1981–82 NHL season

The 1981–82 NHL season was the 65th season of the National Hockey League. The William M. Jennings Trophy made its debut this year as the trophy for the goaltenders from the team with the fewest goals against. The New York Islanders won their third straight Stanley Cup by sweeping the Vancouver Canucks in four games.

League business

Prior to the start of the season, the divisions of the league were re-aligned to reduce travel costs. The Patrick Division, which had heretofore been in the Clarence Campbell Conference, switched to the Prince of Wales Conference, while the Norris Division went the other way, going from the Wales Conference to the Campbell Conference. This divisional alignment existed until the 1993–94 season, at which point both the divisions and the conferences of the league were renamed to reflect geography.

The schedule and playoff format were also altered. Previously, each team played every other team four times, and the 16-team playoff format had the four divisional champions joined by 12 wild-cards; for all intents and purposes, the divisions were meaningless. Also, under the old format, teams were paired in the first round based on record (i.e., 1st vs. 16th, 2nd vs. 15th, etc.), and then re-paired in each succeeding round based on record (i.e., highest seeded first round winner vs. lowest seeded first round winner, second highest first round winner vs. second lowest first round winner, etc.)

The new format called for each team in the three five-team divisions to play their four divisional opponents eight times each (32 games) and the remaining 16 league teams three times each (48 games). In addition, each team in the six-team division was to play their five divisional opponents seven times each (35 games) and the remaining 15 league teams three times each (45 games). As to the playoffs, the top four teams in each division qualified — no more wild-cards — with 1st Place playing 4th Place, and 2nd Place playing 3rd Place, in the divisional semifinals; the two winners meeting in the divisional finals; followed by the conference finals and the Stanley Cup finals. This schedule and playoff arrangement continued for over a decade.

Regular season

The New York Islanders led the league with 118 points, seven more than second place Edmonton Oilers. The Islanders also set a league record by winning 15 consecutive games from January 21 to February 20 although this was later eclipsed by the Pittsburgh Penguins' 17-game winning streak^[1] from March 9 to April 10, 1993. However, the Islanders 15-game winning streak was accomplished before the advent of the extra OT period in the NHL regular season. The Penguins would need to win 2 of their games in the OT period (in games 2 and 15) and would not have accomplished their streak in 1982 without the extra period, as two of their games would have ended in a tie.

The Edmonton Oilers' young superstar Wayne Gretzky broke several prestigious records, including the record of 50 goals in 50 games, set by Maurice Richard and Mike Bossy, by scoring 50 goals in only 39 games. Gretzky also broke Phil Esposito's record of 76 goals in a season with 92, his own assists record of 109 which was set the prior season with 120, and his own point total of 164 which was also set the prior season with 212. He was the first, and thus far only, player to ever score 200 points in a season. The Oilers set a record for most goals in a season with 417, in which Gretzky scored or assisted on over half.

The New York Islanders' Mike Bossy set a regular season scoring record for right-wingers with 147 points in an 80 game season, and finished as runner-up to Gretzky for the Art Ross Trophy.

This was the final season of the Colorado Rockies before moving to New Jersey to become the Devils. NHL play would return to Colorado in 1995, when the Avalanche won their first Stanley Cup after moving from Quebec.

The Winnipeg Jets completed one of the biggest single-season turnarounds in league history as the Jets went from nine wins and 32 points in 1980-81 to 33 wins and 80 points.

The Philadelphia Flyers become the first team to wear long pants. The idea was to create a more streamlined uniform with lighter padding, thus making the players faster.^[2] The downside was that the players hit the boards faster after being bodychecked.^[2]

Final standings

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold

Prince of Wales Conference

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Clarence Campbell Conference

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Playoffs

Playoff bracket

The 1982 playoffs used a new format. Four teams from each division would qualify for the playoffs, and played a best-of-five semifinal round followed by a best-of-seven series to determine the division playoff champions. The Adams and Patrick winners would meet in the Wales Conference Final, while the Norris and Smythe winners played in the Campbell Conference Final. The two Conference Champions played for the Stanley Cup. With the exception of extending the first round to a best-of-seven in 1987, this format remained in place through the 1993 playoffs.

The first round of the 1982 playoffs saw three first-place teams (Edmonton, Minnesota, and Montreal) upset by fourth-place teams, a round which featured what is still the greatest comeback in NHL history: The Kings' 6–5 win over Edmonton in game three. After trailing 5–0 after two periods, the Kings scored five third period goals—three in the last 5:22, the final goal coming with only five seconds left in regulation. Los Angeles then scored on a face-off early in overtime, thus completing the "Miracle on Manchester".

