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The 2003–04 NHL season was the 87th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup champions were the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the best of seven series four games to three against the Calgary Flames.
The 2001–02 NHL season was the 85th regular season of the National Hockey League. Thirty teams competed in an 82-game regular season. The regular season began on October 3, and the playoffs concluded on June 13, with the Detroit Red Wings defeating the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Finals in five games, winning their tenth Stanley Cup in franchise history.
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.
The 1995–96 NHL season was the 79th regular season of the National Hockey League. As part of the league's new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed after the 1994–95 NHL lockout, each team began playing 82 games per season. The Quebec Nordiques relocated to Denver, Colorado, becoming the Colorado Avalanche. The Stanley Cup winners were the Avalanche, who swept the Florida Panthers in the finals, in four games.
The 1997–98 NHL season was the 81st regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL). For the first time, there was a break in the regular season to allow NHL players join their respective national hockey teams competing at the Winter Olympics. The Hartford Whalers relocated to North Carolina, becoming the Carolina Hurricanes. The Stanley Cup champions were the Detroit Red Wings, who swept the Washington Capitals in four games.
The 1982–83 NHL season was the 66th season of the National Hockey League. The Colorado Rockies relocated to East Rutherford, New Jersey, becoming the New Jersey Devils. The New York Islanders won their fourth Stanley Cup in a row with their second consecutive finals sweep by beating the Edmonton Oilers four games to none. It remains to date the last time that any major professional North American sports team has won four consecutive playoff championships.
The 1981–82 NHL season was the 65th season of the National Hockey League. The teams were realigned into divisions that better reflected their geographic locations. The William M. Jennings Trophy made its debut this year as the trophy for the goaltenders from the team with the fewest goals against, thus replacing the Vezina Trophy in that qualifying criteria. The Vezina Trophy would thereafter be awarded to the goaltender adjudged to be the best at his position. The New York Islanders won their third straight Stanley Cup by sweeping the Vancouver Canucks in four games.
The National Hockey League's Smythe Division was formed in 1974 as part of the Clarence Campbell Conference. The division existed for 19 seasons until 1993. It was named in honour of Conn Smythe, who was a longtime owner, general manager, and head coach in the league. It is the forerunner of the NHL's Northwest Division and Pacific Division.
The National Hockey League's Central Division was formed in 1993 as part of the Western Conference in a league realignment. Its predecessor was the Norris Division and its also one of two successors to the Northwest Division. The Chicago Blackhawks have been a member of the Central Division in all of its seasons since the original 1993 realignment. The Arizona Coyotes, Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues were also original members of the division, but were realigned to a different division for a while before returning; both the Coyotes and Stars were moved to the Pacific Division in 1998, while the Blues were moved to the West Division during the temporary 2020–21 realignment. Three of its teams—the Minnesota Wild, Nashville Predators, and Winnipeg Jets —joined the NHL during a league expansion phase between 1998 and 2000. The fourth team in that three-year expansion period, the Columbus Blue Jackets, was once a member of the Central Division, but moved to the Metropolitan Division after the 2013 realignment.
The National Hockey League's Pacific Division was formed in 1993 as part of the Western Conference in a league realignment. It is also one of the two successors of the Smythe Division, though of the current teams, only the Anaheim Ducks, Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights did not play in the Smythe Division. Due to subsequent realignments, three of the Pacific Division's original teams left the division in 1998 but returned in 2013. The division is the only one in the NHL without any Original Six teams. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting closure of the Canada–United States border, all eight teams were transferred into two different divisions for the 2020–21 NHL season. The American-based teams were moved to the West Division, while the Canadian-based teams were placed into the North Division.
The Western Conference is one of two conferences in the National Hockey League (NHL) used to divide teams. Its counterpart is the Eastern Conference.
The West Division of the National Hockey League existed from 1967 until 1974 when the league realigned into two conferences of two divisions each. The division was reformed for the 2020–21 NHL season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2010–11 Detroit Red Wings season was the 85th season of play for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on September 25, 1926, and saw the Red Wings equal the Dallas Cowboys in second place for the most consecutive winning seasons in major North American professional sports.
The 2015–16 Calgary Flames season was the 36th season in Calgary and 44th in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Flames franchise. Coming off an unexpected run to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2014–15, and having acquired defenceman Dougie Hamilton and forward Michael Frolik in the off-season, the Flames were expected to again compete for a playoff spot in 2015–16. Instead, the team struggled. Calgary missed the playoffs and spent much of the season languishing near the bottom of the NHL standings. Defenceman Dennis Wideman had a difficult season individually as he became embroiled in controversy after striking linesman Don Henderson after himself suffering a concussion during a game. The NHL suspended Wideman for 20 games for abuse of an official, prompting a pair of appeals from the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA). The second appeal, to a neutral arbitrator, found that the suspension was excessive, and reduced it to ten games, though Wideman had already missed 19 contests when the ruling was made.
The 2015–16 Edmonton Oilers season was the 37th season for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on June 22, 1979, and 44th season, including their play in the World Hockey Association (WHA). The season began its regular games on October 8, 2015, against the St. Louis Blues, and concluded with a home and away series on April 6 and 9, 2016 against the Vancouver Canucks; the Oilers' final home game on April 6 was their final game at Rexall Place, its home arena since 1974. The team moved to the new downtown Rogers Place for the 2016–17 season.
The 2018–19 Calgary Flames season was the Flames' 39th season in Calgary, and the 47th for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 6, 1972.
The 2019–20 Arizona Coyotes season was the 41st season for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on June 22, 1979, the 24th season since the franchise relocated from Winnipeg following the 1995–96 NHL season, and the 48th overall, including the World Hockey Association years.
The 2019–20 Calgary Flames season was the Flames' 40th season in Calgary, and the 48th for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 6, 1972. The Flames entered the season as the defending Pacific Division champions.
The 2019–20 Minnesota Wild season was the 20th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 25, 1997.
The National Hockey League's North Division was one of the four divisions used by the NHL for the 2020–21 NHL season. This division was organized in 2020 as the result of the travel restrictions that had been in place since March 2020 between the Canada–United States border due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The entirety of the 2020–21 regular season and first two rounds of the playoffs were played between seven Canadian-based teams in the NHL.
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