2005–06 NHL season

The modernized NHL shield logo

The 2005-06 NHL season is the 88th season (originally the 89th season) of the National Hockey League. This is the season after the 2004-05 season which was cancelled due to a labour dispute with the NHL Players Association over the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the league and its players.

On July 13, 2005, the NHL and NHLPA jointly announced that they had tentatively agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement which would allow the resumption of hockey for the 2005-06 season. The agreement was voted on July 21 by NHLPA members, and approved by a nearly 7-to-1 margin. The following day, the NHL's board of governors (owners) voted unanimously to approve the new agreement.

A new logo for the NHL was also unveiled, with "NHL" printed in upward-reading letters to project a vibrant, optimistic image, and having silver as the dominant colour to pay homage to the Stanley Cup.^[1]

American Television will also have a new look. OLN (formerly Outdoor Life Network) will take over broadcasting rights after ESPN decided not to renew their rights on cable television. The network, owned by Comcast, will have Monday and Tuesday night games during the regular season under an exclusivetivity clause prohibiting local telecasts those nights in the two participating teams' markets. NBC returns as the NHL's over-the-air partner after ABC parted ways following the 2003-04 season. They will carry select games on a regional basis starting in January. Comcast high-speed cable internet customers can watch at least 5 games a week over the internet as part of the new TV deal.

Rule changes

A number of new rules were introduced for the 2005-06 season:

In case of a tie game after overtime, there is a shoot out with three shots per team, and if it is still tied, the shootout becomes sudden death. In preseason games (regardless of the outcome) shootouts were held. NOTE: This rule will only be in effect for regular-season games. Playoff games will continue with twenty-minute periods until a sudden-death goal is scored.

Two-line passes are now legal, meaning a player can now pass from inside their blue line to a player on their team on the opponents side of the red line.
The Offside rule has now been changed back (up until 1995 it was this way) to tag-up offside. Under the old rules, a player could not be in the attacking zone before the puck. Now, if the puck leaves the attacking zone, a player can shoot it back in before all his team mates are out of the zone. The only exception to this rule is if the player shooting the puck into the zone directs it towards a player on his team still in the zone.
The size of goaltender equipment was decreased by about 11%. In addition, the only area behind the goal line where a goalie can play the puck is in a new trapezoid-shaped zone directly behind the net.
The goalie may still play the puck forward of the goal line in the same manner as before.
The neutral zone becomes smaller by four feet (1.2 m), while the goal line was moved two feet (0.6 m) closer to the boards.
If a team ices the puck, they are not allowed to make a line change afterwards.
Linesmen are given more discretion when it comes to waving off icing calls when they are accidentally made as the result of a failed pass attempt.
Players who instigate a fight in the last five minutes of a game will be given a game misconduct penalty plus one-game suspension and the player's coach will be fined $10,000 (US).
All referees are equipped with wireless microphones so they can now announce penalties over the public address system.
With multiple penalties, only the first will be announced by the referee calling the penalty, with the others being announced by the arena's PA announcer.

In the minds of the NHL front office, the purpose of these new rule changes are to create a more exciting game and will create more scoring opportunities, and therefore more goals.

Regular season

File:3236.f edited.jpg

This logo appeared on all teams sweaters for their first game and the jerseys were auctioned off to benefit of the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The NHL season began on October 5, and for the first time in the league's history, all of the league's thirty teams played a game on opening night. In the first period of each game, all teams wore a jersey (or "sweater") with a special patch as the league and players association auctioned off those jerseys for the benefit of the Red Cross in both the USA and Canada earmarking the proceeds for Hurricane Katrina victims. On opening night of this season, Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley, of the Ottawa Senators became the first players to score the winning goals for a shoot out in NHL History, they both scored against the Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Ed Belfour. Their sticks were subsequently sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The All-Star Game, which would have been in Phoenix this year, will not take place (they will get the 2009 event as a replacement); the league will instead take a break in February so that its players can participate in the 2006 Winter Olympics. The new schedule will feature more intra-division games in order to promote division rivalries. Consequently, there will be whole divisions in the opposite conference that teams will never play in the season.

Four games had to be rescheduled due to various events. Hurricane Wilma had forced the NHL (among other major league sports) to reschedule two Florida Panthers home games. Their game against Ottawa Senators scheduled on October 22 was rescheduled to December 5, the game against Washington Capitals scheduled for October 29 was moved to December 1. The Nashville Predators-Detroit Red Wings game on November 22 was called with 7:30 left in the first period after Red Wings defenseman Jíři Fischer suffered a seizure and had to be reanimated. It was rescheduled to January 23,2006. Thus, the originally scheduled game at Nashville between the two teams was moved to March 30, 2006.

Standings

As of January 2, 2006.

