detroit Red Wings
Prince of Wales Trophy	New Jersey Devils	Pittsburgh Penguins
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl	Colorado Avalanche	St. Louis Blues
Art Ross Trophy	Jaromir Jagr	Joe Sakic
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy	Adam Graves	N/A
Calder Memorial Trophy	Evgeni Nabokov	Martin Havlat Brad Richards
Conn Smythe Trophy	Patrick Roy	N/A
Frank J. Selke Trophy	John Madden	Mike Modano Joe Sakic
Hart Memorial Trophy	Joe Sakic	Jaromir Jagr Mario Lemieux
Jack Adams Award	Bill Barber	Scotty Bowman Jacques Martin
James Norris Memorial Trophy	Nicklas Lidstrom	Ray Bourque Scott Stevens
King Clancy Memorial Trophy	Shjon Podein	N/A
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy	Joe Sakic	Nicklas Lidstrom Adam Oates
Lester B. Pearson Award	Joe Sakic	N/A
Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy	Pavel Bure	Joe Sakic
NHL Foundation Player Award	Olaf Kolzig
NHL Plus-Minus Award	Patrik Elias Joe Sakic	Scott Stevens
Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award	Marty Turco	Mike Dunham
Vezina Trophy	Dominik Hasek	Martin Brodeur Roman Cechmanek
William M. Jennings Trophy	Dominik Hasek	N/A

Coaches

Eastern Conference

Atlanta Thrashers: Curt Fraser
Boston Bruins: Pat Burns and Mike Keenan
Buffalo Sabres: Lindy Ruff
Carolina Hurricanes: Paul Maurice
Florida Panthers: Terry Murray and Duane Sutter
Montreal Canadiens: Alain Vigneault and Michel Therrien
New Jersey Devils: Larry Robinson
New York Islanders: Butch Goring and Lorne Henning
New York Rangers: Ron Low
Ottawa Senators: Jacques Martin
Philadelphia Flyers: Craig Ramsay and Bill Barber
Pittsburgh Penguins: Ivan Hlinka
Tampa Bay Lightning: Steve Ludzik and John Tortorella
Toronto Maple Leafs: Pat Quinn
Washington Capitals: Ron Wilson

Western Conference

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim: Craig Hartsburg and Guy Charron
Calgary Flames: Don Hay and Greg Gilbert
Chicago Blackhawks: Alpo Suhonen
Colorado Avalanche: Bob Hartley
Columbus Blue Jackets: Dave King
Dallas Stars: Ken Hitchcock
Detroit Red Wings: Scotty Bowman
Edmonton Oilers: Craig MacTavish
Los Angeles Kings: Andy Murray
Minnesota Wild: Jacques Lemaire
Nashville Predators: Barry Trotz
Phoenix Coyotes: Bobby Francis
San Jose Sharks: Darryl Sutter
St. Louis Blues: Joel Quenneville
Vancouver Canucks: Marc Crawford

Player statistics

Regular season

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Jaromir Jagr	Pittsburgh	81	52	69	121
Joe Sakic	Colorado	82	54	64	118
Patrik Elias	New Jersey	82	40	56	96
Alexei Kovalev	Pittsburgh	79	44	51	95
Jason Allison	Boston	82	36	59	95
Martin Straka	Pittsburgh	82	27	68	95
Pavel Bure	Florida	82	59	33	92
Doug Weight	Edmonton	82	25	65	90
Zigmund Palffy	Los Angeles	73	38	51	89
Peter Forsberg	Colorado	73	27	62	89

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes Played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage

Player	Team	GP	MIN	GA	GAA	W	L	T	SO	SV%
Roman Cechmanek	Philadelphia	59	3431	115	2.01	35	15	6	10	.921
Manny Legace	Detroit	39	2136	73	2.05	24	5	5	2	.920
Dominik Hasek	Buffalo	67	3904	137	2.11	37	24	4	11	.915
Evgeni Nabokov	San Jose	66	3699	135	2.19	32	21	7	6	.931
Patrick Roy	Colorado	62	3584	132	2.21	40	13	7	4	.913
Manny Fernandez	Minnesota	42	2460	92	2.24	19	17	4	4	.920
Sean Burke	Phoenix	62	3643	138	2.27	25	22	13	4	.922
Roman Turek	St. Louis	54	3232	123	2.28	24	18	10	6	.901
Mike Dunham	Nashville	48	2810	107	2.28	21	21	4	4	.923
Martin Brodeur	New Jersey	72	4296	166	2.32	42	17	11	9	.915

Playoffs

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts
Joe Sakic	Colorado Avalanche	21	13	13	26
Patrik Elias	New Jersey Devils	25	9	14	23
Milan Hejduk	Colorado Avalanche	23	7	16	23
Petr Sykora	New Jersey Devils	25	10	12	22
Alex Tanguay	Colorado Avalanche	23	6	15	21
Rob Blake	Colorado Avalanche	23	6	13	19
Brian Rafalski	New Jersey Devils	25	7	11	18
Mario Lemieux	Pittsburgh Penguins	18	6	11	17
Chris Drury	Colorado Avalanche	23	11	5	16
Bobby Holik	New Jersey Devils	25	6	10	16
Alexander Mogilny	New Jersey Devils	25	5	11	16

Milestones

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 2000–01:

Last games

The following is a list of players of note who played their last NHL game in 2000–01, listed with their team:

Player	Team	Notability
Ray Bourque	Colorado Avalanche	16-time NHL All-Star, 4-time James Norris Memorial Trophy winner, Calder Memorial Trophy winner, King Clancy Memorial Trophy winner, Lester Patrick Trophy winner, over 1600 games played.
Paul Coffey	Boston Bruins	14-time NHL All-Star, 3-time James Norris Memorial Trophy winner, over 1400 games played.
Garry Galley	New York Islanders	2-time NHL All-Star, over 1100 games played.
Tony Granato	San Jose Sharks	Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner, 1-time NHL All-Star.
Kevin Hatcher	Carolina Hurricanes	5-time NHL All-Star, over 1100 games played.
Kris King	Chicago Blackhawks	King Clancy Memorial Trophy winner.
Kirk McLean	New York Rangers	2-time NHL All-Star.
Larry Murphy	Detroit Red Wings	3-time NHL All-Star, over 1600 games played.
Ron Sutter	Calgary Flames	Over 1000 games played, the last active Sutter brother to play in NHL.
Petr Svoboda	Tampa Bay Lightning	Over 1000 games played.

Broadcasting

Canada

This was the third season of the league's Canadian national broadcast rights deals with CBC and the renamed Sportsnet. CBC aired Saturday night Hockey Night in Canada regular season games, while Sportsnet's telecasts included Tuesday Night Hockey and other weeknight games. Coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs continued to primarily be on CBC, while Sportsnet aired first round all-U.S. series.

United States

This was the second year of the league's five-year U.S. national broadcast rights deal with ESPN and ABC. ESPN and ESPN2 aired weeknight games throughout the regular season. ABC's coverage included the All-Star Game and then five weeks worth of regional games on Saturday afternoons between March and April. During the first two rounds of the playoffs, ESPN and ESPN2 aired selected games, while ABC had Saturday regional telecasts. Each U.S. team's regional broadcaster produced local coverage of first and second round games. ABC's weekend telecasts continued into the Conference Finals, while ESPN had the rest of the third round games. ESPN then aired the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals before the rest of the series shifted to ABC.