2012–13 NHL season

The 2012–13 NHL season was the 96th season of operation of the National Hockey League. The regular season began on January 19, 2013, and ended on April 28, 2013, with the playoffs to follow until June. The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins in six games to win the Stanley Cup.
The season start was delayed from its original October 11, 2012, date due to a lockout imposed by the NHL franchise owners after the expiration of the league's collective bargaining agreement. After a new labour agreement was reached between the owners and the National Hockey League Players' Association, training camps opened on January 13, 2013, and a 48-game season started on January 19. Similar to the 1994–95 season, the shortened regular season was limited to intra-conference competition.

League business

Entry draft

The 2012 NHL entry draft was held on June 22–23, 2012, at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. Nail Yakupov was selected first overall by the Edmonton Oilers.

Lockout

On September 13, 2012, all 29 league ownership groups authorized commissioner Gary Bettman to lock out the National Hockey League Players' Association upon the expiration of the NHL collective bargaining agreement on September 15. The action marked the fifth labour dispute in twenty years for the league, following a 1992 strike, lockouts in 1994–95 and 2004–05, as well as a referees lockout in 1993; this is more than any of the other major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada during this period. In preparation for the lockout, NHL teams assigned all of their eligible players to their American Hockey League farm clubs.
Although Bettman acknowledged the 2005–12 CBA was fair, he also stated that he was demanding concessions due to the Great Recession, even though the league experienced significant growth at that time. Sports media reported on July 14 on the NHL's first offer to the players. The offer reportedly included: a drop in players' share of "hockey-related revenues" from 57 per cent to 46 per cent; a requirement that players play ten years before becoming an unrestricted free agent ; a limit on players' contracts to five years in length; elimination of salary arbitration; and an extension of entry-level contracts to five years from three.
The NHLPA made an attempt to strike down the lockout as illegal in Alberta and Quebec; the Quebec Labour Board ruled against the NHLPA on September 14.
The NHL season officially entered a lockout after the expiration of the CBA on September 15, 2012, prior to the planned start of the pre-season. Locked-out players immediately began signing with the Kontinental Hockey League, Czech Extraliga, the SM-liiga, and the Elitserien, the last of which largely resisted signing locked-out players. The NHL canceled all regular-season games originally scheduled up to January 14, 2013, including the 2013 NHL Winter Classic. The 2013 NHL All-Star Game was also canceled.
On January 6, 2013, after a 16-hour negotiating session, the owners and players union reached a tentative agreement for a 10-year deal. NHL owners ratified the CBA on January 9, 2013, followed three days later by the deal's ratification by NHLPA members, and the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two parties, marking their official agreement on the labour pact. The NHL announced a 48-game schedule, starting on January 19, 2013, and ending on April 28, 2013, consisting solely of intra-conference competition.

Proposed realignment

The relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers from the American southeast to the Canadian prairies, where the franchise is now known as the Winnipeg Jets, in the summer of 2011 resulted in discussions within the league on how to realign the league's 30 teams. Following several months of speculation, the NHL's Board of Governors voted in favor of a radical realignment plan that would have reduced the six current divisions in two conferences into four conferences. The top four teams in each conference would then qualify for the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs, while for the regular season, each team would face its non-conference opponents twice: once each at home and on the road. Conference opponents would face each other five or six times each. The plan was designed to better balance each grouping of teams by time zone, as well as to cut the costs of travel western teams face.
However, on January 6, 2012, the league announced that the National Hockey League Players' Association had rejected the proposed realignment, delaying any future changes until at least 2013–14. NHLPA officers expressed a desire to see a draft schedule for the realignment, which the league had not completed.

Salary cap

The NHL announced the revised salary cap on June 28, 2012. The salary cap figure is in effect until the end of the current collective bargaining agreement with the Player's Association. The salary cap for players' salaries rose $5.9 million to $70.2 million per franchise. The salary floor, the minimum which franchises must spend, rose to $54.2 million.
As part of the newly agreed upon CBA, the salary cap for teams will be $64.3 million per franchise, with a floor of $44 million.

