1982-83
OFF-SEASON
The Colorado Rockies move to New Jersey and become the Devils with Pat Verbeek and Ken Daneyko being 2 of the new rookies to debut this season. Others include Phil Housley and Dave Andreychuk in Buffalo, Gary Leeman with Toronto, Doug Gilmour in St. Louis, Ron Hextall with the Flyers, Tony Granato to the Rangers and Scott Stevens in Washington.
The biggest news in the off-season was Edmonton's decision to ship 21 year old Glenn Anderson to Toronto in exchange for 31 year old defenseman Borje Salming. Anderson was coming off his third year, posting a career high 42 goals and 81 points. In 8 seasons and 554 games with the Leafs, Salming had 481 points including 11 goals and 49 assists last season.
The Oilers also dealt backup goaltender Andy Moog to Buffalo in exchange for 24 year old defenseman Larry Playfair and finally Edmonton acquired veteran Ken Dryden to replace Moog as Grant Fuhr's backup. The 34 year old Dryden came from Hartford in exchange for defenseman Bill Nyrop.
The other big move of the season saw Bobby Orr on the road again as Buffalo sent the 34 year old defenseman to Vancouver for winger Don Lever. Orr was acquired by the Sabres from Boston midway through last year and finished the campaign with 82 points in 73 games. In 1153 career games, Orr has 1387 points. The 29 year old Lever has spent a decade in Vancouver and has 660 points in 733 career games including 45 goals and 94 points a year ago.
A number of retirements this season including Ron Ellis who ended his career at the age of 37 after playing 1175 games for Toronto and Quebec. Ellis had 682 points in career that started with the Leafs in 1964-65 before moving to the Nordiques for the final three seasons of his 18 year career. Ellis won a Stanley Cup in his rookie season with the Leafs.
Nick Libett retires after 1295 games and 1024 career points. He broke in with Detroit in in 1964-65 before being moved to the Penguins early in the 1972-73 campaign. He is 24th all-time in career points and his 361 goals are 33rd most in league history.
Jacques Lemaire retires after 2 injury plagued seasons that left him 10 short of the 1000 career games mark. He had 269 goals and 682 points in his 15 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens. Lemaire was on 4 Cup winners
Don Marcotte will go down in history as one of the best left wingers the game has ever seen. The veteran Boston Bruin played 1195 games and finished with 1286 career points. He led the league in scoring with 58 goals and 131 points in 1976-77. A two-time first team all-star, Marcotte also won a pair of Stanley Cup titles with the Bruins. He ranks 11th all-time in career points and is one of just 12 players to surpass the 500 goal mark - ranking 9th with 521 in his career.
REGULAR SEASON
The Edmonton Oilers era of domination officially begins as the Oilers finish first overall with 124 points in a season that saw much more parity in the league. Boston at 101 and Montreal with 100 were the only other teams to reach the century mark.
The leader of the Oilers is, of course, Wayne Gretzky and the 21 year old led the league in scoring with a career best 165 points, 6 shy of Guy Lafleur's record. In just 266 NHL games, Gretzky already has 520 points in his career. For most of the season Gretzky (66-99-165) teamed on the Oilers top line with Mike Rogers (37-73-110) and Jari Kurri (53-55-108) but Mark Messier (30-44-74) occassionally saw time on Gretzky's wing as well. Despite missing 16 games with an injury 21 year old defenseman Paul Coffey (18-59-77) had a career season as did 20 year old second year goaltender Grant Fuhr (50-12-6, 2.73).
At 42 years of age Jean Ratelle continues to be a dominant player for the New York Rangers. Ratelle played all 80 games and finished the season with 48 goals and 94 points. The goals moved his career total to 856, second all-time and just 28 shy of Bobby Hull's mark of 884. Ratelle's 1690 career points rank 4th behind only Mikita, Hull and Delvecchio. In what might have been the final regular season game of his career, Ratelle scored a hat trick and added an assist in the Rangers 7-3 win over Washington on April 2nd.
Milestones this year include
Brad Park of the New York Rangers reached the 1000 assist mark
Craig Ramsay of Boston got his 900th career point against his former team Buffalo.
