2004–05 NHL season

The 2004–05 NHL season would have been the National Hockey League's 88th season. But it was canceled on February 16, 2005. The whole season, with all its 1,230 games, was called off because of a big problem between the team owners and the players about money. This problem was 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. About 388 NHL players joined teams in 19 different European countries during this time, according to the International Ice Hockey Federation.

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. They were meant to be tested and later used in the NHL.

Entry draft

The 2004 NHL entry draft was the last event before a break in the league. It happened on June 26 and 27, 2004, at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. Alexander Ovechkin was picked first by the Washington Capitals.

Lockout

Main article: 2004–05 NHL lockout

On September 16, 2004, the National Hockey League stopped all games. This happened because the old rules about player salaries had ended, and the league and players disagreed. The league wanted a salary cap to limit how much teams could spend on players, but the players did not agree.

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

Canceled All-Star Game

The 2005 All-Star Game was planned for 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 canceled the game on November 3. Later, Atlanta hosted 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 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.

2004–05 NHL season