1993 NHL Offseason News and Notes
Here are last seasons skating leaders.
Here are the goalie leaders
Here are the playoff scoring leaders
Mike Modano wins the Hart and Pearson awards. I disagree, as I think this year belonged to
Wayne Gretzky. He had a great year, and his
Whalers were better then they have been in years.
Modano sure stepped up with
Mario Lemieux’s absence, but I think it’s a reach to name him MVP.
Peter Forsberg wins the rookie of the year, with 57 points. Can
Forsberg turn the
Sabres around?
Calgary’s Bryan Trottier has retired. The 36 year old is the greatest
Flame of all time. There’s no debate about that. He holds the NHL record for assists in a season, with 108, in 1981. He retires with 556 goals, 1073 assists, and 1629 points in 1268 games. A sure fire Hall of Famer,
Trottier is probably a top 20 player in NHL history.
Calgary has retired his number 17. Also retiring is 36 year old
Peter Stastny. The
Ranger was signed in the iron curtain draft back in 1976, after being selecting him 108th overall in the draft that year.
Stastny then played 1349 games as a
Ranger, scoring 439 goals, and 1354 points. He’s 2nd all time in points, and 3rd in goals in
Rangers history.
NY will retire his number 62.
Big changes in the NHL this season, so lets go step by step. First off, we are expanding again. Teams have been awarded to
Miami, which will be home of the
Florida Panthers, and the Walt Disney company, who will run the
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. In real life, the teams received the 4th and 5th overall picks in the entry draft, so I will edit the order to make sure that happens.
The Mighty Ducks....
The
Minnesota North Stars are no more. One of the most successful franchises of the past 15 years is on the move to
Dallas. Despite the wins, attendance problems caused the move, with the NHL promising to award the city of
Minneapolis a new team in the future. The
Dallas Stars, as they will be known, did not change their logo or uniforms, but here is the new looks of the
Mighty Ducks and
Panthers.
The NHL has realigned their teams. Gone are the
Campbell and
Wales conferences. Gone are the
Adams, Norris, Smythe, and
Patrick divisions. We know have the
Eastern and
Western Conference, and the divisions are names based on the locations of their teams. Here is the new realignment with division names.
The playoffs will also change in the NHL. I personally think the top 4 teams in 4 divisions is the best playoff format in all of sports. It fosters rivalries and playoff races like nothing else. The NHL has gotten rid of that format, and will now award playoff spots to the top 8 teams in each conference, with the two division winners received the top 2 seeds.
Here are the results of the expansion draft. Not much talent out there again.
David Oliver, just 22 years old, goes 23rd to
Anaheim. He’s got strong offensive skills, and youth on his side. He looks like he just needs a chance to get some ice time. He will get that in
Anaheim. I expect him to compete for the team lead in scoring. Lets see…
Ottawa gets the first pick in the entry draft, and selects
Paul Kariya. He’s the best player on the team right now even if he doesn’t develop.
Kariya as a chance to be special, but so do many others, in a very deep draft. There are some happy teams later on in the first round.
Bernie Parent and
Borje Salming have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Parent was a constant winner when he played with the
Rangers. He was the goalie during the
Rangers most successful run.
Borje Salming helped the
California Golden Seals win a Stanley Cup, then was instrumental getting the
Cleveland Barons to the cup finals. After joining the
Sabres, Salming quietly came up just 36 points shy of 1000!!
Onto the 1993-94 regular season!