2012–13 NHL season

Lockout

On September 13, 2012, all 29 league ownership groups (with the Phoenix Coyotes collectively owned by the NHL) authorized commissioner Gary Bettman to lock out the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) upon the expiration of the NHL collective bargaining agreement (CBA) on September 15. The action marked the fifth labor dispute in twenty years for the league, following a 1992 strike, lockouts in 1994–95 and 2004–05, as well as a referees lockout in 1993; this is more than any of the other major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada during this period. In preparation for the lockout, NHL teams assigned all of their eligible players to their American Hockey League farm clubs.

Although Bettman acknowledged the 2005–12 CBA was fair, he also stated that he was demanding concessions as a result of the late 2000s recession, even though the league experienced significant growth at that time. Sports media reported on July 14 on the NHL's first offer to the players. The offer reportedly included: a drop in players' share of "hockey-related revenues" from 57 per cent to 46 per cent; a requirement that players play ten years before becoming an unrestricted free agent (UFA); a limit on players' contracts to five years in length; elimination of salary arbitration; and an extension of entry-level contracts to five years from three.

The NHLPA made an attempt to strike down the lockout as illegal in Alberta and Quebec; the Quebec Labour Board ruled against the NHLPA on September 14.

The NHL season officially entered a lockout after the expiration of the CBA on September 15, 2012, prior to the planned start of the pre-season. Locked-out players immediately began signing with the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Czech Extraliga (ELH), the SM-liiga, and the Elitserien (SEL), the last of which largely resisted signing locked-out players. The NHL canceled all regular-season games originally scheduled up to January 14, 2013, including the 2013 NHL Winter Classic. The 2013 NHL All-Star Game was also canceled.

On January 6, 2013, after a 16-hour negotiating session, the owners and players union reached a tentative agreement for a 10-year deal. NHL owners ratified the CBA on January 9, 2013, followed three days later by the deal's ratification by NHLPA members, and the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two parties, marking their official agreement on the labor pact. The NHL announced a 48-game schedule, starting on January 19, 2013 and ending on April 28, 2013, consisting solely of intra-conference competition.

Proposed realignment

The relocation of the Atlanta Thrashers from the American southeast to the Canadian prairies, where the franchise is now known as the Winnipeg Jets, in the summer of 2011 resulted in discussions within the league on how to realign the league's 30 teams. Following several months of speculation, the NHL's Board of Governors voted in favor of a radical realignment plan that would have reduced the six current divisions in two conferences into four conferences. The top four teams in each conference would then qualify for the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs, while for the regular season, each team would face its non-conference opponents twice: once each at home and on the road. Conference opponents would face each other five or six times each. The plan was designed to better balance each grouping of teams by time zone, as well as to cut the costs of travel western teams face.

However, on January 6, 2012, the league announced that the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) had rejected the proposed realignment, delaying any future changes until at least 2013–14. NHLPA officers expressed a desire to see a draft schedule for the realignment, which the league had not completed.

The league and NHLPA then redesigned the plan, with the four conferences instead being reformed into four divisions within two conferences. Detroit and Columbus, the only two Western Conference teams in the Eastern Time Zone, were added to the Eastern Conference: Detroit moved into the current Atlantic Division and Columbus moved into the Metropolitan. The four groupings were designated as divisions, with the Eastern and Western Conference designations remaining in place. On March 8, 2013, the NHLPA approved the league's realignment plan, with the league Board of Governors ratifying the realignment on March 14.

The four divisions have been organized as follows:

Salary cap

The NHL announced the revised salary cap on June 28, 2012. The salary cap figure is in effect until the end of the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the Player's Association. The salary cap for players' salaries rose $5.9 million (USD) to $70.2 million per franchise. The salary floor, the minimum which franchises must spend rose to $54.2 million.

As part of the newly agreed upon CBA, the salary cap for teams will be $64.3 million per franchise, with a floor of $44 million.

