1982–83 NHL season

The 1982–83 NHL season was the 66th season of the National Hockey League. Twenty-one teams each played 80 games. 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. This would be the last relocation of an NHL team until 1993.

The last remaining players from the Original Six 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 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 the Islanders.

Regular season

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' 1971 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

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

Prince of Wales Conference

"New York wins the series 4–0."

NHL awards

All-Star teams

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
*Mike Vernon, 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
*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. [ [http://www.habsinsideout.com/main/3969 NHL trade deadline: Deals since 1980 | Habs Inside/Out ] ]
* 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

* [http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/nhl1927.html Hockey Database]
* [http://nhl.com/ NHL.com]