1983 Offseason News and Notes
Here are the skating leaders for the season.
Here are the goalie leaders for the season.
Here are the playoff scoring leaders.
I guess you can call this season a true breakout year for
Wayne Gretzky. He wins 5 awards, including league MVP. He’s also named a first team all star. It was hit first healthy regular season, but he got hurt in the playoffs. The next step is a healthy complete season.
Montreal will retire the number of goalie
Al Smith, who has called it quits this offseason.
Smith is the
Canadiens all time leader in wins, with 420, and shutouts, with 84! He played 16 seasons in
Montreal, and won the Gardiner Award 3 times. He will probably hear about
Al Smith again in a few years when the Hall of Fame calls on him!
The
Maple Leafs make a splash just before the draft.
Toronto acquires 24 year old center,
Craig MacTavish. The former
Capital just won the Selke Trophy as the leagues best defensive forward. That combined with his back to back 80 point seasons makes him what they call an excellent hockey player!
Toronto gives up 27 year old defenseman
Mike O’Connell. O’Connell is a 3 star guy, who has played in
Montreal and
Boston. He’s always had a penchant for offense, but broke out this year with 54 points! He looks like a 2nd pairing guy. I like this deal for the
Leafs.
MacTavish made
Washington better. Now he will do it in
Toronto.
MacTavish brings a complete game to Toronto!
Montreal just robbed the
Nordiques!
Former 5th overall draft pick,
Dave Andreychuk is going to
Montreal, after playing 36 games in a
Quebec jersey. The 19 year old showed glimpses in his rookie season, getting 15 goals and 32 points. He’s got the ratings to be a 50 goal scorer, and plays a very smart defensive game.
Quebec is stupid for letting him go. They do get
Paul Maclean, who at 25, is suited for a team who is ready to compete.
Quebec is not.
Maclean is a consistant, 2nd tier goal scorer. He just got 39 goals, which is a breakout, but that’s his ceiling I’m thinking. He’s not as good as
Andreychuk right now, and he won’t be in the future. Just a dumb move by
Quebec.
Quebec has made a major mistake!
On draft day, another big deal goes down!
St. Louis, fresh off their first championship, trades their top defenseman,
Kevin Lowe, to the
Islanders.
Lowe had a lot to do with how well
St. Louis played in their own zone this year. He also contributes on offense with a career high 37 assists. This is a risky move letting him go. There is a bit of a void on the blueline at the moment. The
Blues do acquire a first line forward though.
Denis Savard is no slouch. He’s a very talented youngster, who has 186 points over his first 3 years in the league. He’s very fast, and very slick.
Savard should become a 100 point guy with the
Blues. Why mess with success though? I do not know how this one will play out!
Savard joins the champs!
The NHL draft my go down as one of the dumbest decisions I have ever seen! With the first pick, the
Winnipeg Jets do not drat 5 star, franchise center,
Steve Yzerman. Instead, they pick up 18 year old, 4 star goalie
Ed Belfour. Winnipeg owns the rights to 5 star goalie
Dominik Hasek. Winnipeg has youngsters
Scott Stevens, Chris Chelios and
Al MacInnis. Imagine adding
Steve Yzerman to that with
Dom Hasek in net! There’s a future!!
Amazingly, the
Red Wings also passed on
Yzerman to take a lesser version of him in
Pat LaFontaine. Pat’s a great prospect, sure, but
Yzerman clearly is better.
Cam Neely basically replaces
Dave Andreychuk in
Quebec, but I still don’t like that trade! Here is a look at
Ed Belfour, who hasn't signed yet.
Hartford signals to the rest of the league, that they want to win now!!
Bobby Clarke has been traded to
Hartford. After 14 years, 1088 games, and 1301 points, the
Penguins have said goodbye to one of their franchise icons!
Bobby Clarke comes over to play with
Wayne Gretzky and
Mark Messier, and to help them win a cup.
Bobby is 34, and just had the lowest scoring season in 10 years.
Thomas Steen is a 23 year old, potential top line player. He’s 2 years removed from getting 84 points, but regressed last year. From a development, and team building point of view, it’s a good deal for
Pittsburgh, but I can’t imagine their fans are ok with this!
Clarke joins the Whalers!
JP Parise and
Pat Stapleton have been elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Parise was big part of
Toronto’s run in the 60s and 70s.
Stapleton was one of the better offensive defensemen of his era.
Time for the Iron Curtain draft. The first team, amazingly, and I swear this is not fixed, cuz fixing these results isn’t fun, is the
Winnipeg Jets, which means
Dominik Hasek will be joining the team this year.
Hasek isn’t ready for the NHL just yet. He’s rated 6th on the
Jets depth chart, so some time in the minors is needed. Should have taken
Yzerman!
Hasek will be a Jet one day!
The next team selected with an eligible player, the
Pittsburgh Penguins, will be very happy to hear that 25 year old Russian star,
Sergei Makarov is defecting to begin his NHL career!
Markarov is a 5 star player, selected 115th, in 1978. His ratings are pretty great. He immediately looks like one of the leagues best players!
Makarov immediately can change the fortunes of the Penguins. He's that good!