Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - NHL history in a 127 years of bite sized pieces.

CaptainCrunch · 06-17-2024, 07:42 PM

1998-99

As the world hovered around the coming of a new century, and the aspect of the Y2K computer deadline ticked closer to midnight, the NHL was going through changes. Mario Lemieux had retired, the NHL had lost its offensive lustre, and the Dallas Stars would hoist the Stanley Cup after a controversial triple overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres. But even more significant was that as the century came to a close, the career of the single greatest player in the history of the NHL came to a close.

After 20 years in the NHL, Wayne Gretzky decided to hang up his skates. On April 18, 1999 the man simply known as the "Great One" played his last game, a 2-1 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins where he notched the final point of his career in the Ranger's lone goal. Gretzky then bid a fond farewell, to a packed house at New York's Madison Square Gardens and to the millions more watching on TV.

Sadly for Gretzky and the New York fans who had gotten to see the best in the business play for the last 3 seasons of his brilliant career, the Rangers had failed to make the playoffs for the last two years. At 38 years old, Gretzky was past his prime and he knew it.

Gretzky walked away from the game holding 61 NHL scoring records, some of his achievements ranged from mind boggling to unbeatable.

He was the greatest setup man the game had ever seen, finishing with 1,963 career assists. To put this into perspective Gordie Howe who was in second all time in NHL scoring had 113 fewer total points then Gretzky had assists.

When the final buzzer sounded and the book closed on Gretzky's magic, his NHL totals included 894 regular season goals, and 2,857 points, 93 goals and 1,007 points ahead of the second place Howe. Among his records he had the most career goals, assists, points, assists per game (1.32), hat tricks (50), 40 goal seasons (12), 100 point seasons (15) and consecutive 100 point seasons (13), as well as points scoring streak (51 consecutive games).

A winner of 4 Stanley Cups in 5 years with the Oilers in the early 80's, Gretzky was a true Champion and one of the rare few like Orr, Howe, Shore who changed the game and face of hockey. When Gretzky was traded to L.A., he revitalized the popularity of a dying team, and made it possible to open markets in Anaheim, and other U.S. franchises.

Never the fastest, or strongest, he had a deceptively weak slap shot, but he had an innate instinct for open spots and the net, he was impossible to hit, and always seemed to arrive to where the puck was going.

Upon his retirement, his jersey number, 99 was retired league wide, and the Hockey Hall of Fame like they did with Mario Lemieux voted to waive the customary 3 year waiting period and added Gretzky to its legendary rolls right away.

