1992–93 NHL season
The 1992–93 NHL season was the 76th regular season of the National Hockey League. Each player wore a patch on their jersey throughout the season to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Stanley Cup. The league expanded to 24 teams with the addition of the Ottawa Senators and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
| 1992–93 NHL season | |
|---|---|
Commemorative patch celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Stanley Cup | |
| League | National Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | October 6, 1992 – June 9, 1993 |
| Number of games | 84 |
| Number of teams | 24 |
| TV partner(s) | CBC, TSN, SRC (Canada) ESPN, ABC, NBC (United States) |
| Draft | |
| Top draft pick | Roman Hamrlik |
| Picked by | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| Regular season | |
| Presidents' Trophy | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Season MVP | Mario Lemieux (Penguins) |
| Top scorer | Mario Lemieux (Penguins) |
| Playoffs | |
| Playoffs MVP | Patrick Roy (Canadiens) |
| Stanley Cup | |
| Champions | Montreal Canadiens |
| Runners-up | Los Angeles Kings |
The Montreal Canadiens won their league-leading 24th Cup by defeating the Los Angeles Kings four games to one. This remains the last time that a Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup.
It proved, at the time, to be the highest-scoring regular season in NHL history, as a total of 7,311 goals were scored over 1,008 games for an average of 7.25 per game. Twenty of the twenty-four teams scored three goals or more per game, and only two teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Chicago Blackhawks, allowed fewer than three goals per game. Only 68 shutouts were recorded during the regular season. A record twenty-one players reached the 100-point plateau, while a record fourteen players reached the 50-goal plateau—both records still stand through the 2022–23 season.
Through the halfway point in this season Mario Lemieux was in the process of putting together one of the most historic seasons in NHL history; being on pace to challenge both the 92 goal and 215 point records of Wayne Gretzky when he was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma. Lemieux still went on to win the Art Ross and Hart Trophies, despite every other player in the top five in league scoring playing a complete 84 game season to his 60 games. He also finished with the third highest point per game average in a season in league history.