The 2006–07 NHL season was the 90th season of operation (89th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim officially shortened their name to the Anaheim Ducks prior to the season. The 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs began on April 11, 2007, and concluded on June 6, with Anaheim defeating the Ottawa Senators to win their first Stanley Cup, becoming the first team from California to do so.

League business

Salary cap

The NHL announced that the regular season salary cap rise after the initial season. The 2006–07 salary cap was increased by US$5,000,000 per team to bring the salary cap up to US$44,000,000. While the 2006–07 salary floor was increased by US$8,000,000 per team to US$28,000,000. This is the only year where the NHL salary floor raised faster than the NHL salary cap.

Anaheim rebranding

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim officially shortened their name to the Anaheim Ducks prior to the season, introducing a new logo, uniforms and color scheme. This reflected a clean break from their original owners, The Walt Disney Company, who originally named the team after the movie, The Mighty Ducks upon their formation in 1993.

Jersey number 84

No NHL player had worn the jersey number 84 until Guillaume Latendresse of the Montreal Canadiens began doing so at the start of this season.

Entry draft

The 2006 NHL Entry Draft was held at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 24, 2006. Erik Johnson was selected first overall by the St. Louis Blues.

Arena changes

Regular season

All-Star Game

The NHL All-Star Game returned after a two-year absence when the Dallas Stars hosted the 55th National Hockey League All-Star Game at the American Airlines Center on January 24, 2007. Dallas hosted the All-Star Game for the first time, and it was the first time the Stars franchise had hosted the game since 1972, when it was hosted by the-then Minnesota North Stars. The West defeated the East by a score of 12–9, with Danny Briere of the Buffalo Sabres being named MVP of the game. Fewer penalties were called than in 2005–06 (an average of 398 per team). This led to fewer goals scored overall (7,082) and more shutouts (150). However, more even-strength goals were scored (4,715) than in 2005–06 (4,579).

Highlights

This season would have an intense battle between Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo for the Vezina Trophy and a piece of NHL history. Both goaltenders were vying to break Bernie Parent's NHL record 47 wins in a single season. On April 3, 2007, Brodeur tied the NHL record for most wins in a single season with 47, set by Parent in 1973–74, in a 2–1 shootout victory against the Ottawa Senators. Two days later, he broke the thirty-three-year-old record with his 48th win in a 3–2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers, which helped the Devils clinch their seventh Atlantic Division title and the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Luongo finished with a career-high 47 wins, one shy of Brodeur, and consequently finished runner-up in a close race for the Vezina. Luongo and Brodeur are considered, however, to have been given an advantage to Parent with the inauguration of the shootout that season by the NHL, allowing more games to be decided with wins, as opposed to ties. The Carolina Hurricanes became the first team since the 1995–96 New Jersey Devils to miss the playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup the previous season. The inter-conference division play had the Northeast visit the Central, the Central visit the Atlantic, the Atlantic visit the Pacific, the Pacific visit the Southeast, the Southeast visit the Northwest, and the Northwest visits the Northeast.

Final standings

Buffalo Sabres won the Presidents' Trophy and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. For the purpose of conference rankings, 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.

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Tiebreaking procedures

If two or more clubs are tied in points during the regular season, the standing of the clubs is determined in the following order:

Playoffs

Bracket

In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series following a 2–2–1–1–1 format (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). The team with home ice advantage played at home for games one and two (and games five and seven, if necessary), and the other team played at home for games three and four (and game six, if necessary). The top eight teams in each conference made the playoffs, with the three division winners seeded 1–3 based on regular season record, and the five remaining teams seeded 4–8. The NHL used "re-seeding" instead of a fixed bracket playoff system. During the first three rounds, the highest remaining seed in each conference was matched against the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed played the second-lowest remaining seed, and so forth. The higher-seeded team was awarded home ice advantage. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where home ice advantage was awarded to the team that had the better regular season record.

Awards

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average

Coaches

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Events and milestones

Several former players had their jersey numbers retired during this season: Numerous players reached major milestones during the season: The NHL's youth movement continued: Numerous other milestones, events, and happenings occurred as well:

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 2006–07:

Last games

The following is a list of players of note who played their last NHL game in 2006–07, listed with their team:

Broadcasting rights

In Canada, national rights were split between CBC and TSN. CBC aired 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. This was the second season of the league's U.S. national broadcast rights deals with NBC and the renamed Versus (the former Outdoor Life Network (OLN) had shifted beyond simply "outdoor" programming). Versus aired regular season games generally on Monday and Tuesday nights, while NBC had regular season windows on selected weekends. During the playoffs, NBC had the rights to air selected weekend games during the first three postseason rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and games 3–7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, while Versus televised selected first and second round playoff games, all Conference Finals games not aired on NBC, and the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals.