1987 NHL Offseason News and Notes
Here are last seasons staking leaders.
Here are last season goalie leaders.
Here are last seasons playoff leaders.
Doug Gilmour, rightfully, wins the Hart Trophy.
Mario Lemieux is probably the real MVP, but I agree with the notion that 50 games isn’t enough to win that award.
Lemieux won the championship and the playoff MVP instead. That’s probably pretty satisfying for him!
Milan Novy has retired at the age of 36.
Novy didn’t spend a lot of time in the NHL, but if you take a look at his 10 year career, it’s very impressive. In only 679 games,
Novy totaled 843 points, with a career game rating of 73!! His 6.5 years in
St. Louis have him third in franchise scoring, and a key contributor on the
Blues 1983 championship team.
Novy will have his number 11 honored by the
Blues!
The talent available at the top of the draft is elite. After the first 6 picks though, the talent seems to fall off drastically.
Joe Sakic goes first overall to the
Penguins. He’s good enough to play right now, and be an effective offensive option. I don’t think
Sakic alone is enough to turn the
Pens into a playoff team this year, but he’s good enough to be a franchise player going forward!
The
Winnipeg Jets get a potential steal, taking Russian winger
Alexander Mogilny in the 6th round.
Mogilny looks great. They just need to find a way to get him to North America now! Here is a look at
Sakic.
Former
Habs goalie
Al Smith is inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. After being a mid round draft pick in the
Rangers organization, he kept moving up the ladder. A minor league backup, to a minor league starter. Then an NHL backup, to an NHL starter after a few years. Played his whole career in
Montreal, and even though the
Habs run of cups was largely over during most of his career, he led some runs to the finals, and won an amazing 420 games!! 170 more wins then any other
Montreal goalie!
When inducting
Al Smith into the Hall of Fame, I noticed there is a new all times win leader in NHL history. Would be great if that kind of record was mentioned in game. If I’m not looking for it, I won’t see it, obviously.
Billy Smith eclipsed the 500 win mark last year, and passed
Terry Sawchuk! Here is a look at the goalies with the most wins ever…
19 year old
Vladimir Malakhov is the latest Russian to defect to the NHL. The 19 year old will sign a contract with the
Hartford Whalers.
Malakhov is a big boy. 6’4, 230lbs!! He’s already filled out, so he just needs to develop a better head for the game before he’s ready for the big time. At 19, he’s got lots of time to do that.
The
Winnipeg Jets are the next team to get lucky, but they won’t be getting
Alex Mogilny just yet. 29 year old Czech center
Jiri Hrdina will sign a contract with the
Jets. Hrdina will be the team’s #2 centerman this year, 8 years after being drafted by the
Rangers. The
Jets acquired his rights in 1979 for retired defenseman
Glenn Patrick, who played 175 NHL games.
Hrdina will help the Jets right away!
