1989 NHL Offseason News and Notes
Here are last season's skating leaders.
Here are last season's goalie leaders.
Here are last season's playoff leaders.
Craig MacTavish wins the Selke again. That’s number 6 for him. HOF is waiting!! Both
Wayne Gretzky and
Mark Messier are named to the first all star team. I’m calling shenanigans! If that duo is truly that good, then the rest of the team would have to be absolutely crap for them to put up losing records year after year. What is going on in
Hartford??!!
Calgary suffers a very surprising blow. Two years after acquiring
Craig Hartsburg from the
Flyers, the 30 year old has decided to retire from the NHL.
Calgary’s top defenseman,
Hartsburg just had a down season for him, but a good season for anyone else. He retires with 466 points in just 640 games.
Calgary gave up
Geoff Courtnall for
Hartsburg, who has 218 points over the last two years. Most surprising retirement I’ve seen!
Hartsburgh hangs them up at 30!
Several players have retired that will see their numbers in the rafters of arenas around the league.
Philadelphia’s Lanny McDonald retires at 36. He spent 3 years in
Philly, getting 75 points in his final season.
McDonald finished off a HOF career with 616 goals and 616 assists. After a decade in
Minnesota, the
North Stars will honour his #8.
Washington was surprised to
Denis Maruk retire. After some tough injuries in the mid 80’s,
Maruk’s skills diminished, and he hasn’t been the same player he once was the past 2 years.
Maruk holds the NHL record for points in a season with 163.
Washington will retire his #11.
Mcdonald, Maruk, Salming, Goring and Clarke
Butch Goring has a part of some amazing
King teams, and helped form one of the greatest lines of all time with
Guy Lafleur and
Robbie Ftorek. Goring was traded to
Detroit, where he played 6 years, and won a cup. He retires at age 39 after recording 1400 points!! He spent 13 years with the
Kings who will retire his #41.
Buffalo’s Borje Salming has retired at 38.
Salming is one of the most consistent, and underrated defenseman of all time. He played on some bad teams, but he was always a bright spot. Before signing with
Buffalo, Salming helped the now defunct
California Golden Seals win a Stanley Cup!
Salming finishes his career with 964 points! The
Sabres will honour
Salming’s number! Finally,
Bobby Clarke has retired after a 20 year career.
Clarke was part of a dynamic duo with
Marcel Dionne on the
Penguins for years. He spent many minutes in the penalty box and many minutes celebrating goals. 1480 points and 3042 PIMS! The
Pens are retiring his number 7.
Wendel Clark, now part of the 20 goal, 200 PIM club, was just traded from the
Whalers to
Montreal. NOOOOOOO!! Just NOOOOOO, I am not impressed. I hate this game….
Clark should never be a Hab!!!
After making the huge mistake of dealing
Clark, Hartford makes a very smart trade.
Mark Recchi, only 21, is a player that is capable of helping
Messier and
Gretzky. He’s a 4 star player right now, who still can grow. He just had a breakout season, getting 60 points in
Washington. I think this is a great fit, and gives the
Whalers another big scorer. They give up
Kari Takko and
Tommy Albelin. Both are mid tier players, that weren’t helping the
Whalers win. When you are under .500, trying to make an impact trade like this makes a lot of sense.
Washington probably gives up on
Recchi too early. They may regret this.
Recchi joins the Whalers!
Right after that,
Washington trades 96 point scorer
Michel Goulet to
Winnipeg for
Joe Mullen. Mullen was terrible as a
Jet, after one of the dumbest trades in league history, but the
Jets right it somewhat, getting
Goulet, whose the better player here.
Joe Mullen is actually 3.5 stars, while
Goulet is 3, but results are far in
Goulet’s favour.
Goulet to the Jets.
Mats Sundin becomes the first Swedish player ever to be taken first overall. He goes to the
New York Islanders. Sundin looks the part. He’s got 4.5 star potential, and looks like he has no weakness.
Toronto drafts
Felix Potvin, which makes my heart happy. Other then
Sundin, this looks like a depth draft. Some good players, that probably won’t be great.
The 106th pick in the draft, by the
New York Islanders, is young Russian star
Pavel Bure!! He might be something someday. Now the
Islanders just need to get him to North America! If things work out, this draft could a cornerstone for the franchise!
Buffalo’s Bill Barber has been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame!
Barber had a short, but wonderful career, all with the
Sabres, where he scored 1023 points in 986 games.
The
Chicago Blackhawks are the first team selected to sign a Iron Curtain player, but their best, unsigned foreign prospect is 22 year old Scottish forward
Tony Hand. Now, for those who aren’t aware, there is a small collection of people who claim
Tony Hand might have been the one of the best hockey players ever! They are wrong but who cares. He’s very interesting! Here is an
article about him. Here is his
hockeydb page, and here is a thread about him on the
HFboard.
So ya, I have to sign him for the
Blackhawks and see what he becomes!
The
Kings are the 2nd team selected. They just got
Sergei Fedorov last year, and now will add his countrymen, 18 year old
Alexi Zhamnov! The center was picked 109th in this years draft, and is raw, but he’s got a lot of talent, and when he’s ready for the NHL, he’s got a chance to be really good. Expect
Zhamnov to spend a few years in the AHL.
