1981–82 NHL season

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The 1981–82 NHL season was the 65th season of the National Hockey League. Twenty-one teams each played 80 games. 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.

Prior to the start of the season, the divisions of the league were re-aligned to better reflect the geographical locations of the teams. 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 lead 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.

Wayne Gretzky of the Oilers had a record setting year breaking 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. He also broke Phil Esposito's record of 76 goals in a season with 92, his own assists record of 109, set the year before, with 120, and his own point total of 164, set the year before, 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; Gretzky scored or assisted on over half.

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

Clarence Campbell Conference

Scoring leaders

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

Playoffs

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 and 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 3. 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 3 and 4 of their first round playoff series with Pittsburgh after crushing the Penguins in the first 2 games. In Game 5 the Islanders scored twice in the last 5 minutes to force OT 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 Finals opponents, the Vancouver Canucks, finished the regular season with only 77 points, defeating three teams beneath them in the standings (Calgary 75, Los Angeles 64, and Chicago 72) in the much weaker Campbell Conference.

Playoff bracket

Finals

New York Islanders vs. Vancouver Canucks

New York wins the series 4–0.

NHL awards

All-Star teams

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
• Troy Murray, Chicago Black Hawks
• 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

• Trading Deadline: MARCH 9, 1982^[1]
• 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 Entry Draft and Toronto's fifth round choice in 1983 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

1. ^ NHL trade deadline: Deals since 1980 | Habs Inside/Out

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com