The 2019–20 NHL season was the 103rd season of operation (102nd season of play) of the National Hockey League. The regular season began on October 2, 2019, with the Stanley Cup playoffs originally planned for April and the Stanley Cup Final planned for June. The season was suspended indefinitely on March 12, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On May 22, 2020, the NHL and National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) agreed to a framework for the resumption of play, which would see the remainder of the regular season scrapped, and the top 12 teams in each conference (by points percentage) competing in a modified and expanded Stanley Cup playoffs, which the NHL planned to hold in two centralized "hub cities", Toronto's Scotiabank Arena and Edmonton's Rogers Place, with no spectators and only essential staff present.

The playoffs began on August 1, 2020, and ended on September 28, with the Tampa Bay Lightning defeating the Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup Final in six games, winning their second Stanley Cup in franchise history.

League business

Collective bargaining agreement The collective bargaining agreement (CBA), previously signed to end the 2012–13 NHL lockout, entered into its eighth season. Before the season started, both the NHL and the NHLPA had the choice to opt out of the CBA on September 1 and September 16, 2019, respectively. If either of them had opted out, the CBA would have expired at the end of this season instead of at the end of 2021–22. The NHL announced on August 30 that they would not opt out, and the NHLPA then also agreed on September 16 not to opt out.

Salary cap The salary cap was set at US$81.5 million, as announced on June 22, 2019.

Seattle expansion team Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the christening of the Seattle Kraken was delayed to July 23, 2020. The expansion team, set to begin play during the 2021–22 season, originally planned to announce the club's name in early 2020.

Ron Francis was hired as Seattle's first general manager on July 17, 2019.

Rule changes The following rule changes were proposed June 19, 2019, and approved the next day:

The league adopted the David Leggio Rule: deliberately moving the goalposts off its moorings to stop play on a breakaway will result in an awarded goal to the attacking team. In the event a net is inadvertently knocked off its moorings, or if a puck shot from beyond center ice is stopped and frozen by the goaltender, the face-off will take place in the goaltender's defensive zone, with the team on offense given choice of side. In such cases, the defensive team will not be allowed to make a line change. A puck that leaves play in the attacking zone will remain in the attacking zone for the next face-off. Players who lose their helmet during play must return to the bench as soon as it is feasible until it can be replaced, or the player must retrieve their helmet. Linesmen will now drop the puck at centre ice after goals and at the start of overtime instead of the referees.

Expansion of video review Teams now have an unlimited number of coach's challenges, but failed challenges will now result in delay-of-game penalties instead of the loss of their timeout. The first failed challenge will result in a two-minute minor, and each subsequent failed challenge will result in a four-minute double-minor. A team may challenge goals that follow plays in the attacking zone that should have instead resulted in a stoppage before the puck went into the net. Missed stoppages include hand passes, pucks high-sticked to a teammate, and pucks hitting the netting or going into the players bench. The delay-of-game penalty for pucks going over the glass will still not be reviewable under this situation. All match and major penalties, excluding fighting, will be required to video review; officials will reserve the authority to reduce the penalty to a minor penalty depending on the result of the review, but referees cannot rescind a penalty altogether. Referees have the option to review high-sticking double minors at their discretion and without consultation with the NHL's Situation Room. The league eliminates the use of goal judges and assigns those duties to the in-house video replay official.

Modification to the tie-breaking procedure To put more emphasis on teams winning in regulation, regulation wins (tracked in an additional RW column in the league standings) will now precede regulation and overtime wins (ROW) in the tie-breaking procedure. The league also added goals scored as a new tiebreaker.

Player and puck tracking technology After testing at the 2019 National Hockey League All-Star Game, the NHL planned to deploy player and puck tracking systems to all 31 NHL arenas prior to the start of the 2019–20 season. This technology was developed in collaboration with a German Fraunhofer Institute using transmitters embedded inside pucks and jerseys. It enables on-air features such as speed displays, puck tracking graphics (reminiscent of the FoxTrax graphics utilized in the late 1990s by previous U.S. national NHL broadcaster Fox, also developed by Sportvision), and marker graphics hovering above players.

On September 5, 2019, it was reported that the league replaced its primary technology partner in its tracking technology, and thus the system likely would not be up and running until the 2020 playoffs at the earliest.

Personnel On November 11, 2019, Sportsnet fired studio commentator Don Cherry for comments that suggested Canadian immigrants benefit from the sacrifices of veterans but do not wear Remembrance Day poppies. The segment Coach's Corner on Hockey Night in Canada was canceled the following week.

This was the final season for lead NBC play-by-play announcer Mike Emrick. Emrick announced his retirement from broadcasting on October 19, 2020, after a 47-year career.

Carolina Hurricanes play-by-play announcer John Forslund was replaced by rinkside reporter Mike Maniscalco prior to the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. Forslund had been the television voice of the Whalers/Hurricanes franchise since 1995, and added radio play-by-play in 2018 after the team removed Chuck Kaiton from the position.

Sports betting As part of its renovations, the Philadelphia Flyers and Wells Fargo Center announced that Rivers Casino Philadelphia (then SugarHouse Casino) would become the venue's official sportsbook partner, with the venue adding two lounge areas with odds boards to promote the casino's sports betting app.

Draft The 2019 NHL entry draft was held on June 21 and 22, 2019, with Jack Hughes being selected first overall by the New Jersey Devils.

Preseason games in Europe Two preseason games were played in Europe. The Chicago Blackhawks played against Eisbären Berlin at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, Germany, on September 29, 2019. The Philadelphia Flyers played against Lausanne HC at Vaudoise Aréna in Lausanne, Switzerland on September 30, 2019.

General Manager of the Year Award On November 19, 2019, the NHL announced it would rename the General Manager of the Year Award in honour of Jim Gregory, the recently deceased former general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and former NHL executive. The official name is changed to the "Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award."

Coaching changes