1990 NHL Offseason News and Notes
Here are the skating leaders for the season.
Here are the goalie leaders.
Here are the playoff leaders.
Doug Gilmour was robbed of the Hart Trophy, which goes to
Mario Lemieux. Robbed.
Chris Chelios win’s his first Pilote Trophy.
Teemu Selanne puts up 31 goals and 60 points to win the rookie of the year at 19!
Craig MacTavish does not win the Selke, ending his amazing run.
Guy Carbonneau gets that silverware this year.
Marcel Dionne has retired from the
Pittsburgh Penguins. He spent 19 years, and 1502 games there. He won 9 Hart Trophies, 2 Art Ross’, scored 668 goals, but never won a Stanley Cup!
Dionne will obviously have his number 11 retired. Here is a look at his career.
The great
Guy Lafleur has retired from the
LA Kings. It’s odd though, as it never came across as a news item. I only noticed it when looking at the career leaders stats, and clicking on his name. That link brought me to some older retired player. I then checked the Kings roster, and he wasn’t there. I checked the Kings transaction page, and did not see any news of him retiring. I did find his contract extension, signed in April, and that link brought me to his actual player page, which says he’s retired. So it’s official.
Guy Lafleur is retired. The
Kings will retire his number 71. Here is a look at his career.
Calgary’s Rick Middleton and
Brian Sutter have both retired. 2/3’s of
Calgary’s top line are now gone. Only
Bryan Trottier remains.
Middleton was the best player in WHA history, and came over to
Calgary as an established star who did not disappoint.
Middleton scored 378 goals as a
Flame, In 1982, he helped the
Flames win the cup with 20 goals and 38 points in just 19 playoff games.
Middleton scored 128 points in 115 playoff games. A big game player.
Sutter joined the
Flames in the same year after a 3 year WHA stint. He played next to
Middleton and
Trottier his whole career, scoring 873 points in 745 games.
Sutter scored 70 goals in 1981, a single season franchise record.
Middleton’s number 9 and
Sutter’s number 81 will be honoured by
Calgary. Sometime in the future, their center,
Bryan Trottier will join them.
So, on July 2nd, the
Washington Capitals announced the signing of
Igor Larionov to a 4 year contract, worth 3.98 million.
Larionov has no transaction history, which I guess means he was never drafted and had no NHL affiliation. He’s 29 years old, so I find it odd he was never taken at some point in the last decade, but I guess not. He’s a 5 star player. He’s easily one of the best players in the world. This is quite a coupe for the
Caps. He has wonderful vision, and his defensive skill set is as good as a forward can get. Adding a player of this caliber could make a difference for a
Capitals team that hasn't made the playoffs recently.
Larionov signs in Washington!
A bunch of Russians have signed contracts in the NHL. I guess it is time to bring an end to the Iron Curtain draft. Here is a list of guys who are joining the NHL.
The
Red Wings really took advantage of this. They have a new #1 defenseman in
Vladimir Konstantinov, and
Mario Lemieux has a new linemate in
Dmitri Khristich! BTW,
Mario’s right winger is
Bob Probert!
Detroit's new top defenseman.
It’s a very deep draft. Very good players are scattered all through the first round. Goalie
Martin Brodeur, the only 5 star player available goes to the
Kings. I’m very intrigued by the
Islanders. They select
Jaromir Jagr, who joins
Pavel Bure in their prospect pool. The thought of them to playing together is scary for opposing goalies, and well, their own goalies!! The potential center for those two, is
Mats Sundin!
2 of the best offensive defenseman of all time will enter into the Hall of Fame together.
Bobby Orr set all kinds of records, including being the highest scoring defenseman of all time. He’s an easy and obvious induction into the Hall!
Minnesota’s Jiri Bubla is also being inducted. Despite only playing 8 seasons,
Bubla made his mark. He scored 70 points as a rookie at the age of 28, and put up seasons of 70, 84,83 and 72 points, all in a row. Injuries then hit, and his production fell off because he just couldn’t play. He retired at age 35, but his career will be remembered!
The
Winnipeg Jets are the only team to change their look. Here is their new logo and uniforms for the upcoming season.