2004–05 NHL season

The 2004–05 NHL season would have been the National Hockey League's 88th season of play. But it never happened. The whole season, with all its 1,230 games, was canceled on February 16, 2005. The reason was a big problem between the team owners and the players about money, called a lockout. This was the first time in a long time that the Stanley Cup wasn’t given out, since the Spanish flu pandemic long ago.

Because the NHL wasn’t playing, many players went to play in European leagues instead. According to the International Ice Hockey Federation, about 388 NHL players joined teams in 19 different European countries during this time.

Even though the season was canceled, important rule changes were made for future games. These changes were decided after talks between the NHL and its minor league, the American Hockey League. On July 5, 2004, the AHL shared these new rules, which were meant to be tested and later used in the NHL.

Entry draft

The 2004 NHL entry draft was the last event before a work stoppage began. It took place on June 26 and 27, 2004, at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. Alexander Ovechkin was chosen first by the Washington Capitals.

Lockout

Main article: 2004–05 NHL lockout

On September 16, 2004, the National Hockey League began a lockout, stopping all games because the old rules about how much money players could earn had ended. This was the third time in twelve years that the league and the players had big disagreements. The league wanted a salary cap to limit how much money teams spent on players. But the players’ group didn’t agree.

Finally, on February 16, 2005, the league had to cancel the whole season. This was the first time a big North American sports league lost an entire season because of such a disagreement. Later, in July, they made a new agreement that set limits on salaries.

Canceled All-Star Game

The 2005 All-Star Game was planned to happen on February 13 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, where the Atlanta Thrashers play. But because talks between the NHL and the players were not going well, the league said the game was canceled on November 3. Later, Atlanta did host the 2008 All-Star Game.

Stanley Cup controversy

Because the whole hockey season was canceled, no team could win the Stanley Cup. This hadn’t happened since a big sickness called the Spanish flu stopped the games long ago. Some fans were upset and thought the NHL shouldn’t be the only team allowed to win the Cup. A website asked fans to write to the people who take care of the Cup, asking them to change the rules.

One idea was to give the Cup to the best women’s hockey team instead, but many fans didn’t like this. Because of all these arguments, the Cup stayed without a winner for that year. Later, the rules were changed so that if the NHL can’t play, other teams could try for the Cup. But by then, the NHL had started playing again.

Broadcasting rights

Before the season started, the NHL made two TV deals. One was with NBC, which would show some regular games and playoff games. The other deal was with ESPN, which planned to show games on ESPN2.

Because the season was canceled, ESPN decided not to continue its deal. During this time, CBC changed its Hockey Night in Canada show to Movie Night in Canada, hosted by Ron MacLean. TSN used the time for other sports shows instead.