2003–04 NHL season

The 2003–04 NHL season was the 87th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup champions were the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the best of seven series four games to three against the Calgary Flames.

For the fourth time in eight years, the all-time record for total shutouts in a season was shattered, as 192 shutouts were recorded. The 2003–04 regular season was also the first one (excluding the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season) since 1967–68 in which there was neither a 50-goal scorer, nor a 100-point scorer. It was also the final NHL season before the 2004–05 NHL lockout with games resuming in the fall of 2005 as part of the 2005–06 season, and the final season in which games could end in ties.

League business
The schedule of 82 games was revamped. The new format increased divisional games from five to six per team (24 total), and decreased inter-conference games to at least one per team, with three extra games (18 in total).

The alternating of jerseys was changed. For the first season since the 1969–70 season, teams would now wear their colored jerseys at home and white jerseys away.

The Phoenix Coyotes moved to a new arena in Glendale, Arizona, after playing their first seven seasons at America West Arena.

Regular season
The 2003–04 season was one overhung by concern over the expiry of the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement. It led to the cancellation of the League's games for the entirety of the next season. During the entire season, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players' Association (NHLPA) head Bob Goodenow waged a war of words with no agreement being signed.

On September 26, just before the season was to begin, young Atlanta Thrashers star Dany Heatley crashed his Ferrari in suburban Atlanta. The passenger, Thrashers teammate Dan Snyder, was killed. Heatley himself was badly injured and eventually charged with vehicular homicide.

Entering the season, the two Stanley Cup favorites were the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference, who had won the Presidents' Trophy and come within a win of the Stanley Cup Finals the year before, and the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference, who, despite losing legendary goaltender Patrick Roy to retirement, added both Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya to an already star-studded lineup. Neither of these teams, however, were as successful as expected, with Ottawa finishing fifth in their conference and Colorado finishing fourth, losing the Northwest Division title for the first time in a decade when the franchise was still known as the Quebec Nordiques.

The greatest disappointments were the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who, despite making it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals the year prior and adding both Sergei Fedorov and Vaclav Prospal, failed to make the playoffs. The Los Angeles Kings failed to make the playoffs in large part due to a season-ending 11-game losing streak. In the East, the star-studded New York Rangers again failed to make the playoffs. The Washington Capitals, who were regarded as a contender, also stumbled early in the season and never recovered. The end of the season saw two of the most extensive housecleanings in League history, as the Rangers and Capitals traded away many of their stars and entered "rebuilding mode." The Capitals traded away Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra, Sergei Gonchar, Robert Lang and Anson Carter, while the Rangers moved Petr Nedved, Brian Leetch, Anson Carter and Alexei Kovalev to other NHL teams.

The most surprising teams were the Tampa Bay Lightning in the East and the San Jose Sharks in the West. The Lightning, who had a remarkable season with only 20 man-games lost to injury, finished atop the Eastern Conference, while the Sharks, who were firmly in rebuilding mode after a disastrous 28–37–9–8 campaign the last season, came second in the West and won the Pacific Division.

Two other teams that did better than expected were carried by surprising young goaltenders. The Calgary Flames ended a seven-year playoff drought backed by the solid play of Miikka Kiprusoff, and the Boston Bruins won the Northeast Division by a whisker over the Toronto Maple Leafs with the help of eventual Calder Memorial Trophy-winning goaltender Andrew Raycroft.

Goaltending was also the story of the Presidents' Trophy-winning Detroit Red Wings as the return from retirement of legend Dominik Hasek bumped Curtis Joseph to the minor leagues. At the same time, long-time back up Manny Legace recorded better numbers than both veterans and won the starting job in the playoffs.

Of note is the fact that the Nashville Predators made the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, though they were dispatched by a star-studded Detroit Red Wings team in the first round.

The regular season ended controversially, when in March 2004, the Vancouver Canucks' Todd Bertuzzi infamously attacked and severely injured the Colorado Avalanche's Steve Moore, forcing the latter eventually to retire.

Final standings
Detroit Red Wings won the Presidents' Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.

For rankings in conference, division leaders are automatically ranked 1–3. These three, plus the next five teams in the conference standings, earn playoff berths at the end of the season.

Awards
The NHL Awards presentation took place in Toronto.

