1992 NHL Offseason News and Notes
Here are the skating leaders for the season.
Here are the goalie leaders.
Here are the playoff scoring leaders.
Wayne Gretzky wins the Hart trophy.
Dominik Hasek is a fully recognized star now, as he wins his 2nd Gardiner trophy.
Shawn Chambers is named a first team all star, but teammate,
Paul Coffey is left off the team completely, despite winning the Pilote award!
Stan Smyl retires from the
Blues. One of the best players in franchise history,
Smyl made an immediate impact, scoring 35 goals in his rookie year, winning the Calder trophy. He rattled off off 12 straight 30 goal seasons and won the Conn Smythe in 1989, helping the
Blues to their 2nd Stanley Cup.
St. Louis’ all time leader in goals, assists and points. His number 12 is being retired.
Stan Smyl retires!
Denis Potvin began his career in
California with the
Seals. He helped them win the Stanley Cup, moved with them to
Cleveland, and helped them reach another final. After the folding of the
Barons,
Potvin signed back in
California, with the
Kings, where he would play the rest of his career. His first year as a
King resulted in another Stanley Cup!! He won the Pilote Trophy four times, and finished his career 5 points short of 1000. He retires at the age of 38. The
Kings will retire his number 5.
Dennis Potvin retires!
Dave Taylor spent his entire 17 year career playing for the
North Stars. He consistently took a back seat to other stars, but was just as important to the team. He scored 520 goals, and added another 72 in the playoffs. His 183 playoff points are 6th all time. He is the franchise’s all time leading scorer.
Minnesota will retire his number 18.
The NHL has expanded again. This time, two new teams will enter the league. The
Tampa Bay Lightning will join the Norris Division, while the
Ottawa Senators join the Adams Division. In real life, these two teams held the top 2 spots in the amateur draft, as they do in game, so I will leave them there. Here is a look at their new logos and uniforms, as well as the other changes around the league.
Here is the results of the expansion draft.
Not a lot of talent available for these two new teams.
Markus Ketterer is the top pick, and most talented player selected, but at 24, he’s never played an NHL game, so, maybe there is a reason for that! The
Lightning and the
Senators are gonna both be really bad.
Ketterer goes first in the expansion draft.
Both
Tampa and
Ottawa decide to build their franchises with defenseman in a lackluster NHL draft. The
Lightning take
Sergei Gonchar first overall. He’s got a a lot of offensive talent, but he’s not the player I would hope to start a franchise with.
Brian Rafalski, taken 2nd, is similar to
Gonchar, but a little more polished and ready to play.
The rest of the draft is kind of weak.
Toronto picking
Alexei Yashin has a chance to be a solid pick. He’s got the most offensive upside of anyone selected. Here’s a look at the first round.
Bobby Clarke and
Butch Goring have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Both players paired with other dynamic players put put up over 1400 points a piece.
Clarke of course, played with
Marcel Dionne in
Pittsburgh, while
Goring played on a line with
Guy Lafleur in
LA. Both are more then deserving of their HOF inductions!
Quebec trades a first round pick to
New Jersey for
Grant Fuhr. Fuhr is a 2 star player who has had a very hard time sticking in the NHL with any regularity. At the end of preseason, the
Nordiques promptly placed
Fuhr on waivers. It wasn’t hard to see, with the eye test that
Fuhr would not be one of the goalies to play in
Quebec this year. Why would the CPU give up a first for a clearly inferior goalie. Teams seem to trade high draft picks for goalie depth a lot….