Trivia

The NHL grows to 27 teams as the Nashville Predators take to the ice.
The NHL introduces the Maurice Richard Trophy, give to the player that leads the league in goals.
On Jan 7, in a 4-2 gome win over Buffalo Luc Robitaille scores his 300th goal becoming the 27th player to reach the mark.
In January, Flyers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck shuts out the Islanders, Hurricanes (partial game), Predators and Capitals in successive appearances.
On Jan 12th, former 1st overall pick Doug Wiekenheiser 37, who played 10 years in the NHL loses his 5 year battle to cancer.
On Feb 5, in Detroit, Patrick Roy, 33 becomes the youngest goalie in NHL history to reach 400 wins.
On Feb 13, more then 67 years after opening, Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens hosts its final NHL game a 6-2 win over the Black Hawks.
On March 29, Wayne Gretzky scores the 1,072 goal of his career surpassing Gordie Howe for the all-time NHL/WHA record.
The Stars win the PResidents Trophy with a 51-19-12 record.
Colorado finishes atop of the North West Division with a 44-28-10 record, boasting the 4th and 5th overall scorers, Peter Forsberg (97) and Joe Sakic (86).
Despite playing most of the year without Doug Weight, the Oilers earn the last playoff spot in the Western Conference finishing at 33-37-12.
Calgary Flames defenseman, Phil Housley becomes the all-time leading scorer among Americans.
Calgary trades disgruntled winger Theo Fleury and Chris Dingman to the Avalanche for Wade Belek, the rights to Robyn Regher and a 2nd round pick in 2000 that ends up being Jarrett Stoll.
The demoralized Flames miss the playoffs by 8 points, as the Flames disassemble their team.
Mark Messier 600th goal is lost in the morass of a losing season, as the Canucks end up trading Pavel Bure to Florida in a multi player deal.
The Red Wings finish on top of the Central Division at 43-32-7.
The first year Nashville Predators are surprisingly competitor finishing at 28-47-7 thanks to Cliff Ronning''s 60 points and Segei Krivokrasov's 25 goals.
The Devils take top spot in the Eastern Conference.
Eric Lindros scores 93 in 71 games as he suffers a collapsed lung late in the season, but the Flyers mange to take 2nd place in the Atlantic with a 37-26-19 record.
The Penguins follow NHL Scoring champ Jaromir Jagr (44-83-127) to a 38-30-14 records, but injuries decimate the lineup and bankruptcy threatens the team's future.
The Rangers fail to make the playoffs for a second straight season, despite 38 goals and 62 points by Wayne Gretzky in his last season.
Management turmoil complicates a already shaky season in Long Islanders the Islanders win 24 games.
John Spanos swindles his way to a $166 million dollar ownership bid for the Islanders, but the deal falls apart when he can't meat the payments. Spanos plead guilty to fraud charges and later serves 71 months in prison.
The Sens prove their for real, and take the Northeast Division with a 44-23-15 on Alexi Yashin's 94 points and Ron Tugnutt's league leading 1.79 gaa.
The Canadians facing financial hardship, unloads stars Mark Recchi and Vincent Damphousse and end up out of the playoffs.
After missing the playoffs for 6 years, the Carolina Hurricanes take the weak Southeast division with a 34-30-18 record.
The mid season trade of Pavel Bure doesn't help the Panthers who miss the playoffs.
A year after a trip to the finals, the Washington Capitals miss the playoffs, late in the year they unload Dale Hunter, Joe Juneau and Craig Berube.
In the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, Pittsburgh dethrones New Jersey in 7, Buffalo hammers Ottawa in 4, The Bruins tame the Hurricanes in 6 and and the Leafs ground the Flyers in 6.
In the Western Quarterfinals, The Stars whip the Oilers in 4, The Avalanche spear the Sharks in 6, Detroit plucks the Ducks in 4, and St Louis wins three straight to beat Phoenix in 7.
In the Eastern Semis, Toronto beats Pittsburgh in 6, Buffalo beats Boston in 6.
In the Western Semis, Dallas rolls over St. Louis in 6, Colorado edges Detroit in 6.
Continuing their amazing post season run, the Sabres knock off the LEafs in 5 games to go to the Finals for the first time since 1975.
The Stars endure a gruelling series against Avalanche, and win in 7.
Buffalo stuns the Dallas crowd by beating the Stars 3-2 in game 1.
The Stars win game 2 4-2 and game 3 2-1.
After dropping game 4 2-1, Dallas wins game 5 2-0.
With the Cup in reach, Dallas outlasts Buffalo 2-1 in the third overtime to capture their first Stanley Cup. Brett Hull playing with a bad groin and knee injury scores the winning goal.
Dallas centre Joe Nieuwendyk sets a playoff record with 6 game winning goals and wins the Conn Smythe.
Jaromir Jagr wins the Art Ross trophy as the leagues leading scorer.
John Cullen of Tampa Bay wins the Masterton Trophy.
Chris Drury of the Colorado Avalanche takes the Calder Trophy.
Jere Lehtinen wins the Selke Trophy for the second straight year.
Jaromir Jagr wins the Lester B Pearson, and Hart Trophy.
Jacques Martin of Ottawa wins the Adams Trophy.
Al MacInnis of St. Louis wins the Norris Trophy.
Wayne Gretzky wins the final Lady Byng of his career.
Teemu Selanne of the Ducks wins the first Rocket Richard Trophy.
Domink Hasek wins the Vezina Trophy.

First game

Martin St. Louis, Calgary Flames
Chris Drury, Colorado Avalanche
Milan Hejduk, Colorado Avalanche
Dan Boyle, Florida Panthers
Jason Blake, Los Angeles Kings
David Legwand, Nashville Predators
Karlis Skrastins, Nashville Predators
Kimmo Timonen, Nashville Predators
Eric Brewer, New York Islanders
Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning
Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Maple Leafs

Last game

Dave Babych, Los Angeles Kings
Brian Bellows, Washington Capitals
Jim Carey, St. Louis Blues
Bobby Carpenter, New Jersey Devils
Dino Ciccarelli, Florida Panthers
Russ Courtnall, Los Angeles Kings
John Cullen, Tampa Bay Lightning
Wayne Gretzky, New York Rangers
Ron Hextall, Philadelphia Flyers
Dale Hunter, Colorado Avalanche
Craig Ludwig, Dallas Stars
Jamie Macoun, Detroit Red Wings
Bernie Nicholls, San Jose Sharks
Kjell Samuelsson, Tampa Bay Lightning (Last player born in the 1950's)
Tomas Sandstrom, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Esa Tikkanen, Florida Panthers
Mark Tinordi, Washington Capitals

