1984-85
OFF-SEASON
As expected Jean Ratelle, Tony Esposito and Bobby Orr were added to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
A pair of long-time Boston Bruins retire as Jean Pronovost and Wayne Cashman each decide to hang up the blades. Pronovost played 1282 games with the Bruins starting with his rookie season of 1967-68 and finished with 584 goals and 1404 points, which leads the Bruins in each category. His goal total is good for 10th most in NHL history. He was a two-time first team all-star and won a pair of Stanley Cups with the Bruins.
Cashman was also on two Cup winners and finished with 807 career points, including 392 goals, in 1222 games.
Another Bruin Cup winner also retired as Ross Lonsberry ended his career at the age of 37. Lonsberrry started his NHL career with Boston in 1968-69 and was a member of the 1972 Bruins championship team. He was claimed by Kansas City in the 1974 expansion draft and enjoyed some decent seasons with the organization while playing in Kansas City, Denver and New Jersey. He spent the last year and a half with the Buffalo Sabres finishing with 1003 career games and 540 points.
The last retirement of note this off-season is Don Luce. The 35 year old spent his entire 14 year NHL career with the New York Rangers, scoring 358 goals and 931 points in 994 games. Luce's best season was 1977-78 when he had 40 goals and 108 points. He also had 104 points in 156 playoff games and won 5 Stanley Cups with the Rangers.
There is quite a collection of new players entering the league with the biggest name being Mario Lemieux as a rookie with Pittsburgh. Others include Kirk Muller in New Jersey, Brett Hull, Gary Suter and Gary Roberts with Calgary, Patrick Roy and Stephane Richer in Montreal as well as Luc Robitaille in Los Angeles.
REGULAR SEASON
The biggest news was Wayne Gretzky's decision to sit out the entire season in a contract dispute with the Edmonton Oilers. Without the game's greatest players the Oilers dropped to 4th place in the Smythe Division after winning back to back Cups.
A year after making the finals the Buffalo Sabres missed the playoffs altogether, although to be fair they were playing in the toughest division and Buffalo's 79 points would have tied them for first place in the Patrick. Speaking of ties, the Patrick had a 3 way tie for second place with the Penguins, Capitals and Islanders all posting identical 34-39-7 records.
Like Buffalo, the Rangers had a terrible season and finished last in the Patrick, missing the playoffs for the first time in 15 years. A November injury that ended Brad Park's season was the biggest blow the Rangers suffered.
Pittsburgh suffered a great loss in February when rookie sensation Mario Lemieux was lost for the season with a knee injury. At the time Lemieux was leading the league in scoring with 75 points in 49 games.
Vladislav Tretiak has a strong season with Montreal in his NHL debut. The 31 year old was 42-16-7 with a 2.87 GAA and a big reason for the Habs strong season. It might be his only year as a starter because the Canadiens do have 19 year old Patrick Roy waiting in the wings. A quick glance at Montreal's system shows another young goaltender by the name of Troy Crosby. Word is his yet unborn son might turn out to be the better pro prospect though.
MILESTONES
Guy Lafleur of Montreal scored his 600th career NHL goal
Lanny McDonald of Toronto scored his 400th NHL goal
Danny Gare of Buffalo scored his 400th goal
Rick Kehoe of Toronto scored his 400th goal and his 900th career point
Bernie Federko of St Louis recorded his 500th career assist
1250 GAMES
Bobby Clarke Philadelphia
1000 GAMES
Guy Lafleur Montreal
Craig Ramsay Boston
Butch Goring Los Angeles
Bobby Schmautz Detroit
Bob Nystron Chicago
Bill Hajt Buffalo
Bob Kelly St Louis
Philadelphia's 26 year old defenseman Behn Wilson had a 7 point game in the Flyers 10-5 win at Detroit on January 16th. He scored 3 goals and added 4 assists. On January 17th Steve Yzerman of Detroit scored 5 times in the Wings 8-1 win over Chicago.