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

Leading goaltenders
Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses: OT = Overtime losses; GA = Goals allowed; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Eastern Conference

 * Atlanta Thrashers: Bob Hartley
 * Boston Bruins: Mike O'Connell
 * Buffalo Sabres: Lindy Ruff
 * Carolina Hurricanes: Peter Laviolette
 * Florida Panthers: Rick Dudley and John Torchetti
 * Montreal Canadiens: Claude Julien
 * New Jersey Devils: Pat Burns
 * New York Islanders: Steve Stirling
 * New York Rangers: Glen Sather
 * Ottawa Senators: Jacques Martin
 * Philadelphia Flyers: Ken Hitchcock
 * Pittsburgh Penguins: Ed Olczyk
 * Tampa Bay Lightning: John Tortorella
 * Toronto Maple Leafs: Pat Quinn
 * Washington Capitals: Glen Hanlon

Western Conference

 * Mighty Ducks of Anaheim: Mike Babcock
 * Calgary Flames: Darryl Sutter
 * Chicago Blackhawks: Brian Sutter
 * Colorado Avalanche: Tony Granato
 * Columbus Blue Jackets: Doug MacLean
 * Dallas Stars: Dave Tippett
 * Detroit Red Wings: Dave Lewis
 * Edmonton Oilers: Craig MacTavish
 * Los Angeles Kings: Andy Murray
 * Minnesota Wild: Jacques Lemaire
 * Nashville Predators: Barry Trotz
 * Phoenix Coyotes: Bobby Francis and Rick Bowness
 * San Jose Sharks: Ron Wilson
 * St. Louis Blues: Joel Quenneville
 * Vancouver Canucks: Marc Crawford

Debuts
The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 2003–04 (listed with their first team):
 * Chris Kunitz, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
 * Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
 * Jason Pominville, Buffalo Sabres
 * Derek Roy, Buffalo Sabres
 * Eric Staal$, Carolina Hurricanes
 * Travis Moen, Chicago Blackhawks
 * Tuomo Ruutu, Chicago Blackhawks
 * Nikolai Zherdev, Columbus Blue Jackets
 * Niklas Kronwall, Detroit Red Wings
 * Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings
 * Brent Burns$, Minnesota Wild
 * Tomas Plekanec, Montreal Canadiens
 * Jordin Tootoo, Nashville Predators
 * Marek Zidlicky, Nashville Predators
 * Dominic Moore, New York Rangers
 * Fedor Tyutin, New York Rangers
 * Marc-Andre Fleury$, Pittsburgh Penguins
 * Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks
 * Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals

$ - active as of the 2023-24 NHL season

Last games
The following is a list of players of note who played their last NHL game in 2003–04, listed with their team:


 * Valeri Bure, Dallas Stars
 * Shayne Corson, Dallas Stars
 * Vincent Damphousse, San Jose Sharks
 * Ron Francis, Toronto Maple Leafs
 * Kenny Jonsson, New York Islanders
 * Joé Juneau, Montreal Canadiens
 * Mike Keane, Vancouver Canucks
 * Trent Klatt, Los Angeles Kings
 * Igor Larionov, New Jersey Devils
 * Curtis Leschyshyn, Ottawa Senators
 * Dave Lowry, Calgary Flames
 * Al MacInnis, St. Louis Blues
 * Mark Messier, New York Rangers (The last active player to have played in the World Hockey Association, also last player to have played in the 1970s.)
 * Steve Moore, Colorado Avalanche
 * Adam Oates, Edmonton Oilers
 * James Patrick, Buffalo Sabres
 * Felix Potvin, Boston Bruins
 * Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils
 * Steve Thomas, Detroit Red Wings
 * Roman Turek, Calgary Flames

Canada
This was the second season of the league's Canadian national broadcast rights deals with CBC and TSN. CBC continued to air Saturday night Hockey Night in Canada regular season games, while TSN's coverage included Wednesday Night Hockey and other selected weeknights. During the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, TSN televised all-U.S. games while CBC aired all games involving Canadian teams. CBC then had exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals.

United States
This was the fifth and final year of the league's 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 five weeks worth of regional games on Saturday afternoons between January and March. 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.

In May 2004, NBC reached an agreement to broadcast a slate of regular season games and playoff games. ESPN was only willing to renew its contract for two additional years, without games on ABC, with an opt-out clause after the first year.