The 1982–83 NHL season was the 66th

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

. The

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

relocated to East Rutherford, New Jersey, becoming the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...

. The

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (N ...

won their fourth

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

in a row with their second consecutive finals sweep by beating the Edmonton Oilers four games to none. It remains to date the last time that any major professional North American sports team has won four consecutive playoff championships.

League business

Franchise relocation

Prior the start of the season, the

moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey where they were renamed

, leaving

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

without an NHL franchise until 1995. They were also moved to the

Patrick Division The National Hockey League's Patrick Division was formed in 1974 as part of the Clarence Campbell Conference. The division moved to the Prince of Wales Conference in 1981. The division existed for 19 seasons until 1993. It was named in honor of ...

, forcing the reluctant Winnipeg Jets to leave the Norris Division and take Colorado's place in the Smythe Division. This would be the last relocation of an NHL team until 1993, and the last time a team would be transferred to a new division until 1993. The period between this move and the adding of the expansion San Jose Sharks in 1991 is the second-longest period of stability in league history, surpassed only by the Original Six era. After the season, the St. Louis Blues were sold to Harry Ornest after the NHL prevented Wild Bill Hunter from purchasing that team and moving it to

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

Entry draft

The 1982 NHL entry draft was held on June 9, at the Montreal Forum in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Gord Kluzak was selected first overall by the Boston Bruins.

Uniforms

At the end of the season, the long pants worn by the

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

and Hartford Whalers were banned, due to player safety concerns.

Arenas

* The

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The ...

played their final season at the Stampede Corral before moving into the Olympic Saddledome. * The name of the Minnesota North Stars' home arena was shortened from the Metropolitan Sports Center to the Met Center. * The relocated

moved from McNichols Sports Arena in

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

to Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

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 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. The

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The Capitals compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NH ...

qualified for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

Final standings

Prince of Wales Conference

Clarence Campbell Conference

Playoffs

Bracket

The top four teams in each division qualified for the playoffs. In the division semifinals, the fourth seeded team in each division played against the division winner from their division. The other series matched the second and third place teams from the divisions. The two winning teams from each division's semifinals then met in the division finals. The two division winners of each conference then played in the conference finals. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals. In the division semifinals, teams competed in a best-of-five series. In the other three rounds, teams competed in a best-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each series).

Awards

All-Star teams

Source: NHL.

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

''Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points'' Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders

''Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; SV% = Save percentage''

Coaches

Patrick Division

*New Jersey Devils: Bill MacMillan *New York Islanders: Al Arbour *New York Rangers: Herb Brooks *Philadelphia Flyers: Pat Quinn *Pittsburgh Penguins: Eddie Johnston *Washington Capitals: Bryan Murray

Adams Division

*Boston Bruins: Gerry Cheevers *Buffalo Sabres: Scotty Bowman *Hartford Whalers: Larry Kish, John Cunniff and Larry Pleau *Montreal Canadiens: Bob Berry *Quebec Nordiques: Michel Bergeron

Norris Division

*Chicago Black Hawks: Orval Tessier *Detroit Red Wings: Nick Polano *Minnesota North Stars: Glen Sonmor *St. Louis Blues: Emile Francis and Barclay Plager *Toronto Maple Leafs: Mike Nykoluk

Smythe Division

*Calgary Flames: Bob Johnson *Edmonton Oilers: Glen Sather *Los Angeles Kings: Don Perry *Vancouver Canucks: Roger Neilson *Winnipeg Jets: Tom Watt

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 * Scott Stevens, Washington Capitals * Brian Hayward, Winnipeg Jets * Brian Mullen, 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 * Serge Savard, Winnipeg Jets

Broadcasting

'' Hockey Night in Canada'' on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

televised Saturday night regular season games and Stanley Cup playoff games. This was the first season of the league's U.S. national broadcast rights deal with USA, covering a slate of regular season games and selected playoff games.

References

* * * * ;Notes

External links

Hockey DatabaseNHL.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:NHL, 1982-83 1982–83 in Canadian ice hockey by league 1982–83 in American ice hockey by league