Arenas

The Florida Panthers' home arena, BankAtlantic Center, was renamed BB&T Center in recognition of BB&T's purchase of BankAtlantic.
On October 24, 2012, the New York Islanders announced that the team had signed a 25-year lease with the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, starting in 2015 after the team's current lease for the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum expires. The arena, originally constructed as the home for the National Basketball Association's Brooklyn Nets, was intended to be expanded to meet NHL standards.

Rule changes

With the ratification of the new collective bargaining agreement, several rule changes took effect this season.

Officials no longer had to be certain that contact had been made with the hands in deciding whether or not to assess a slashing minor.
Making contact with the opponent's facemask will result in a minor penalty.
Both players facing-off are prohibited from batting the puck with their hand in an attempt to win the face-off. Any attempt by either center to win the face-off by batting the puck with their hand shall result in a minor penalty. This penalty shall be announced as a "Minor Penalty for Delay of Game - Face-off Violation."
Rule 67 has been changed to prevent players from getting a faceoff by putting their glove on the puck anywhere on the ice and not allowing play to continue. A minor penalty will be assessed for "closing his hand on the puck."

Uniforms

To celebrate 20 years in Dallas, the Stars wore special patches this season.
The Tampa Bay Lightning wore special patches to commemorate their 20th season in the NHL. Their alternate uniform was also modified to include the simplified logo they introduced in the 2011–12 season.
The San Jose Sharks wore patches in memory of original owner George Gund III, who died January 15, 2013. Gund was instrumental in bringing, removing and returning NHL hockey to the Bay Area.
To celebrate 100 years of hockey on the west coast, the Canucks honored Vancouver's first professional hockey team, the Vancouver Millionaires, who played in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and the Western Canada Hockey League from 1912 to 1926 by wearing a patch of a re-colored Millionaires logo on their alternate home jerseys. The Canucks also wore throwback uniforms based on the 1915 Vancouver Millionaires in a game against the Detroit Red Wings.
The Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers retired their third jerseys.

Regular season

Originally planned for October 11, 2012, the lockout delay pushed the start of the 2012–13 season to January 19, 2013, with 12 games for the opening night. Each team played 18 games within its division and 30 games against teams in the other division ; no interconference games were played during the regular season. The regular season was shortened from 82 games down to 48, canceling 41.5 percent of the full regular season.

Postponed Winter Classic and All-Star Game

Both this season's Winter Classic and All-Star Game were postponed due to the lockout. The Winter Classic was scheduled to feature the Detroit Red Wings hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but it was postponed to 2014. The game was played instead on January 1, 2014, at Michigan Stadium. The All-Star Game was originally scheduled to take place January 27, 2013, at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio; the city would later be awarded the 2015 All-Star Game.

European Premiere games

In past seasons, selected NHL teams began their season with exhibition games and the first two regular season games in European cities. In March 2012, the NHL announced that it had decided not to start the season with games in Europe, because of the upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations and the surrounding uncertainty.
With the NHL not playing games in Europe, Russia's Kontinental Hockey League was instead to come to the United States, with the NHL's blessing; the KHL was to feature two games between Dynamo Moscow and SKA Saint Petersburg at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on January 19 and 20, 2013. However no agreement between the KHL and the Barclays Center had been signed, and the KHL announced the two games would be held in Russia; due to the NHL lockout, the signing of a 25-year lease with the New York Islanders, and pleas from the teams' fans to keep the games in Russia.

Postponement

The February 9 game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins at TD Garden was postponed due to inclement weather in Boston the day of the game.

Two games were affected by the Boston Marathon bombing:

The April 15 game between the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins at TD Garden was postponed due to the bombing earlier that day. The game was rescheduled to April 28, the day after the previous final day of the regular season.
The April 19 game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins at TD Garden was postponed to April 20 due to the citywide lockdown as a result of the manhunt for the suspects of the bombing. As a result of the rescheduled Penguins-Bruins game, the game between the Penguins and Buffalo Sabres that was originally scheduled for April 20 was moved to April 23.

Standings

Due to the lockout, each team played 48 games this season, all within their conference.