06-17-2024, 07:42 PM	#220
CaptainCrunch Norm! Join Date: Jun 2002 Exp:	1998-99 As the world hovered around the coming of a new century, and the aspect of the Y2K computer deadline ticked closer to midnight, the NHL was going through changes. Mario Lemieux had retired, the NHL had lost its offensive lustre, and the Dallas Stars would hoist the Stanley Cup after a controversial triple overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres. But even more significant was that as the century came to a close, the career of the single greatest player in the history of the NHL came to a close. After 20 years in the NHL, Wayne Gretzky decided to hang up his skates. On April 18, 1999 the man simply known as the "Great One" played his last game, a 2-1 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins where he notched the final point of his career in the Ranger's lone goal. Gretzky then bid a fond farewell, to a packed house at New York's Madison Square Gardens and to the millions more watching on TV. Sadly for Gretzky and the New York fans who had gotten to see the best in the business play for the last 3 seasons of his brilliant career, the Rangers had failed to make the playoffs for the last two years. At 38 years old, Gretzky was past his prime and he knew it. Gretzky walked away from the game holding 61 NHL scoring records, some of his achievements ranged from mind boggling to unbeatable. He was the greatest setup man the game had ever seen, finishing with 1,963 career assists. To put this into perspective Gordie Howe who was in second all time in NHL scoring had 113 fewer total points then Gretzky had assists. When the final buzzer sounded and the book closed on Gretzky's magic, his NHL totals included 894 regular season goals, and 2,857 points, 93 goals and 1,007 points ahead of the second place Howe. Among his records he had the most career goals, assists, points, assists per game (1.32), hat tricks (50), 40 goal seasons (12), 100 point seasons (15) and consecutive 100 point seasons (13), as well as points scoring streak (51 consecutive games). A winner of 4 Stanley Cups in 5 years with the Oilers in the early 80's, Gretzky was a true Champion and one of the rare few like Orr, Howe, Shore who changed the game and face of hockey. When Gretzky was traded to L.A., he revitalized the popularity of a dying team, and made it possible to open markets in Anaheim, and other U.S. franchises. Never the fastest, or strongest, he had a deceptively weak slap shot, but he had an innate instinct for open spots and the net, he was impossible to hit, and always seemed to arrive to where the puck was going. Upon his retirement, his jersey number, 99 was retired league wide, and the Hockey Hall of Fame like they did with Mario Lemieux voted to waive the customary 3 year waiting period and added Gretzky to its legendary rolls right away. Trivia The NHL grows to 27 teams as the Nashville Predators take to the ice. The NHL introduces the Maurice Richard Trophy, give to the player that leads the league in goals. On Jan 7, in a 4-2 gome win over Buffalo Luc Robitaille scores his 300th goal becoming the 27th player to reach the mark. In January, Flyers goalie John Vanbiesbrouck shuts out the Islanders, Hurricanes (partial game), Predators and Capitals in successive appearances. On Jan 12th, former 1st overall pick Doug Wiekenheiser 37, who played 10 years in the NHL loses his 5 year battle to cancer. On Feb 5, in Detroit, Patrick Roy, 33 becomes the youngest goalie in NHL history to reach 400 wins. On Feb 13, more then 67 years after opening, Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens hosts its final NHL game a 6-2 win over the Black Hawks. On March 29, Wayne Gretzky scores the 1,072 goal of his career surpassing Gordie Howe for the all-time NHL/WHA record. The Stars win the PResidents Trophy with a 51-19-12 record. Colorado finishes atop of the North West Division with a 44-28-10 record, boasting the 4th and 5th overall scorers, Peter Forsberg (97) and Joe Sakic (86). Despite playing most of the year without Doug Weight, the Oilers earn the last playoff spot in the Western Conference finishing at 33-37-12. Calgary Flames defenseman, Phil Housley becomes the all-time leading scorer among Americans. Calgary trades disgruntled winger Theo Fleury and Chris Dingman to the Avalanche for Wade Belek, the rights to Robyn Regher and a 2nd round pick in 2000 that ends up being Jarrett Stoll. The demoralized Flames miss the playoffs by 8 points, as the Flames disassemble their team. Mark Messier 600th goal is lost in the morass of a losing season, as the Canucks end up trading Pavel Bure to Florida in a multi