1982–83 NHL season

The 1982–83 NHL season was the 66th season of the National Hockey League. The New York Islanders won their fourth Stanley Cup in a row with their second consecutive finals sweep by beating the Edmonton Oilers four games to none. No team in any major professional North American sport has won four consecutive championships since.

League business

Prior the start of the season, the Colorado Rockies moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey where they were renamed New Jersey Devils. They were also moved to the Patrick Division, forcing a reluctant Winnipeg Jets to leave the Norris Division and take Colorado's place in the Smythe Division. These would be the last relocations of an NHL team until 1993. A last-minute sale of the St. Louis Blues to Harry Ornest prevented Wild Bill Hunter from purchasing that team and moving it to Saskatoon.

The Calgary Flames played their final season at the 7,000-plus seat Stampede Corral before moving into the Scotiabank Saddledome, which as of 2009 has a capacity of 19,289.

Regular season

The last remaining players from the Original Six era (prior to the Expansion Era), (Carol Vadnais, Serge Savard and Wayne Cashman) all retired after this season. Cashman was the last to play, losing in the Wales Conference Finals as a member of the Bruins.

The Boston Bruins led the league in overall points with 110. The defending Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders fell from first overall and finished tied for 6th overall and the high-powered, high offence, Edmonton Oilers tied for second overall. The Oilers set a new record, which they had just set the previous year, for most goals in a season with 424 and were led by Wayne Gretzky's 196 points. The Oilers also tied the Boston Bruins' 1970-71 record for most 100-point players in one season as Wayne Gretzky, Glenn Anderson, Jari Kurri, and Mark Messier all scored more than 100 points.

Final standings

Prince of Wales Conference

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Clarence Campbell Conference

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Playoffs

As of 2010-2011, this was the last time all the active NHL teams based in Canada have qualified for the playoffs and the only time that as many as 6 such teams did so. Since the 1967-1968 expansion, all the Canadian teams qualified for the playoffs on five other occasions - 1969 (Montreal and Toronto), 1975, 1976 and 1979 (Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver).

Playoff bracket

Division Finals

(P2) New York Islanders vs. (P4) New York Rangers

Final

New York Islanders vs. Edmonton Oilers

New York wins the series 4–0.

NHL awards

All-Star teams

Source: NHL.^[2]

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

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

Source: NHL.^[3]

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Min - Minutes Played; GA = Goals Against; GAA = Goals Against Average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts

Milestones

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1982–83 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):

• Gord Kluzak, Boston Bruins
• Dave Andreychuk, Buffalo Sabres
• Phil Housley, Buffalo Sabres
• Jamie Macoun, Calgary Flames
• Murray Craven, Detroit Red Wings
• Brian Bellows, Minnesota North Stars
• Craig Ludwig, Montreal Canadiens
• Mats Naslund, Montreal Canadiens
• Pat Verbeek, New Jersey Devils
• Bob Froese, Philadelphia Flyers
• Dave Poulin, Philadelphia Flyers
• Ron Sutter, Philadelphia Flyers
• Rich Sutter, Pittsburgh Penguins
• Gary Leeman*, Toronto Maple Leafs
• Michel Petit, Vancouver Canucks
• Patrik Sundstrom, Vancouver Canucks
• Milan Novy, Washington Capitals
• Scott Stevens, Washington Capitals
• Brian Hayward, Winnipeg Jets

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1982–83 (listed with their last team):

• Wayne Cashman, Boston Bruins (Last player from the Original Six Era)
• Gilles Gilbert, Detroit Red Wings
• Reggie Leach, Detroit Red Wings
• Garry Unger, Edmonton Oilers
• Mike Murphy, Los Angeles Kings
• Rejean Houle, Montreal Canadiens
• Carol Vadnais, New Jersey Devils
• John Davidson, New York Rangers
• Ulf Nilsson, New York Rangers
• Ian Turnbull, Pittsburgh Penguins
• Jacques Richard, Quebec Nordiques
• Marc Tardif, Quebec Nordiques
• Vaclav Nedomansky, St. Louis Blues
• Ivan Hlinka, Vancouver Canucks
• Milan Novy, Washington Capitals
• Serge Savard, Winnipeg Jets

1983 trade deadline

Trade deadline: March 8, 1983.^[4]

• March 7, 1983: Laurie Boschman traded from Edmonton to Winnipeg for Willy Lindstrom.
• March 8, 1983: Ken Solheim traded from Minnesota to Detroit for future considerations.

See also

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1982 NHL Entry Draft
• 35th National Hockey League All-Star Game
• National Hockey League All-Star Game
• 1982 in sports
• 1983 in sports
• NHL All-Rookie Team

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. 

Notes

External links

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com