1998–99 NHL season

League business

With the addition of the expansion Nashville Predators, the NHL realigned this year to a strictly geographic six-division structure (three per conference), erasing the last vestiges of the traditional four-division structure (Adams/Patrick/Norris/Smythe) abandoned in 1993–94 (The four-division structure would return, without the traditional division names, in 2013–14). Other than the necessary reassignment of Colorado to the Western Conference in 1995 due to its two-thousand mile (over 3,200 km) move west from Quebec, the divisions' membership had remained static for five years although several franchises had relocated. As part of this realignment, the Toronto Maple Leafs moved from the Western Conference to the Eastern Conference. This put three of the Original Six teams in the Northeast Division (Boston, Montreal and Toronto), and the three original cities of the NHL in the Northeast (Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto).

The Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy for the most goals by a player in a season made its debut this year. The first winner was Teemu Selanne of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

Regular season

The 1998–99 season marked the retirement of Wayne Gretzky, the NHL's all-time leading scorer, who played his final three NHL seasons with the New York Rangers.

This was the final season that Fox televised NHL games in the United States. It was also the final season for the Toronto Maple Leafs at Maple Leaf Gardens, before moving to the Air Canada Centre in February. Toronto also made its first post-season appearance since 1995–96 this season. 1998–99 was also the final year that the Carolina Hurricanes played at Greensboro Coliseum; they moved to the brand-new Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena in Raleigh for the next season. The Colorado Avalanche played their fourth and final season at McNichols Sports Arena and would move to Pepsi Center the following season. The Los Angeles Kings played their final season at the Great Western Forum after 32 seasons before moving to the Staples Center for the next season. Because Great Western Bank ceased to exist two seasons prior, the arena name was replaced by the team name on center ice, in anticipation of the move.

In an effort to reduce the number of disallowed goals due to the skate-in-the-crease violation, the goal crease size was significantly reduced. In spite of this, goaltenders and defensive systems continued to dominate the league, as only two teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New Jersey Devils, averaged more than three goals scored per game. In addition, no player reached the 50-goal plateau. A total of 160 shutouts were recorded for the second-straight regular season.

Divisions: ATL - Atlantic Division, NE - Northeast Division, SE - Southeast Division

bold – Qualified for playoffs; y – Won division

Divisions: CEN – Central, PAC – Pacific, NW – Northwest

bold – Qualified for playoffs; p – Won Presidents' Trophy; y – Won division

Stanley Cup Final

The teams split the first two games, held in Dallas, then split the following two games in Buffalo. In the fifth game, Dallas shut out Buffalo to put the Sabres on the brink of elimination. Game six was held in Buffalo and it went to triple-overtime before being decided on a controversial goal scored by Brett Hull while he was in the goal crease. Joe Nieuwendyk of Dallas was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs' most valuable player.

Playoff bracket

Scoring leaders

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

Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders

Regular season

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1998–99 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1998–99 (listed with their last team):

Trading deadline