player deal. The Red Wings finish on top of the Central Division at 43-32-7. The first year Nashville Predators are surprisingly competitor finishing at 28-47-7 thanks to Cliff Ronning''s 60 points and Segei Krivokrasov's 25 goals. The Devils take top spot in the Eastern Conference. Eric Lindros scores 93 in 71 games as he suffers a collapsed lung late in the season, but the Flyers mange to take 2nd place in the Atlantic with a 37-26-19 record. The Penguins follow NHL Scoring champ Jaromir Jagr (44-83-127) to a 38-30-14 records, but injuries decimate the lineup and bankruptcy threatens the team's future. The Rangers fail to make the playoffs for a second straight season, despite 38 goals and 62 points by Wayne Gretzky in his last season. Management turmoil complicates a already shaky season in Long Islanders the Islanders win 24 games. John Spanos swindles his way to a $166 million dollar ownership bid for the Islanders, but the deal falls apart when he can't meat the payments. Spanos plead guilty to fraud charges and later serves 71 months in prison. The Sens prove their for real, and take the Northeast Division with a 44-23-15 on Alexi Yashin's 94 points and Ron Tugnutt's league leading 1.79 gaa. The Canadians facing financial hardship, unloads stars Mark Recchi and Vincent Damphousse and end up out of the playoffs. After missing the playoffs for 6 years, the Carolina Hurricanes take the weak Southeast division with a 34-30-18 record. The mid season trade of Pavel Bure doesn't help the Panthers who miss the playoffs. A year after a trip to the finals, the Washington Capitals miss the playoffs, late in the year they unload Dale Hunter, Joe Juneau and Craig Berube. In the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, Pittsburgh dethrones New Jersey in 7, Buffalo hammers Ottawa in 4, The Bruins tame the Hurricanes in 6 and and the Leafs ground the Flyers in 6. In the Western Quarterfinals, The Stars whip the Oilers in 4, The Avalanche spear the Sharks in 6, Detroit plucks the Ducks in 4, and St Louis wins three straight to beat Phoenix in 7. In the Eastern Semis, Toronto beats Pittsburgh in 6, Buffalo beats Boston in 6. In the Western Semis, Dallas rolls over St. Louis in 6, Colorado edges Detroit in 6. Continuing their amazing post season run, the Sabres knock off the LEafs in 5 games to go to the Finals for the first time since 1975. The Stars endure a gruelling series against Avalanche, and win in 7. Buffalo stuns the Dallas crowd by beating the Stars 3-2 in game 1. The Stars win game 2 4-2 and game 3 2-1. After dropping game 4 2-1, Dallas wins game 5 2-0. With the Cup in reach, Dallas outlasts Buffalo 2-1 in the third overtime to capture their first Stanley Cup. Brett Hull playing with a bad groin and knee injury scores the winning goal. Dallas centre Joe Nieuwendyk sets a playoff record with 6 game winning goals and wins the Conn Smythe. Jaromir Jagr wins the Art Ross trophy as the leagues leading scorer. John Cullen of Tampa Bay wins the Masterton Trophy. Chris Drury of the Colorado Avalanche takes the Calder Trophy. Jere Lehtinen wins the Selke Trophy for the second straight year. Jaromir Jagr wins the Lester B Pearson, and Hart Trophy. Jacques Martin of Ottawa wins the Adams Trophy. Al MacInnis of St. Louis wins the Norris Trophy. Wayne Gretzky wins the final Lady Byng of his career. Teemu Selanne of the Ducks wins the first Rocket Richard Trophy. Domink Hasek wins the Vezina Trophy. First game Martin St. Louis, Calgary Flames Chris Drury, Colorado Avalanche Milan Hejduk, Colorado Avalanche Dan Boyle, Florida Panthers Jason Blake, Los Angeles Kings David Legwand, Nashville Predators Karlis Skrastins, Nashville Predators Kimmo Timonen, Nashville Predators Eric Brewer, New York Islanders Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Maple Leafs Last game Dave Babych, Los Angeles Kings Brian Bellows, Washington Capitals Jim Carey, St. Louis Blues Bobby Carpenter, New Jersey Devils Dino Ciccarelli, Florida Panthers Russ Courtnall, Los Angeles Kings John Cullen, Tampa Bay Lightning Wayne Gretzky, New York Rangers Ron Hextall, Philadelphia Flyers Dale Hunter, Colorado Avalanche Craig Ludwig, Dallas Stars Jamie Macoun, Detroit Red Wings Bernie Nicholls, San Jose Sharks Kjell Samuelsson, Tampa Bay Lightning (Last player born in the 1950's) Tomas Sandstrom, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Esa Tikkanen, Florida Panthers Mark Tinordi, Washington Capitals YouTube Video YouTube Video YouTube Video YouTube Video YouTube Video YouTube Video YouTube Video YouTube Video YouTube Video YouTube Video __________________ My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!