Code:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
ADAMS DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Montreal Canadiens 80 55 20 5 115
Boston Bruins 80 52 23 5 109
Quebec Nordiques 80 47 29 4 98
Hartford Whalers 80 40 36 4 84
Buffalo Sabres 80 38 39 3 79
PATRICK DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Philadelphia Flyers 80 38 39 3 79
Pittsburgh Penguins 80 34 39 7 75
Washington Capitals 80 34 39 7 75
New York Islanders 80 34 39 7 75
New Jersey Devils 80 27 48 5 59
New York Rangers 80 22 54 4 48
NORRIS DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Minnesota North Stars 80 44 28 8 96
St Louis Blues 80 36 38 6 78
Toronto Maple Leafs 80 32 40 8 72
Detroit Red Wings 80 31 44 5 67
Chicago Black Hawks 80 23 55 2 48
SMYTHE DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Vancouver Canucks 80 56 19 5 117
Calgary Flames 80 43 27 10 96
Los Angeles Kings 80 36 34 10 82
Edmonton Oilers 80 33 39 8 74
Winnipeg Jets 80 23 49 8 54
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Ron Francis HAR 75 52 76 128
Peter Statsny QUE 80 46 77 123
Rick Vaive VAN 80 51 68 119
Mark Howe HAR 80 43 76 119
Mike Gartner WAS 80 61 55 116
Michel Goulet QUE 80 50 63 113
Mark Messier EDM 80 49 63 112
Joey Mullen STL 80 58 52 110
Gataen Duchesne WAS 80 30 80 110
Dale Hawerchuk WPG 80 60 48 108
Brian Propp PHI 80 34 74 108
Hakaan Loob CGY 80 50 56 106
Tom Fergus BOS 80 56 49 105
Guy Lafleur MON 80 52 52 104
Mats Naslund MON 74 50 54 104
Brian Trottier NYI 72 37 67 104
PLAYOFFS
The Oilers finally agreed to a contract with Gretzky and he returned for the playoffs (translation I edited his contract to assign him to the team). Gretzky scored 18 points in 7 games and Mark Messier had 20 points as the Oilers swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs, beating Vancouver and Calgary.
Edmonton's opponent in the semi-finals will be Minnesota after North Stars also swept both of their first two series, knocking off Detroit and St Louis.
Without Mario Lemieux the Penguins put up a strong effort but fell in 5 games to Washington in a Patrick Division preliminary round. The Islanders swept Philadelphia in the other Patrick preliminary round and then knocked off Washington in 4 straight games in the quarterfinals.
Boston will face the Islanders in the semi-finals after the Bruins continued their post-season dominance of Montreal with a 5 game win in the quarters.
SEMI-FINALS
The Boston Bruins swept the New York Islanders in 4 games in one semi-final while the other series was expected to be an Edmonton sweep but it was anything but.
The Oilers took the opener 6-4 on the road but the Stars surprised with a 4-3 win in Game Two as Dino Ciccarelli scored twice. Ciccarelli scored again in Game Three and Don Beaupre was outstanding in the Minnesota cage as the North Stars won Game Three 4-1 to take the lead in the series. Ciccarelli would find magic in his stick once more in Game Four, as he scored with 48 seconds remaining in regulation to snap a tie and give the North Stars a 4-3 victory and a commanding 3 games to one series lead.
After being quiet for the first 4 games, Gretzky took over Game Five with 4 points in Edmonton's 8-2 pounding of Minnesota and he had 3 points the next game as Edmonton evened the series with a 7-5 victory.
Game Seven in Bloomington was tied 2-2 after 40 minutes on a pair of Brian Bellows goals for the hometown North Stars and markers from Esa Tikkanen and Mike Rogers for Edmonton. The Oilers fired 14 third period shots on Beaupre but could not score. Minnesota did score as Brian Lawton broke the tie with a goal at 13:12 of the third period. Minnesota hung on and knocked off the two-time defending Cup champions in 7 games to advance to the finals for the first time in franchise history.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
Minnesota makes its first appearance in the finals. The North Stars have been led by Dino Ciccarelli (10-13-23), Bobby Smith (6-14-20), Brian Bellows (7-12-19) and Tom McCarthy (7-12-19) this playoff but the biggest star has been 23 year old goaltender Don Beaupre.
The Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup 5 years ago and also claimed the title in 1972 as well as three times in the 1940's. Defenseman Ray Bourque (4-16-20) is leading Boston in scoring this playoff with offense also coming from Craig MacTavish (3-15-18), Tom Fergus (11-6-17), Craig Ramsay (7-10-17) and Brad McCrimmon (5-12-17). 29 year old Mike Liut is the Bruins goaltender with 40 year old Bernie Parent also seeing some action this playoff.
Game One goes to the hometown Bruins as Mike Krushelnyski has 2 goals and an assist to lead Boston to a 6-3 victory.
Bobby Smith scores twice in Game Two as Minnesota opens a 4-0 lead and then survives a Boston comeback bid in the third period. The Bruins get 3 goals in the final 20 minutes but fall 4-3.
Craig Ramsay enjoys a 3-point night in Game Three leading Boston to a 5-2 victory. Minnesota gets two more goals from Bobby Smith in the loss.
Mike Liut has a 23 save shutout and the scoring comes from unexpected sources as Boston takes a 3 games to one lead with a 3-0 victory in Game Four. The Bruins goalscoers are Torrie Robertson, Doug Halward and Gord Kluzk. Halward scored just 8 goals in the regular season while Kluzak and Robertson had 7 each.
Brian Bellows has a goal and an assist as Minnesota stays alive with a 3-2 victory in Game Five. Ciccarelli and Craig Hartsburg also score for the North Stars while Tom Fergus and Steve Kasper are the Boston marksmen.
Bobby Smith wills the series to a seventh game after leading Minnesota to a 4-3 victory in Game Six. The Bruins got a Tom Fergus goal at 1:12 of the third period to go up 3-1 but Smith set up Craig Hartsburg 2 minutes later to reduce the deficit back to one goal. Smith would then tie the game on an assist from Hartsburg at 12:04 and then score what would prove to be the game winner just under 2 minutes later.
You can't ask for more from a Game Seven. Just an amazing contest. Minnesota opened the scoring early in the first period as Bobby Smith scored his 13th of the post-season with Dino Ciccarelli and Brian Bellows drawing the assists. Defenseman Mike Milbury tied the game for Boston early in the second period but midway through the frame Bellows scored to restore the lead for Minnesota.
It looked like the Stars were going to win 2-1 as Beaupre made save after save in the Minnesota cage. He faced 39 shots in all but a Tom Fergus blast with just under 2 minutes remaining in regulation eluded Beaupre and found its way into the Minnesota cage to knot the game at 2.
It took nearly 29 minutes of overtime before Neal Broten scored the Cup winner for the North Stars from Serge Savard and Ciccarelli - who assisted on all 3 goals- and the North Stars were crowned champions.
Ciccarelli tied Edmonton's Mark Messier for the playoff scoring lead with 30 points each, one more than Bobby Smith and Wayne Gretzky had. The goal scoring leader was Tom Fergus of Boston, who scored 15 times, one more than Edmonton's Messier.
Bobby Smith was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP after a brilliant Stanly Cup Finals series.
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Scott Stevens Washington (80GP 27-52-79)
VEZINA TROPHY: Mike Liut Boston (37-15-7, 2.93)
NORRIS TROPHY: Ray Bourque Boston (80GP 23-63-86)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Ron Francis Hartford (75GP 52-76-128)
CALDER TROPHY: Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh (49GP 35-40-75)
Really weird choice to give Stevens the MVP but not best defenseman. I dont even feel he warrants a spot on either the first or second all-star team. If taking a Washington player I would say Mike Gartner was a much better choice for MVP. I could make a case for Tretiak or perhaps Liut as well, along with Messier and a few others but the selection of Stevens is way out there. The absence of Gretzky and the Lemieux injury meant there was no clear cut choice.
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Mike Liut Boston Vladislav Tretiak Montreal
D Ray Bourque Boston Paul Coffey Edmonton
D Denis Potvin NY Islanders Paul Reinhart Pittsburgh
C Ron Francis Hartford Dale Hawerchuk Winnipeg
LW Mark Messier Edmonton Mats Naslund Montreal
RW Mike Gartner Washington Michel Goulet Quebec