• With the Predators' arrival, the league realigns to six divisions (two conferences of three divisions each). • The Great One hangs them up. Following a stellar 20-year NHL career (following one year in the WHA), Wayne Gretzky retires as a member of the New York Rangers. Having rewritten just about the entire NHL record book, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced prior to the start of the game that Gretzky's number 99 would be retired league-wide. • The Dallas Stars win the Stanley Cup in a most controversial way, beating the Buffalo Sabres in six games. The Stars won the Cup on Brett Hull's overtime goal. Replays showed Hull's skate was in the crease with the puck outside it as he made the Cup-winning shot. At the time, such instances would have been overturned by video replay. But with the massive celebration, traditional handshakes and Cup presenation having already been made, the NHL elected not to waive off the goal. The rule was changed almost immmediately afterwards. |
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