Attendance

Team	Arena	Home Games	Average Attendance	Total Attendance	Capacity Percentage
Chicago Blackhawks	United Center	24	21,755	522,619	110.4%
Montreal Canadiens	Bell Centre	24	21,273	510,552	100.0%
Detroit Red Wings	Joe Louis Arena	24	20,066	481,584	100.0%
Philadelphia Flyers	Wells Fargo Center	24	19,786	474,878	101.3%
Toronto Maple Leafs	Air Canada Centre	24	19,426	466,224	103.2%
Ottawa Senators	Scotiabank Place	24	19,408	465,801	101.3%
Calgary Flames	Scotiabank Saddledome	24	19,289	462,936	100.0%
Tampa Bay Lightning	Tampa Bay Times Forum	24	19,055	457,337	99.2%
Buffalo Sabres	First Niagara Center	24	18,970	455,290	99.5%
Vancouver Canucks	Rogers Arena	24	18,947	454,740	100.2%
Minnesota Wild	Xcel Energy Center	24	18,794	451,075	104.7%
Pittsburgh Penguins	Consol Energy Center	24	18,648	447,560	101.4%
Los Angeles Kings	Staples Center	24	18,178	436,295	100.3%
Washington Capitals	Verizon Center	24	17,734	425,638	95.8%
Boston Bruins	TD Garden	24	17,565	421,560	100.0%
San Jose Sharks	HP Pavilion at San Jose	24	17,561	421,472	100.0%
Carolina Hurricanes	PNC Arena	24	17,558	421,401	94.0%
St. Louis Blues	Scottrade Center	24	17,263	414,328	90.1%
New York Rangers	Madison Square Garden	24	17,200	412,800	100.0%
New Jersey Devils	Prudential Center	24	17,114	410,739	97.1%
Dallas Stars	American Airlines Center	24	17,063	409,521	92.1%
Florida Panthers	BB&T Center	24	16,991	407,806	99.7%
Nashville Predators	Bridgestone Arena	24	16,974	407,386	99.2%
Edmonton Oilers	Rexall Place	24	16,839	404,136	100.0%
Anaheim Ducks	Honda Center	24	15,887	381,308	92.5%
Colorado Avalanche	Pepsi Center	24	15,444	370,677	85.8%
Winnipeg Jets	MTS Centre	24	15,004	360,096	100.0%
Columbus Blue Jackets	Nationwide Arena	24	14,565	349,558	80.3%
Phoenix Coyotes	Jobing.com Arena	24	13,923	334,165	81.3%
New York Islanders	Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum	24	13,306	319,362	82.3%
Total		720	17,721	12,758,849

Playoffs

Because of the lockout and delayed start of the shortened regular season, the playoffs did not begin until April 30. The last possible date of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals was then scheduled for June 28.
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.

NHL awards

Awards were presented during the NHL Awards television specials on June 14–15, 2013. Finalists for voted awards are announced during the playoffs and winners are presented at the awards specials. Voting concluded immediately after the end of the regular season. The President's Trophy, the Prince of Wales Trophy and Campbell Bowls are not presented at the awards specials. NHL Network U.S. and NHL Network Canada aired the first part of the awards presentation on June 14, while NBC Sports Network and CBC aired the second part on June 15 preceding Game 2 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals.

Award	Recipient	Runner-up
Presidents' Trophy	Chicago Blackhawks	Pittsburgh Penguins
Prince of Wales Trophy	Boston Bruins	Pittsburgh Penguins
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl	Chicago Blackhawks	Los Angeles Kings
Art Ross Trophy	Martin St. Louis	Steven Stamkos
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy	Josh Harding	Sidney Crosby Adam McQuaid
Calder Memorial Trophy	Jonathan Huberdeau	Brendan Gallagher Brandon Saad
Conn Smythe Trophy	Patrick Kane
Frank J. Selke Trophy	Jonathan Toews	Patrice Bergeron Pavel Datsyuk
Hart Memorial Trophy	Alexander Ovechkin	Sidney Crosby John Tavares
Jack Adams Award	Paul MacLean	Bruce Boudreau Joel Quenneville
James Norris Memorial Trophy	P. K. Subban	Kris Letang Ryan Suter
King Clancy Memorial Trophy	Patrice Bergeron
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy	Martin St. Louis	Patrick Kane Matt Moulson
Ted Lindsay Award	Sidney Crosby	Alexander Ovechkin Martin St. Louis
Mark Messier Leadership Award	Daniel Alfredsson	Dustin Brown Jonathan Toews
Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy	Alexander Ovechkin	Steven Stamkos
NHL Foundation Player Award	Henrik Zetterberg
NHL General Manager of the Year Award	Ray Shero	Marc Bergevin Bob Murray
Vezina Trophy	Sergei Bobrovsky	Henrik Lundqvist Antti Niemi
William M. Jennings Trophy	Corey Crawford and Ray Emery

All-Star teams

Note: Alexander Ovechkin was listed as a Left Wing but played the majority of his games at Right Wing. Some members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association voted for him at Left Wing while others voted for him at Right Wing and consequently, Ovechkin placed twice on the NHL All-Star team.