Shaded denotes top eight teams in each conference (playoff spots)

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
File:PhiladelphiaFlyers 100.png Philadelphia Flyers	38	24	8	6	143	120	54
File:NewYorkRangers 100.png New York Rangers	39	22	12	5	122	101	49
File:NewJerseyDevils 100.png New Jersey Devils	39	16	18	5	112	127	37
File:NewYorkIslanders 100.png New York Islanders	37	17	18	2	121	137	36
File:PittsburghPenguins 100.png Pittsburgh Penguins	37	10	19	8	104	146	28

Northeast Division	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
File:OttawaSenators 100.png Ottawa Senators	36	27	6	3	158	80	57
File:BuffaloSabres 100.png Buffalo Sabres	40	26	12	2	131	120	54
File:TorontoMapleLeafs 100.png Toronto Maple Leafs	39	22	14	3	131	125	47
File:Montrealcanadienslogo.gif Montreal Canadiens	37	18	13	6	105	119	42
File:BostonBruins 100.png Boston Bruins	38	14	18	6	111	125	34

Southeast Division	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
File:CarolinaHurricanes 100.png Carolina Hurricanes	38	24	10	4	140	125	52
File:TampaBayLightning 100.png Tampa Bay Lightning	39	19	17	3	120	125	41
File:AtlantaThrashers 100.png Atlanta Thrashers	40	17	17	6	137	142	40
File:FloridaPanthers 100.png Florida Panthers	41	16	20	5	108	128	37
File:WashingtonCapitals 100.png Washington Capitals	37	13	21	3	107	148	29

Western Conference

Central Division	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
File:DetroitRedWings 100.png Detroit Red Wings	38	26	9	3	145	100	55
File:NashvillePredators 100.png Nashville Predators	37	24	10	3	120	107	51
File:ChicagoBlackhawks 100.png Chicago Blackhawks	37	13	20	4	101	131	30
File:ColumbusBlueJackets 100.png Columbus Blue Jackets	39	12	26	1	82	139	25
File:StLouisBlues 100.png St. Louis Blues	36	9	22	5	96	142	23

Northwest Division	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
File:CalgaryFlames 100.png Calgary Flames	39	23	12	4	105	100	50
File:Edmonton Oilers.gif Edmonton Oilers	40	22	14	4	133	127	48
File:VancouverCanucks 100.png Vancouver Canucks	38	21	12	5	129	120	47
File:ColoradoAvalanche 100.png Colorado Avalanche	40	20	17	3	149	137	43
File:MinnesotaWild 100.png Minnesota Wild	39	18	17	4	111	98	40

Pacific Division	GP	W	L	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
File:LosAngelesKings 100.png Los Angeles Kings	41	25	14	2	144	121	52
File:DallasStars 100.png Dallas Stars	37	24	12	1	124	999	49
File:PhoenixCoyotes 100.png Phoenix Coyotes	40	20	18	2	117	117	42
File:AnaheimMightyDucks 100.png Anaheim Mighty Ducks	39	18	15	6	112	108	42
File:SanJoseSharks 100.png San Jose Sharks	37	16	16	5	114	118	37

Scoring leaders

As of January 1, 2006 1:44 PM

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

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Jaromir Jagr	New York Rangers	39	25	36	61	28
Daniel Alfredsson	Ottawa Senators	36	25	30	55	16
Dany Heatley	Ottawa Senators	36	25	29	54	34
Joe Thornton	San Jose Sharks	36	14	40	54	17
Peter Forsberg	Philadelphia Flyers	32	13	40	53	28
Eric Staal	Carolina Hurricanes	38	26	25	51	22
Marc Savard	Atlanta Thrashers	39	17	34	51	64
Pavol Demitra	Los Angeles Kings	41	20	30	50	28
Ilya Kovalchuk	Atlanta Thrashers	35	23	26	49	38
Jason Spezza	Ottawa Senators	30	13	34	47	23

Leading goaltenders

As of January 1, 2006.

Note: GP = Games Played; Mins = Minutes Played; W = Wins; L = Losses: OT = Overtime Losses; GA = Goals Allowed; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals Against Average

Player	Team	GP	Mins	W	L	OT	GA	SO	Sv%	GAA
Miikka Kiprusoff	Calgary Flames	34	2021	20	10	4	79	5	.910	2.35
Dominik Hasek	Ottawa Senators	26	1573	19	5	2	55	3	.929	2.10
Marty Turco	Dallas Stars	31	1817	19	11	1	75	3	.900	2.48
Tomas Vokoun	Nashville Predators	27	1594	19	6	2	69	1	.913	2.60
Martin Gerber	Carolina Hurricanes	28	1568	18	7	2	73	2	.908	2.79

Stanley Cup playoffs

Stanley Cup finals

NHL awards

Presidents' Trophy:
Prince of Wales Trophy:
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl:
Art Ross Memorial Trophy:
Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy:
Calder Memorial Trophy:
Conn Smythe Trophy:
Frank J. Selke Trophy:
Hart Memorial Trophy:
Jack Adams Award:
James Norris Memorial Trophy:
King Clancy Memorial Trophy:
Lady Byng Memorial Trophy:
Lester B. Pearson Award:
Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy:
NHL Plus/Minus Award:
Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award:
Vezina Trophy:
William M. Jennings Trophy:
Lester Patrick Trophy:

Footnotes

^ NHL unveils new logo for 2005-06 season

References

Preceded by 2004-05 NHL season	NHL seasons	Succeeded by 2006-07 NHL season