The eventual champion New York Islanders nearly capitulated in the first round as well, losing games three and four of their first round playoff series with Pittsburgh after crushing the Penguins in the first two games. In game five, the Islanders scored twice in the last five minutes to force overtime and then won the series on John Tonelli's goal 6:19 into the extra session. This served as a wake-up call for New York, who lost only two more games the rest of the way on their march to third straight Stanley Cup. Their Final opponents, the Vancouver Canucks, finished the regular season with only 77 points, defeating three teams beneath them in the standings (Calgary 75, Los Angeles 63, and Chicago 72) in the much weaker Campbell Conference.

Stanley Cup Finals

Awards

From this season forward, the Prince of Wales and Clarence S. Campbell trophies were given to the playoff champions of the respective conferences.

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points

Source: NHL.^[4]

Leading goaltenders

^[5]

Milestones

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1981–82 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Jiri Bubla, Vancouver Canucks
• Garth Butcher, Vancouver Canucks
• Bob Carpenter, Washington Capitals
• Gaetan Duchesne, Washington Capitals
• Ron Francis, Hartford Whalers
• Grant Fuhr, Edmonton Oilers
• Randy Gregg*, Edmonton Oilers
• Dale Hawerchuk, Winnipeg Jets
• Ivan Hlinka, Vancouver Canucks
• Tim Hunter, Calgary Flames
• Pelle Lindbergh, Philadelphia Flyers
• Al MacInnis, Calgary Flames
• Mike Vernon, Calgary Flames
• Bernie Nicholls, Los Angeles Kings
• Marian Stastny, Quebec Nordiques
• Thomas Steen, Winnipeg Jets
• Tony Tanti, Chicago Black Hawks
• John Vanbiesbrouck, New York Rangers

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1981–82 (listed with their last team):

• Don Marcotte, Boston Bruins
• Rogie Vachon, Boston Bruins
• Bill Clement, Calgary Flames
• Eric Vail, Detroit Red Wings
• Dave Keon, Hartford Whalers
• Paul Shmyr, Hartford Whalers
• Rick Martin, Los Angeles Kings
• Steve Vickers, New York Rangers
• Bob Dailey, Philadelphia Flyers
• Jimmy Watson, Philadelphia Flyers
• Don Luce, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Rene Robert, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Jean Pronovost, Washington Capitals

1982 Trading deadline trades

Trading Deadline: March 9, 1982^[6]

• March 8, 1982: Laurie Boschman traded from Toronto to Edmonton for Walt Poddubny and Phil Drouillard.
• March 8, 1982: Kari Eloranta traded from Calgary to St. Louis for future considerations.
• March 8, 1982: Jim Korn traded from Detroit to Toronto for Toronto's fourth-round choice in 1982 NHL Entry Draft and Toronto's fifth-round choice in 1983 NHL Entry Draft.
• March 9, 1982: Todd Bidner traded from Washington to Edmonton for Doug Hicks.
• March 9, 1982: Ed Cooper traded from Colorado to Edmonton for Stan Weir.
• March 9, 1982: Tony Currie, Jim Nill, Rick Heinz and St. Louis' fourth-round choice in 1982 Entry Draft traded from St. Louis to Vancouver for Glen Hanlon.
• March 9, 1982: Miroslav Frycer and Quebec's seventh-round choice in 1982 Entry Draft traded from Quebec to Toronto for Wilf Paiement.
• March 9, 1982: Guy Lapointe traded from Montreal to St. Louis for St. Louis' second-round choice in 1983 Entry Draft.

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1981 NHL Entry Draft
• 34th National Hockey League All-Star Game
• National Hockey League All-Star Game
• 1981 Canada Cup
• 1981 in sports
• 1982 in sports

References

• Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Hockey. Kingston, NY: Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X. 
• Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Toronto, ON: Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5. 
• Dryden, Steve, ed. (2000). Century of hockey. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart Ltd. ISBN 0-7710-4179-9. 
• Fischler, Stan; Fischler, Shirley; Hughes, Morgan; Romain, Joseph; Duplacey, James (2003). The Hockey Chronicle: Year-by-Year History of the National Hockey League. Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International Inc. ISBN 0-7853-9624-1. 
• "1981-82 NHL Playoff Results". hockeyDB.com. 

Notes

External links

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com