2007–08 NHL season

Did You Know?

• The Nashville Predators' home arena, Nashville Arena, was renamed the Sommet Center after Sommet Group signed a naming rights agreement.
• The New Jersey Devils moved from Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, to Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
• The NHL used re-seeding instead of a fixed bracket playoff system, matching the highest remaining seed against the lowest remaining seed in each conference through the first three rounds.

League business

The salary cap for the regular season rose to US$50.3 million per team, an increase of US$6.3 million from the previous season, while the salary floor was set at US$34.3 million, 71.5% higher than the floor in 2005–06. At a board of governors meeting on September 18, 2007, in Chicago, possible expansion destinations discussed included Las Vegas, Kansas City, Houston, Milwaukee, Quebec City, Seattle, and Winnipeg; the league did not expand until the Vegas Golden Knights began play in 2017–18.

In November, the NHL voted on a new schedule format for 2008–09 that would have all teams play each other at least once and reduce intradivisional play, returning to the structure used in 2003–04. Several rule changes took effect: penalty shots could be awarded when a player with the puck was hauled down from the centre line onward rather than only from the opposition's blue line; the interference rule allowed a major penalty and game misconduct when an injury resulted; and all faceoffs had to be conducted at one of the nine dots on the rink.

The 2007 NHL entry draft was held at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on June 22, 2007, with Patrick Kane selected first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks. The season saw the debut of Reebok's Rbk Edge hockey jerseys, the first league-wide uniform innovation in any major North American professional sports league, and seven teams—Boston, Tampa Bay, Vancouver, Washington, Ottawa, San Jose, and Columbus—unveiled new designs.

Regular season

The regular season opened on September 29, 2007, with back-to-back games in London at The O2 Arena, the first NHL regular season games ever played in Europe; both games featured the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings, who are owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group, the same company that owns The O2. On September 17, 2007, the NHL announced the first outdoor game in over four years, the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic, played between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium on January 1, 2008; it was the first NHL regular-season game outdoors in the United States and set an attendance record of 71,217.

The 2008 NHL All-Star Game was held on January 27, 2008, at Philips Arena in Atlanta, home of the Atlanta Thrashers; Atlanta had originally been scheduled to host the 2005 All-Star Game, which was canceled due to the lockout. The New Jersey Devils began playing in their new arena, the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, but because the arena was not ready at the start of the season, they began with a nine-game road trip. Inter-conference division play had the Northeast visit the Pacific, the Pacific visit the Atlantic, the Atlantic visit the Northwest, the Northwest visit the Southeast, the Southeast visit the Central, and the Central visit the Northeast.

Michael Cammalleri of the Los Angeles Kings scored the first goal of the season against the Anaheim Ducks on September 29 in the opening game in London. Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers was severely injured on February 10 when his external carotid artery was accidentally cut by the skate of teammate Olli Jokinen in a game against the Buffalo Sabres; Zednik fully recovered but missed the rest of the season. The Anaheim Ducks and Ottawa Senators met for the first time since the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals on March 3, 2008, in Anaheim.

Milestones

On October 3, Roman Hamrlik played his 1,000th NHL game in his first game with Montreal. Joe Sakic reached 1,591 points on October 7, moving past Phil Esposito for eighth all-time in scoring. Chris Chelios played his 1,550th game on October 8, passing Alex Delvecchio for eighth on the career list. Jaromir Jagr scored his 1,533rd career point on October 12, passing Paul Coffey for 11th in all-time scoring.

Bryan Smolinski played his 1,000th NHL game on October 22, and Alexei Kovalev played his 1,000th on October 26, the third Montreal player to reach that milestone in October. On November 3, Al Arbour coached his 1,500th game with the New York Islanders and earned his 740th win with the team, both NHL records for coaching a single team; at 75, he was the oldest man to coach in an NHL game. Jeremy Roenick scored his 500th career goal on November 10, becoming the 40th player and third American to do so.

Martin Brodeur recorded his 500th career win on November 17, becoming the second goaltender in league history to reach that mark; on the same day, Glen Wesley played his 1,400th NHL game, the 10th defenceman to do so. Marian Gaborik scored five goals for the Minnesota Wild in a 6–3 win against the New York Rangers on December 20, the first five-goal game since Sergei Fedorov on December 26, 1996. Jaromir Jagr recorded his 927th assist on December 23, passing Stan Mikita for 15th on the all-time list.

Markus Naslund played his 1,000th NHL game on January 17. Ron Wilson earned his 500th career win as an NHL head coach on February 9, becoming the 11th in league history. Olaf Kolzig recorded his 300th win on March 12, the 23rd goaltender to do so. The Detroit Red Wings reached the 100-point mark for the eighth straight season on March 13, tying an NHL record set by the Montreal Canadiens from 1975–1982.

Joe Sakic recorded his 1,000th assist on March 22, becoming the 11th player to reach that mark. Keith Tkachuk scored his 500th career goal on April 6, the fourth American-born player to do so. Joe Sakic extended his record for playoff overtime goals to eight on April 9. Chris Chelios played his 248th career playoff game on April 12, passing Patrick Roy for most career playoff games played.

Broadcasting rights

In Canada, CBC and TSN shared national broadcast duties for the season. CBC handled Saturday night games under the Hockey Night in Canada banner, while TSN took Wednesday Night Hockey and other weeknight matchups. For the first three playoff rounds, TSN broadcast games featuring two U.S. teams, and CBC carried any game involving a Canadian club. CBC then held exclusive rights to the Stanley Cup Finals.

On the U.S. side, this marked the third year of NBC and Versus contracts. Versus, whose original three-year deal was ending, renewed through 2010–11, and NBC exercised its option for another three seasons. Versus typically showed games on Mondays and Tuesdays. NBC changed its approach, airing just one national game on select weekends instead of regional broadcasts.

In the postseason, NBC had selected weekend games in the first three rounds plus Games 3–7 of the Finals. Versus covered chosen first- and second-round games, all Conference Finals not on NBC, and the first two games of the Finals.