Guy Lafleur of Montreal scored his 500th career goal
Bryan Trottier of the NY Islanders got his 500th career assist
Steve Shutt of Buffalo got his 500th career assist
Serge Savard of Minnesota earned his 500th career assist
Gilbert Perreault of Buffalo scored his 400th career goal
Robbie Ftorek scored his 300th carer goal for the New York Islanders.
Orest Kindrachuk of St Louis scored his 300th career goal
Mike Bossy of the Islanders scored his 300th goal
Butch Goring of Los Angeles scored his 300th career goal
Clark Gillies of the Islanders scored his 300th career goal
1250 GAMES
Carol Vadnais Toronto
Brad Park NY Rangers
Individual game highlights include Pittsburgh's Pierre Larouche picking up 6 assists in the Pens 10-1 win over Calgary on February 4th. Gilbert Perreault and Steve Shutt of Buffalo each had a 6 point night in the Sabres March 7th 8-3 win over Minnesota. Wayne Gretzky had 6 points (3G 3A) in a 7-6 Oilers loss in Buffalo on March 12th. Gretzky also had 4 five-point nights during the season. Also in March, Ray Bourque of Boston had back to back 5 assist games. Finally, veteran Bobby Orr was still coming up with big games. Now with Vancouver, the 35 year old had a goal and 5 assists in a 8-4 win over Washington on March 22nd. Orr finished the season with 82 points in 66 games.
Code:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
ADAMS DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Boston Bruins 80 45 24 11 101
Montreal Canadiens 80 45 25 10 100
Buffalo Sabres 80 36 24 20 92
Quebec Nordiques 80 36 32 12 84
Hartford Whalers 80 23 47 10 56
PATRICK DIVISION GP W L T PTS
New York Islanders 80 44 26 10 98
Philadelphia Flyers 80 41 28 11 93
New York Rangers 80 37 31 12 86
Pittsburgh Penguins 80 33 33 14 80
New Jersey Devils 80 28 37 15 71
Washington Capitals 80 11 59 10 32
NORRIS DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Minnesota North Stars 80 44 25 11 99
St Louis Blues 80 44 26 10 98
Toronto Maple Leafs 80 43 27 10 96
Chicago Black Hawks 80 26 45 9 61
Detroit Red Wings 80 24 48 8 56
SMYTHE DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Edmonton Oilers 80 58 14 8 124
Los Angeles Kings 80 33 33 14 80
Vancouver Canucks 80 29 40 11 69
Calgary Flames 80 24 50 6 54
Winnipeg Jets 80 19 49 12 50
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Wayne Gretzky EDM 80 66 99 165
Lanny McDonald TOR 80 62 61 123
Guy Lafleur MON 78 64 57 121
Mike Rogers EDM 80 37 73 110
Tim Kerr PHI 80 59 50 109
Jari Kurri EDM 73 53 55 108
Gilbert Perreault BUF 67 37 71 108
Neal Broten MIN 80 33 75 108
Dino Ciccarelli MIN 77 51 56 107
Mike Bossy NYI 78 43 61 104
Bernie Federko STL 80 34 69 103
Clark Gillies NYI 80 40 62 102
Tom McCarthy MIN 80 38 64 102
Pierre Larouche PIT 80 48 52 100
Bryan Trottier NYI 80 35 65 100
Paul Reinhart PIT 80 26 73 99
Jean Ratelle NYR 80 48 46 94
Ray Bourque BOS 80 17 77 94
Rick Kehoe TOR 80 43 50 93
Anton Statsny QUE 78 34 59 93
Merlin Malinowski NJ 80 33 60 93
Thomas Gradin CHI 80 25 68 93
Kent Nilsson CGY 80 41 51 92
Mark Johnson PIT 80 34 58 92
John Ogrodnick DET 80 36 55 91
PLAYOFFS
For the third year in a row the Boston Bruins eliminated the Montreal Canadiens in the playoffs. Boston won their quarterfinal series in 6 games after needing the full five games to beat Quebec in the opening round. The Habs swept Buffalo in 3 games in their preliminary round series.