Change of venue

On October 24, 2012, the New York Islanders announced that the team had signed a 25-year lease with the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, starting in 2015 after the team's current lease for the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum expires. The arena, originally constructed as the home for the National Basketball Association's Brooklyn Nets, is intended to be expanded to meet NHL standards.

Rule changes

With the ratification of the new collective bargaining agreement, several rule changes took effect this season.

Uniforms

Regular season

Originally planned for October 11, 2012, the lockout delay pushed the start of the 2012–13 season to January 19, 2013, with 12 games for the opening night. Each team played 18 games within its division (four or five games for each team) and 30 games against teams in the other division (three games for each team); no interconference games were played during the regular season. The regular season was shortened from 82 games down to 48, canceling 41.5 percent of the full regular season.

Winter Classic

The 2013 NHL Winter Classic was scheduled to feature the Detroit Red Wings hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium (the largest stadium in North America) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but it was canceled due to the labor lockout. The game was played instead on January 1, 2014 at Michigan Stadium.

All-Star Game

Originally scheduled to take place January 27, 2013, in Columbus, Ohio, the All-Star Game was canceled as a result of the ongoing lockout.

European Premiere games

In past seasons, selected NHL teams began their season with exhibition games and the first two regular season games in European cities. In March 2012, the NHL announced that it had decided not to start the season with games in Europe, because of the upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations and the surrounding uncertainty.

With the NHL not playing games in Europe, Russia's Kontinental Hockey League (against which the NHL has played several interleague competitions) was instead to come to the United States, with the NHL's blessing; the KHL was to feature two games between Dynamo Moscow and SKA Saint Petersburg at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on January 19 and 20, 2013. However no agreement between the KHL and the Barclays Center had been signed, and the KHL announced the two games would be held in Russia; due to the NHL lockout, the signing of a 25-year lease with the New York Islanders, and pleas from the teams' fans to keep the games in Russia.

Postponement

Two games were affected by the Boston Marathon bombings:

Standings

Due to the lockout, each team played 48 games this season, all within their conference.

Divisions: AT – Atlantic, NE – Northeast, SE – Southeast

bold – Qualified for playoffs, y – Won division, z – Won best record in conference

Divisions: CE – Central, NW – Northwest, PA – Pacific

bold – Qualified for playoffs, y – Won division, p – Won Presidents' Trophy (best record in NHL)

Playoffs

Because of the lockout and delayed start of the shortened regular season, the playoffs did not begin until April 30. The last possible date of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals was then scheduled for June 28.

In each round, the highest remaining seed in each conference is matched against the lowest remaining seed. The higher-seeded team is awarded home ice advantage. In the Stanley Cup Finals, home ice is determined based on regular season points. As the Presidents' Trophy winners, the Blackhawks had home ice advantage in the 2013 Finals. Each best-of-seven series follows a 2–2–1–1–1 format: the higher-seeded team plays at home for games one and two (and games five and seven, if necessary), and the lower-seeded team is at home for games three and four (and game six, if necessary).

NHL awards

Awards are presented during the NHL Awards television specials on June 14–15, 2013. Finalists for voted awards are announced during the playoffs and winners are presented at the awards specials. Voting concluded immediately after the end of the regular season. The President's Trophy, the Prince of Wales Trophy and Campbell Bowls are not presented at the awards specials. The Lester Patrick is announced during the summer and presented in the fall. NHL Network U.S. and NHL Network Canada aired the first part of the awards presentation on June 14, while NBC Sports Network and CBC aired the second part on June 15 preceding Game 2 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals.

All-Star teams

Note: Alexander Ovechkin was listed as a Left Wing but played the majority of his games at Right Wing. Some members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association voted for him at Left Wing while others voted for him at Right Wing and consequently, Ovechkin placed twice on the NHL All-Star team.

Scoring leaders

The following players lead the league in points following the conclusion of the regular season.

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus-minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders lead the league in goals against average following the conclusion of the regular season while playing at least 1200 minutes.

GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

First games

The following is a list of notable players who played their first NHL game in 2013, listed with their first team:

Last games

The following is a list of players of note who played their last NHL game in 2012–13, listed with their team:

Major milestones reached