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

The following players lead the league in points following the conclusion of the regular season.
GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = P Plus–minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/–	PIM
	Tampa Bay Lightning	48	17	43	60	0	14
	Tampa Bay Lightning	48	29	28	57	–4	32
	Washington Capitals	48	32	24	56	+2	36
	Pittsburgh Penguins	36	15	41	56	+26	16
	Chicago Blackhawks	47	23	32	55	+11	8
	Carolina Hurricanes	48	18	35	53	+5	54
	Pittsburgh Penguins	48	22	30	52	+30	39
	Toronto Maple Leafs	48	20	32	52	–3	18
	Edmonton Oilers	45	16	34	50	+5	33
	Anaheim Ducks	44	15	34	49	+14	41
	Detroit Red Wings	47	15	34	49	+21	14

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders lead the league in goals against average following the conclusion of the regular season while playing at least 1200 minutes.
GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Player	Team	GP	Min	W	L	OT	GA	SO	SV%	GAA
	Ottawa Senators	24	1420:36	12	9	2	40	3	.941	1.69
	Chicago Blackhawks	30	1760:31	19	5	5	57	3	.926	1.94
	Columbus Blue Jackets	38	2218:57	21	11	6	74	4	.932	2.00
	Boston Bruins	36	2104:09	19	10	5	70	5	.929	2.00
	New York Rangers	43	2575:22	24	16	3	88	2	.926	2.05
	Vancouver Canucks	30	1733:19	17	9	4	61	5	.927	2.11
	Detroit Red Wings	42	2445:44	21	13	7	87	5	.923	2.13
	San Jose Sharks	43	2580:46	24	12	6	93	4	.924	2.16
	Anaheim Ducks	25	1428:18	15	6	2	52	4	.921	2.18
	New Jersey Devils	29	1757:21	13	9	7	65	2	.901	2.22

Coaching changes

Offseason

Anaheim Ducks: This was Bruce Boudreau's first season as head coach, who replaced Randy Carlyle on November 30, 2011.
Calgary Flames: The Flames decided not to renew Brent Sutter's contract and hired Bob Hartley instead.
Carolina Hurricanes: This was Kirk Muller's first full season as head coach after replacing Paul Maurice, who was fired on November 28, 2011.
Columbus Blue Jackets: This was Todd Richards's first full season as head coach after replacing Scott Arniel, who was fired on January 9, 2012.
Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers decided not to renew Tom Renney's contract and hired Ralph Krueger instead.
Los Angeles Kings: This was Darryl Sutter's first full season after becoming the team's head coach on December 20, 2011. On December 12, 2011, Terry Murray was fired and John Stevens served as interim until Sutter was hired.
Montreal Canadiens: Michel Therrien started his second stint as the Canadiens head coach, after previously coaching the team from 2000 to 2003. The Habs fired Jacques Martin on December 17, 2011, and assistant coach Randy Cunneyworth served as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2011–12 season.
St. Louis Blues: This was Ken Hitchcock's first season as head coach, who replaced Davis Payne on November 6, 2011.
Toronto Maple Leafs: This was Randy Carlyle's first full season as head coach after replacing Ron Wilson, who was fired on March 2, 2012.
Washington Capitals: This was Adam Oates's first season as head coach. Bruce Boudreau was fired on November 28, 2011, and replaced by interim Dale Hunter.

In-season

Buffalo Sabres: Lindy Ruff was fired on February 20, 2013, and replaced by Ron Rolston.
Tampa Bay Lightning: Guy Boucher was fired on March 24, 2013, and replaced by Jon Cooper.

