The 1985–86 NHL season was the 69th

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 ...

. This season saw the league's Board of Governors introduce the

Presidents' Trophy The Presidents' Trophy () is an award presented by the National Hockey League (NHL) to the team that finishes with the most points (i.e., best overall record) during the regular season. If two teams are tied for the most points, then the Trophy ...

, which would go to the team with the best overall record in the NHL

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

. The

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

would be the first winners of this award. The

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...

defeated 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 ...

four games to one in the final series to win the

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 ...

League business

Entry draft

The 1985 NHL entry draft was held on June 15, at the

Metro Toronto Convention Centre Metro Toronto Convention Centre (originally and still colloquially Metro Convention Centre, and sometimes MTCC), is a convention complex located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada along Front Street (Toronto), Front Street West in the former Railway Lan ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. This was the first draft held outside of

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, ...

. Wendel Clark was selected first overall by the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...

Rule changes

On June 13, 1985, the NHL board of governors voted 17–4 in favour of amending a penalty rule. Previously, coincidental minor penalties would result in 4-on-4 play. The amendment allowed teams to substitute another player to keep the play 5-on-5. It was seen by many as a shot at trying to slow down the high-flying

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

was quoted as saying, "I think the NHL is making a big mistake. I think the NHL should be more concerned with butt-ending, spearing, and three-hour hockey games than getting rid of 4-on-4 situations." It wasn't until

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, with the Oiler dynasty (five cups in seven years) having ended, that the NHL reverted to the original 4-on-4 rules.

Regular season

The Edmonton Oilers once again regained control of top spot in the NHL and were awarded with the

—the first time the trophy had been awarded for the best record—while last year's best team, 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 ...

slipped to second. The Flyers continued their dominance of the Wales Conference despite the death of their Vezina-winning goaltender, Pelle Lindbergh, in a car accident on November 11. Edmonton's

won his seventh straight

Hart Memorial Trophy The Hart Memorial Trophy, originally known as the Hart Trophy, is an annual award for the most valuable player to his team in the National Hockey League (NHL), voted by the members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. The original tr ...

and his sixth straight

Art Ross Trophy The Art Ross Trophy is awarded to the National Hockey League (NHL) player who leads the league in Point (ice hockey), points at the end of the regular season. It was presented to the league by former player, general manager, and head coach Art Ros ...

. This season saw Gretzky score 52 goals, and set records of 163 assists and 215 points. This was the fourth time in five years that Gretzky reached the 200 point plateau; no other player has reached 200 point mark, although

Mario Lemieux Mario Lemieux (; ; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played parts of 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Pittsburgh Penguins between 1984–85 NHL season, 1984 and 2005–06 NHL se ...

would garner 199 points in 76 games in 1988–89. Edmonton's

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

Paul Coffey broke Bobby Orr's record of 46 goals for most goals in a season by a defenceman by scoring 48 times.

Final standings

''Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, GF= Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, PIM = Penalty Minutes''

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

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Source: NHL

Leading goaltenders

Source: NHL

Coaches

Patrick Division

*New Jersey Devils: Doug Carpenter *New York Islanders: Al Arbour *New York Rangers: Ted Sator *Philadelphia Flyers:

Mike Keenan Michael Edward Keenan (born October 21, 1949) is a Canadian-American former professional hockey coach. Previously, he served as head coach and/or general manager with several NHL teams between 1984 and 2009. He currently ranks fifth in playoff win ...

*Pittsburgh Penguins: Bob Berry *Washington Capitals: Bryan Murray

Adams Division

*Boston Bruins: Butch Goring *Buffalo Sabres: Jim Schoenfeld and

Scotty Bowman William Scott Bowman (born September 18, 1933) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey head coach. He holds the record for most wins in National Hockey League (NHL) history, with 1,244 wins in the regular season and 223 in the Stanley Cup ...

