1982–83 NHL season

The 1982–83 NHL season was the 66th season of the National Hockey League. The Colorado Rockies relocated to East Rutherford, New Jersey, becoming the New Jersey Devils. 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. It remains to date the last time that any major professional North American sports team has won four consecutive playoff championships.

Prior the start of the season, the Colorado Rockies moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey where they were renamed New Jersey Devils, leaving Denver without an NHL franchise until 1995. They were also moved to the Patrick Division, 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 1995, 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.

The 1982 NHL Entry Draft was held on June 9, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. Gord Kluzak was selected first overall by the Boston Bruins.

At the end of the season, the long pants worn by the Philadelphia Flyers and Hartford Whalers were banned, due to player safety concerns.^[1]

• The Calgary Flames 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 New Jersey Devils moved from McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado to Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

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

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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).

Source: NHL.^[3]

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

Source: NHL.^[4]

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

• 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

• 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

• 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

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

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

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

Hockey Night in Canada on CBC Television 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.

• List of Stanley Cup champions
• 1982 NHL Entry Draft
• 1982–83 NHL transactions
• 35th National Hockey League All-Star Game
• National Hockey League All-Star Game
• NHL All-Rookie Team
• Lester Patrick Trophy
• 1982 in sports
• 1983 in sports

• Diamond, Dan, ed. (2000). Total Hockey. Kingston, New York: Total Sports. ISBN 1-892129-85-X.
• Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Toronto: Dan Diamond & Associates. ISBN 978-1-894801-22-5.
• Dryden, Steve, ed. (2000). Century of hockey. Toronto: 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, Illinois: Publications International Inc. ISBN 0-7853-9624-1.

Notes

• Hockey Database
• NHL.com
• hockey-reference