The spectacular play of Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres ushered in a new era of goaltending dominance in the NHL.
[1] Goaltenders combined for 99 shutouts during the regular season,[2] a mark that broke the all-time regular-season record of 85 set in 1974–75.
[3] The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Florida Panthers started play this season, increasing the league to 26 teams.
New league commissioner Gary Bettman, who had previously worked in the National Basketball Association (NBA), thought the old names could be confusing to non-traditional fans and believed that a change to geographically named divisions, as used in the NBA and most other North American professional sports, would be more easily understandable to new fans.
[6] This was the second regular season that the NHL and Bruce McNall's Multivision Marketing and Public Relations Co. organized games held in cities without a franchise as a litmus test for future expansion.
The Dallas Stars played a neutral-site game in their previous market of Minnesota at the Target Center in Minneapolis, where they were greeted enthusiastically.
The Minnesota North Stars' tradition of playing on New Year's Eve and holding a post-game skate on the ice was also continued with a game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins.
The Tampa Bay Lightning–Detroit Red Wings contest in Minneapolis was scheduled for Martin Luther King Day, a Monday, with an afternoon face-off at 2:05 PM.
The Panthers, in the midst of a playoff race, played a March "home" game against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Hamilton, Ontario.
That mark would not be topped by another expansion team until the Vegas Golden Knights notched their 34th win in their inaugural season on February 1, 2018, finishing with 43.
Wayne Gretzky became the all-time goal-scoring leader on March, 23rd, 1994, surpassing Gordie Howe's record of 801 goals.
[14] ESPN's brokered deal with sister broadcast network ABC expanded to include weekly regional telecasts on the last three Sunday afternoons of the regular season.
After the season, the NHL reached a five-year deal with Fox, replacing ABC and NBC as the league's U.S. broadcast television partner.