The 1987–88 NHL season was the 71st

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 ...

. It was an 80-game season with the top four teams in each division advancing to the Stanley Cup playoffs. This season would see the Edmonton Oilers win 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 five years by sweeping the

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

4–0 in the

Stanley Cup Finals The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, ) is the annual championship series of the National Hockey League (NHL). The winner is awarded the Stanley Cup, North America's oldest professional spo ...

. In the process of their Cup win, Edmonton lost only two games, a record for the "16 wins" playoff format.

Entry draft

The 1987 NHL entry draft was held on June 13, at Joe Louis Arena in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. This was the first draft held in the United States instead of in Canada. Pierre Turgeon was selected first overall by the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Con ...

Regular season

This was Wayne Gretzky's final season with the Edmonton Oilers and, as injuries held him out of 20% of the season, this would be the only season of the decade in which he was not the winner of the

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 the first season since 1979–80 that he did not hold or share the league lead in points. Mario Lemieux would capture his first Hart Trophy and lead the league in scoring. On December 8, Ron Hextall of 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 ...

became the first goalie to directly score a goal, shooting the puck into an empty net after their opponent had pulled their goalie for a sixth attacker. On December 19, the St. Louis Blues and

combined to score two goals in two seconds. The Bruins were trailing 6-4 in the third period when Ken Linseman scored with 10 seconds remaining, followed by Blues center

Doug Gilmour Douglas Robert Gilmour (born June 25, 1963) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for seven different teams. Gilmour was a seventh round selection, 134th overall, of the ...

scoring off the resulting faceoff into an empty net. 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 ...

qualified for the playoffs for the first time, since their move from Denver in 1982. Linesman John D'Amico retires after the season, becoming the last on-ice official from the Original Six era.

Final standings

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

Prince of Wales Conference

Clarence Campbell Conference

Playoffs

Bracket

The top four teams in each division qualified for the playoffs. In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). 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.

Awards

The NHL introduced a new trophy, the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which was to be awarded to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution in his community.

All-Star teams

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

''Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points, PIM = Penalties in minutes, PPG = Powerplay Goals, SHG = Shorthanded Goals, GWG = Game Winning Goals'' Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders

''GP = Games played; Min = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage'' Source: Quanthockey.com

Coaches

Patrick Division

*New Jersey Devils: Doug Carpenter and Jim Schoenfeld *New York Islanders: Terry Simpson *New York Rangers: Michel Bergeron *Philadelphia Flyers: Mike Keenan and Paul Holmgren *Pittsburgh Penguins: Pierre Creamer *Washington Capitals: Bryan Murray

Adams Division

*Boston Bruins: Terry O'Reilly *Buffalo Sabres: Ted Sator *Hartford Whalers: Jack Evans *Montreal Canadiens: Jean Perron *Quebec Nordiques: Andre Savard and Ron Lapointe

Norris Division

*Chicago Blackhawks: Bob Murdoch *Detroit Red Wings: Jacques Demers *Minnesota North Stars: Herb Brooks *St. Louis Blues: Jacques Martin *Toronto Maple Leafs: John Brophy

Smythe Division

*Calgary Flames: Terry Crisp *Edmonton Oilers: Glen Sather *Los Angeles Kings: Robbie Ftorek *Vancouver Canucks: Bob McCammon *Winnipeg Jets: Dan Maloney

Milestones

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1987–88: * Tommy Albelin, Quebec Nordiques * Rob Brown, Pittsburgh Penguins * Sean Burke, New Jersey Devils * Adam Graves, Detroit Red Wings * Jiri Hrdina, Calgary Flames * Craig Janney, Boston Bruins * Calle Johansson, Buffalo Sabres * Brian Leetch, New York Rangers * Jeff Norton, New York Islanders *

Luke Richardson Luke Glen Richardson (born March 26, 1969) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. He most recently served as List of NHL head coaches, head coach for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was sel ...

, Toronto Maple Leafs * Mathieu Schneider, Montreal Canadiens * Brendan Shanahan, New Jersey Devils * Ray Sheppard, Buffalo Sabres * Kevin Stevens, Pittsburgh Penguins * Ron Tugnutt, Quebec Nordiques * Pierre Turgeon, Buffalo Sabres * Glen Wesley, Boston Bruins * Trent Yawney, Chicago Blackhawks * Scott Young, Hartford Whalers * Zarley Zalapski, Pittsburgh Penguins

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1987–88: * Bob Bourne, Los Angeles Kings * Richard Brodeur, Hartford Whalers * Clark Gillies, Buffalo Sabres * Doug Jarvis, Hartford Whalers * Pierre Larouche, New York Rangers * Dave Lewis, Detroit Red Wings * Gilles Meloche, Pittsburgh Penguins * Rick Middleton, Boston Bruins * Wilf Paiement, Pittsburgh Penguins (The last active player to have been a member of the Kansas City Scouts.) * Steve Payne, Minnesota North Stars *

Denis Potvin Denis Charles Potvin (born October 29, 1953) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman and Captain (ice hockey), team captain for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is a four-time Stanley Cup winner as a ...

, New York Islanders * Dave Semenko, Toronto Maple Leafs * Charlie Simmer, Pittsburgh Penguins * Brian Sutter, St. Louis Blues * Perry Turnbull, St. Louis Blues * Tiger Williams, Hartford Whalers

Firsts

* Ron Hextall, Philadelphia Flyers, First goaltender in NHL history to shoot and score a goal.

Broadcasting

In Canada, the cable network TSN began airing a schedule of Monday and Thursday night regular season games. The Molson-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 continued to air Saturday night regular season games. This was the last season of the Carling O'Keefe-sponsored telecasts on Canwest/Global, with Global airing selected regular season games between January and March. Coverage of the Stanley Cup playoffs were split between CBC and Global, with the later branding its postseason broadcasts as ''Stanley Cup '88''. Carling O'Keefe's rights expired at the end of the season, and 1989 merger between Molson and Carling O'Keefe eventually put an end to the competition. This was the third and final season of the league's 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 ...

, airing up to 33 regular season games each season as well as the All-Star Game and the playoffs. SportsChannel America then signed a three-year contract to take over the rights from ESPN.

References

* * * * ;Notes

External links

Hockey DatabaseNHL.comSI Flashback to '88 Finals
{{DEFAULTSORT:1987-88 NHL season 1987–88 in Canadian ice hockey by league 1987–88 in American ice hockey by league