The Philadelphia Flyers emerged from the Patrick Division after knocking off the Rangers 3 games to two in the preliminary round and then topping the Islanders in 5 games.
Minnesota came out of the Norris as the Stars beat Chicago in 4 games in the preliminary round and then dropped St Louis in 6 after the Blues had beaten Toronto with an overtime goal in the 5th and deciding game of their preliminary series.
In the Smythe Division it was no surprise the Edmonton came out on top after posting the league's best regular season record. The Oilers swept Calgary in the opening round and then topped Vancouver in 6 games. Wayne Gretzky picked up 20 points in the first two rounds.
SEMI-FINALS
The Minnesota North Stars would have their work cut out for them in the best of circumstances against the Edmonton Oilers, but injuries made the task impossible. Minnesota lost Neal Broten (33-75-108) in the final game of the quarterfinals and then in the first two games of the semi-finals they saw defenseman Craig Hartsburg (26-62-88) and wingers Tom McCarthy (28-64-102) and Dino Ciccarelli (51-56-107) suffer injuries that ended the season for each of them. The result was Edmonton won in 5 games despite the fact Gretzky was held to just a single point in the series.
Philadelphia beat Boston in 5 games in the other semi-final as Tim Kerr scored 6 goals in the series to pace the Flyers.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
We will have a first time winner of the Stanley Cup as the Edmonton Oilers, just 4 years removed from the WHA where they won 5 Avco Cups, make their first appearance in the finals. Philadelphia did get to the finals once before, in 1972-73, but the Flyers came out on the short end against the Chicago Black Hawks.
Wayne Gretzky scores once and adds two assists in his Stanley Cup finals debut, leading the visiting Oilers to a 6-3 victory in the series opener. Jack Valiquette scored twice for Edmonton with another ex-Leaf, defenseman Borje Salming earning 2 assists. Greg Carroll, Charlie Huddy and Jari Kurri also scored for the winners. Dave Poulin, Ken Linseman and Glen Cochrane replied for the Flyers.
First period goals from Paul Coffey, Gretzky and Blair MacDonald give Edmonton an early 3-0 lead but the Flyers get 3 of their own in the second period to tie the game. Mel Bridgeman scores 6 minutes into the third and it looks like the Flyers will hang on for a win but with the net empty for an extra attacker, Gretzky sets up Mike Rogers for the equalizer with just 17 seconds remaining in regulation. Gretzky would get an assist on Paul Coffey's second of the game, at 7:22 of overtime, to give the Oilers a 5-4 win and a 2 games to nothing series lead.
The series shifts to Edmonton but it's another win for the Oilers as Kurri and Salming each have a goal and an assist in a 4-1 Edmonton victory. Thomas Ericksson and Mike Rogers also score for the Oilers while Ilkka Sinisalo has the lone Philadelphia tally.
Despite two first period goals from Bobby Clarke the Philadelphia Flyers are unable to slow down the Edmonton offense and the Oilers complete the sweep to win the Cup with a 5-3 Game Four victory. Gretzky has a goal and 2 assists in the game to give him a playoff leading 31 points in 18 games. Paul Coffey scored once and added 3 helpers with Thomas Ericksson, Mike Rogers and Mark Messier also scoring for the Oilers.
Instead of Gretzky the Conn Smythe Trophy goes to Coffey, who finishes a distant second in playoff scoring with 22 points.
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Wayne Gretzky Edmonton (80GP 66-99-165)
VEZINA TROPHY: Grant Fuhr Edmonton (50-12-6, 2.73)
NORRIS TROPHY: Craig Hartsburg Minnesota (80GP 26-62-88)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Wayne Gretzky Edmonton (80GP 66-99-165)
CALDER TROPHY: Tom Fergus Boston (66GP 37-37-74)
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 Grant Fuhr Edmonton John Garrett Quebec
D Paul Reinhart Pittsburgh Ray Bourque Boston
D Craig Hartsburg Minnesota Denis Potvin NY Islanders
C Wayne Gretzky Edmonton Neal Broten Minnesota
LW Mike Rogers Edmonton Lanny McDonald Toronto
RW Guy Lafleur Montreal Jari Kurri Edmonton