*Hartford Whalers: Jack Evans *Montreal Canadiens: Jean Perron *Quebec Nordiques: Michel Bergeron

Norris Division

*Chicago Black Hawks: Bob Pulford *Detroit Red Wings: Harry Neale and Brad Park *Minnesota North Stars:

Lorne Henning Lorne Henning (born February 22, 1952) is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former player. He most recently has served as a scout for the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League (NHL). Career Born in Melfort, Saskatchewan, H ...

*St. Louis Blues: Jacques Demers *Toronto Maple Leafs:

Dan Maloney Daniel Charles "Snowshoes" Maloney (September 24, 1950 – November 19, 2018) was a Canadian professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), left winger in the National Hockey League (NHL) and NHL coach. He featured in the 1971 Stanley Cup Finals wit ...

Smythe Division

*Calgary Flames: Bob Johnson *Edmonton Oilers: Glen Sather *Los Angeles Kings: Pat Quinn *Vancouver Canucks: Tom Watt *Winnipeg Jets: Barry Long and John Ferguson Sr.

Milestones

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1985–86 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs): * Bill Ranford, Boston Bruins * Daren Puppa, Buffalo Sabres * Brian Bradley, Calgary Flames * Gary Suter, Calgary Flames *

Brett Hull Brett Andrew Hull (born August 9, 1964) is a Canadians, Canadian–Americans, American former ice hockey player and general manager, and currently an executive vice president of the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played f ...

*, Calgary Flames * Adam Oates, Detroit Red Wings * Petr Klima, Detroit Red Wings * Bob Probert, Detroit Red Wings * Shayne Corson, Montreal Canadiens * Kirk McLean, New Jersey Devils * Craig Wolanin, New Jersey Devils * Scott Mellanby, Philadelphia Flyers * Craig Simpson, Pittsburgh Penguins * Jeff Brown, Quebec Nordiques * Cliff Ronning*, St. Louis Blues * Wendel Clark, Toronto Maple Leafs * Dave Lowry, Vancouver Canucks * Jim Sandlak, Vancouver Canucks

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1985–86 (listed with their last team): * Tom Lysiak, Chicago Black Hawks * Mike Rogers, Edmonton Oilers * Mario Tremblay, Montreal Canadiens * Bob Nystrom, New York Islanders * Pelle Lindbergh, Philadelphia Flyers * Denis Herron, Pittsburgh Penguins * Don Edwards, Toronto Maple Leafs * Marian Stastny, Toronto Maple Leafs * Jiri Bubla, Vancouver Canucks * Dan Bouchard, Winnipeg Jets

Broadcasting

This was the second and final season that the Canadian national broadcast rights were split between the

Molson The Molson Brewery is a Canada-based brewery based in Montreal and was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors. Molson Coors maintains some of its Canadian operati ...

-sponsored ''

Hockey Night in Canada ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') is a long-running program of broadcast ice hockey play-by-play coverage in Canada. With roots in pioneering hockey coverage on private radio stations as early as 1923, ...

'' on

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

, and the Carling O'Keefe-sponsored telecasts on CTV. ''HNIC'' aired on Saturday nights, while CTV primarily televised Friday night games. CTV was also supposed to televise the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or division, bu ...

, but due to a prior programming commitment, the game aired instead on the cable network TSN for the first time. CBC and CTV also split the Stanley Cup playoffs. After the season, CTV decided to pull the plug on the venture, citing its limited access to Canadian-based teams, which translated into poor ratings. Carling O'Keefe retained the rights for the next two seasons, and syndicated its playoff telecasts to a chain of local stations that would one day become the

Global Television Network The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language, English-language terrestrial television, terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's se ...

. This was the first season of the league's three-year U.S. national broadcast rights deal with

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. The contract called for the network to air up to 33 regular season games each season as well as the All-Star Game and the playoffs.

Notes

References

* * * * ;Notes

External links

Hockey DatabaseNHL.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:NHL, 1985-86 1985–86 in Canadian ice hockey by league 1985–86 in American ice hockey by league