Milestones

First games

The following is a list of notable players who played their first NHL game in 2013, listed with their first team:

Player	Team	Notability
Filip Forsberg	Nashville Predators	One-time NHL All-Star team
Dougie Hamilton	Boston Bruins	One-time NHL All-Star team
Jonathan Huberdeau	Florida Panthers	Winner of the 2012–13 Calder Memorial Trophy, two-time NHL All-Star team
Anders Lee	New York Islanders	King Clancy Memorial Trophy winner
Jonathan Marchessault	Columbus Blue Jackets	Conn Smythe Trophy winner
Vladimir Tarasenko	St. Louis Blues	Two-time NHL All-Star team
Nail Yakupov	Edmonton Oilers	First overall pick in the 2012 Draft
Jason Zucker	Minnesota Wild	King Clancy Memorial Trophy winner

Last games

The following is a list of players of note who played their last NHL game in 2012–13, listed with their team:

Player	Team	Notability
Adrian Aucoin	Columbus Blue Jackets	Over 1,100 career games played
Roman Hamrlik	New York Rangers	First overall pick in the 1992 NHL entry draft, over 1,300 career games played
Milan Hejduk	Colorado Avalanche	Second team All-Star, Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner
Tomas Kaberle	Montreal Canadiens	Four-time NHL All-Star
Miikka Kiprusoff	Calgary Flames	First team All-Star, Vezina Trophy winner, William M. Jennings Trophy winner
Mike Knuble	Philadelphia Flyers	Over 1,000 career games played
Alexei Kovalev	Florida Panthers	NHL second All-Star team, over 1,300 career games played
Vinny Prospal	Columbus Blue Jackets	Over 1,100 career games played
Wade Redden	Boston Bruins	NHL Plus-Minus Award winner, over 1,000 career games played
Sheldon Souray	Anaheim Ducks	Three-time NHL All-Star
Steve Sullivan	New Jersey Devils	Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner, over 1,000 games played
Jose Theodore	Florida Panthers	Vezina Trophy winner; Hart Memorial Trophy winner; Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner

Major milestones reached

On January 21, 2013, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vincent Lecavalier participated in his 1,000th NHL game.
On February 4, 2013, Colorado Avalanche forward Milan Hejduk participated in his 1,000th NHL game.
On February 7, 2013, St. Louis Blues defenceman Wade Redden participated in his 1,000th NHL game.
On February 22, 2013, the Chicago Blackhawks set a record by earning at least one point in 17 consecutive games to start a season. The previous record of 16 consecutive games was held by the 2006–07 Anaheim Ducks. The Blackhawks went on to extend the record for consecutive games with a point to start a season to 24 games.
On March 3, 2013, Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa participated in his 1,000th NHL game.
On March 5, 2013, Montreal Canadiens captain Brian Gionta scored the team's 20,000th NHL goal.
On March 6, 2013, Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Ray Emery becomes the first goaltender in league history to start a season with 10 straight wins. He extended it to 12 straight wins to start a season on March 26.
On March 18, 2013, Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Kimmo Timonen participated in his 1,000th NHL game.
On March 28, 2013, Phoenix Coyotes forward Steve Sullivan participated in his 1,000th NHL game.
On March 29, 2013, Dallas Stars forward Jaromir Jagr recorded his 1,000th career assist, becoming the 12th player in league history and the first non-Canadian to do so.
On March 30, 2013, the Pittsburgh Penguins set a record by becoming the first NHL franchise to win every game during a calendar month. The Penguins defeated the New York Islanders 2–0, winning 15 consecutive games from March 2 until March 30.
On April 22, 2013, Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tomas Vokoun won his 300th NHL game. He became the 28th player in league history to reach this milestone.

Broadcasting rights

This was the fifth season of the league's Canadian national broadcast rights deals with CBC and TSN. During the regular season, CBC continued to air Saturday night Hockey Night in Canada games while TSN aired games on Wednesdays and other selected weeknights. CBC and TSN then split the first three rounds of the playoffs, selecting the rights to individual series using a draft-like setup. The Stanley Cup Finals aired exclusively on CBC.
This was the second season under the NHL's ten-year U.S. rights deal with NBC Sports, with regular season games on the NBC broadcast network and NBCSN. Playoff games then aired across NBC, NBCSN, and CNBC.