2000–01 NHL season

The 2000–01 NHL season was the 84th regular season of the National Hockey League. With the addition of the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild, 30 teams each played 82 games. The Stanley Cup winners were the Colorado Avalanche, who won the best of seven series 4–3 against the New Jersey Devils. The focus of Colorado's Stanley Cup run was on star defenceman Ray Bourque, who was on a quest to win his first Stanley Cup championship in his illustrious 22-year career.

League business
Two expansion teams, the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets, joined the league at the beginning of the season, increasing the number of NHL teams to 30. The Blue Jackets would join the Central Division, while the Wild would join the Northwest Division. This divisional alignment would remain static until the 2012–13 season, while the league did not expand again until the 2017–18 season when the Vegas Golden Knights entered the league. This was the first time the NHL would have a team in Minnesota since the Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas, Texas in 1993, and the first time for Ohio since the Cleveland Barons merged with the North Stars in 1978.

The Dallas Stars played their final season at the Reunion Arena before moving to the American Airlines Center in 2001.

The four-official system (two referees and two linesmen) becomes mandatory for all games. It was used only for selected regular season games in 1998–99 and 1999–2000, but was used for all playoff games in both seasons.

The NHL opened the season in Tokyo, Japan with two games between the Nashville Predators and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Uniform changes
Buffalo: New Red Alternates.

Calgary: Previous Black Alternates become the new road uniforms.

Carolina: Black outline added to players' names.

Chicago: 75th-anniversary patch.

Colorado: 2001 NHL All-Star Game Patch.

Columbus: White Jerseys with red and blue stripes, Blue road jerseys have Red stripe. Team also wears an inaugural season patch. Alt marks are on the shoulders.

Detroit: 75th-anniversary patch

Minnesota: White Jerseys with red and green stripes, the Green jerseys have just the red stripe. Alt marks are on the shoulders.

New York Rangers: 75th-anniversary patch.

Ottawa: The team introduces a new alternate jersey—this one black with the forward-looking centurion crest.

Pittsburgh: The Penguins introduce a new alternate jersey, welcoming back the skating penguin and introducing Vegas gold.

San Jose: 10th Anniversary patch.

Toronto: Alternates from 1998 to 1999 return, as well as a new TML Patch.

Washington: Black alternates from 1999 to 2000 become new road uniforms.

Regular season
On December 27, 2000, Mario Lemieux returned from his three-and-a-half-year retirement and, in a game nationally televised on Hockey Night in Canada and ESPN National Hockey Night, registered his first assist 33 seconds into the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He went on to add a goal and finish with three points, solidifying his return and bringing a struggling Jaromir Jagr back to his elite status, who went on to win his fourth straight Art Ross Trophy, narrowly surpassing Joe Sakic. Despite playing in only 43 games in 2000–01, Lemieux scored 76 points to finish 26th in scoring, finishing the season with the highest points-per-game average that season among NHL players. Lemieux was one of the three finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy and Lester B. Pearson Award.

The record for most shutouts in a season (set at 160 in 1997–98 and equalled in 1998–99) was eclipsed, as 186 shutouts were recorded.

Awards
The presentation ceremonies were held in Toronto.

Eastern Conference

 * Atlanta Thrashers: Curt Fraser
 * Boston Bruins: Pat Burns and Mike Keenan
 * Buffalo Sabres: Lindy Ruff
 * Carolina Hurricanes: Paul Maurice
 * Florida Panthers: Terry Murray and Duane Sutter
 * Montreal Canadiens: Alain Vigneault and Michel Therrien
 * New Jersey Devils: Larry Robinson
 * New York Islanders: Butch Goring and Lorne Henning
 * New York Rangers: Ron Low
 * Ottawa Senators: Jacques Martin
 * Philadelphia Flyers: Craig Ramsay and Bill Barber
 * Pittsburgh Penguins: Ivan Hlinka
 * Tampa Bay Lightning: Steve Ludzik and John Tortorella
 * Toronto Maple Leafs: Pat Quinn
 * Washington Capitals: Ron Wilson

Western Conference

 * Mighty Ducks of Anaheim: Craig Hartsburg and Guy Charron
 * Calgary Flames: Don Hay and Greg Gilbert
 * Chicago Blackhawks: Alpo Suhonen
 * Colorado Avalanche: Bob Hartley
 * Columbus Blue Jackets: Dave King
 * Dallas Stars: Ken Hitchcock
 * Detroit Red Wings: Scotty Bowman
 * Edmonton Oilers: Craig MacTavish
 * Los Angeles Kings: Andy Murray
 * Minnesota Wild: Jacques Lemaire
 * Nashville Predators: Barry Trotz
 * Phoenix Coyotes: Bobby Francis
 * San Jose Sharks: Darryl Sutter
 * St. Louis Blues: Joel Quenneville
 * Vancouver Canucks: Marc Crawford

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

Leading goaltenders
Wins: Martin Brodeur (42); Patrick Roy (40); Dominic Hasek (37); Olaf Kolzig (37); Arturs Irbe (37);

Shutouts: Dominik Hasek (11); Roman Cechmanek (10); Martin Brodeur (9); Tommy Salo (8); Ed Belfour (8);

GAA: Roman Cechmanek (2.01); Manny Legace (2.05); Dominik Hasek (2.11); Evgeni Nabokov (2.19); Patrick Roy (2.21)

SV%: Marty Turco (.925); Mike Dunham (.923); Sean Burke (.922); Dominik Hasek (.921); Roman Cechmanek (.921)

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

Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 2000–01:
 * Andrew Raycroft, Boston Bruins
 * Marty Turco, Dallas Stars
 * Eric Belanger, Los Angeles Kings
 * Andreas Lilja, Los Angeles Kings
 * Lubomir Visnovsky, Los Angeles Kings
 * Marian Gaborik, Minnesota Wild
 * Lubomir Sekeras, Minnesota Wild
 * Rick DiPietro, New York Islanders
 * Martin Havlat, Ottawa Senators
 * Miikka Kiprusoff, San Jose Sharks
 * Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lightning
 * Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
 * Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks

Last games
The following is a list of players of note who played their last NHL game in 2000–01, listed with their team:

Canada
This was the third season of the league's Canadian national broadcast rights deals with CBC and the renamed Sportsnet (the latter was sold by CTV after acquiring rival TSN). CBC aired Saturday night Hockey Night in Canada regular season games, while Sportsnet's telecasts included Tuesday Night Hockey and other weeknight games. Coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs continued to primarily be on CBC, while Sportsnet aired first round all-U.S. series.

United States
This was the second year of the league's five-year U.S. national broadcast rights deal with ESPN and ABC. ESPN and ESPN2 aired weeknight games throughout the regular season. ABC's coverage included the All-Star Game and then five weeks worth of regional games on Saturday afternoons between March and April. During the first two rounds of the playoffs, ESPN and ESPN2 aired selected games, while ABC had Saturday regional telecasts. Each U.S. team's regional broadcaster produced local coverage of first and second round games (except for those games on ABC). ABC's weekend telecasts continued into the Conference Finals, while ESPN had the rest of the third round games. ESPN then aired the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals before the rest of the series shifted to ABC.