2018-19

• Following a one-year hiatus, alternate uniforms make a comeback.

• On November 27th, the Sabres won their 10th game in a row, elevating them to the top of the NHL standings. They became the first team to have the NHL's best record after 25 games after finishing with the league's worst record the season prior. The Sabres would go into a tailspin afterwards, however, winning only 16 more games and finishing well out of the playoff picture.

• "Seattle, the NHL is thrilled to welcome you." On December 4th, the NHL officially welcomed Seattle as its 32nd franchise, which will begin playing in the 2021-22 season after KeyArena renovations are completed.

• 2018-19 was the season of the Storm Surge. At the outset of the season, the Carolina Hurricanes decided to jazz up their post-victory salute to the fans by leading them in a Skol clap, then skating down the ice and ramming into the boards. Shortly thereafterwards, that evolved into the team performing some highly-choreograpghed skits, including hitting a walk-off home run, playing duck-duck goose at center ice, doing the limbo, dunking a basketball and getting knocked out by Evander Holyfield. Don Cherry was not amused in the least bit, calling the team a "bunch of jerks" during a Coach's Corner segment. Needless to say, the Hurricanes adopted that as their team slogan.

• The Tampa Bay Lightning tied an NHL record with 62 wins, en route to 128 points. The Lightning also became only the third team in NHL history to eclipse the 60-win plateau, joining the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens and the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings. Some might say that comparing the 2018-19 Lightning to those aforementioned teams would be unfair, since six of the Lightning's wins came in the shootout. The Red Wings didn't have the shootout, and the Canadiens didn't even have overtime.

• The Lightning wasted no time in ruining their dominant regular season, getting swept in the opening round of the playoffs by the Columbus Blue Jackets, yielding that team's first playoff series win in franchise history.

• The Western Conference regular season champion Calgary Flames would soon join the Lightning on the golf course, getting doused by the Colordo Avalanche in the first round in five games. The Flames' loss marked the first time in NHL history in which both regular season conference champions were bounced in the first round of the playoffs.

• And if that wasn't enough, the other two division winners -- the Nashville Predators and the Washington Capitals -- were also eliminated in the first round.

• On the morning of January 3rd, with their team in last place in the entire NHL, the last thing on the minds of Blues fans was a trip to the Stanley Cup Final. But that's exactly where they ended up. Buoyed by an 11-game winning streak, the Blues soared right back into playoff contention, and they kept that momentum going through the playoffs.

• The Blues would complete their incredible turnaround, beating the Bruins in seven games to win the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup -- and to avenge their loss to the Bruins from 49 years earlier.