1981–82 NHL season

The 1981–82 NHL season was the 65th season of the National Hockey League. Twenty-one teams each played 80 games. The William M. Jennings Trophy made its debut this year as the trophy for the goaltenders from the team with the fewest goals against. The New York Islanders won their third straight Stanley Cup by sweeping the Vancouver Canucks in four games.

Prior to the start of the season, the divisions of the league were re-aligned to better reflect the geographical locations of the teams. The Patrick Division, which had heretofore been in the Clarence Campbell Conference, switched to the Prince of Wales Conference, while the Norris Division went the other way, going from the Wales Conference to the Campbell Conference. This divisional alignment existed until the 1993-94 season, at which point both the divisions and the conferences of the league were renamed to reflect geography.

Regular season

The New York Islanders lead the league with 118 points, seven more than second place Edmonton Oilers. Wayne Gretzky of the Oilers had a record setting year breaking several prestigious records, including the record of 50 goals in 50 games, set by Maurice Richard and Mike Bossy, by scoring 50 goals in only 39 games. He also broke Phil Esposito's record of 76 goals in a season with 92, his own assists record of 109, set the year before, with 120, and his own point total of 164, set the year before, with 212. He was the first, and thus far only, player to ever score 200 points in a season, accomplishing the feat four times over a five year span. Gretzky's record setting year was reflected in the Oilers' final standings as the Oilers set a record for most goals in a season with 417. Gretzky was in on over half of the Oilers goals.

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 1981–82 (listed with their first team, asterisk(*) marks debut in playoffs):
*Jiri Bubla, Vancouver Canucks
*Garth Butcher*, Vancouver Canucks
*Bob Carpenter, Washington Capitals
*Gaetan Duchesne, Washington Capitals
*Ron Francis, Hartford Whalers
*Grant Fuhr, Edmonton Oilers
*Randy Gregg*, Edmonton Oilers
*Dale Hawerchuk, Winnipeg Jets
*Ivan Hlinka, Vancouver Canucks
*Tim Hunter, Calgary Flames
*Pelle Lindbergh, Philadelphia Flyers
*Al MacInnis, Calgary Flames
*Troy Murray, Chicago Black Hawks
*Bernie Nicholls, Los Angeles Kings
*Marian Stastny, Quebec Nordiques
*Thomas Steen, Winnipeg Jets
*Tony Tanti, Chicago Black Hawks
*John Vanbiesbrouck, New York Rangers

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1981–82 (listed with their last team):
*Don Marcotte, Boston Bruins
*Rogie Vachon, Boston Bruins
*Bill Clement, Calgary Flames
*Eric Vail, Detroit Red Wings
*Dave Keon, Hartford Whalers
*Paul Shmyr, Hartford Whalers
*Rick Martin, Los Angeles Kings
*Steve Vickers, New York Rangers
*Bob Dailey, Philadelphia Flyers
*Jimmy Watson, Philadelphia Flyers
*Don Luce, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Rene Robert, Toronto Maple Leafs
*Jean Pronovost, Washington Capitals

1982 Trading Deadline

* Trading Deadline: MARCH 9, 1982 [ [http://www.habsinsideout.com/main/3969 NHL trade deadline: Deals since 1980 | Habs Inside/Out ] ]
*March 8, 1982: Laurie Boschman traded from Toronto to Edmonton for Walt Poddubny and Phil Drouillard.
*March 8, 1982: Kari Eloranta traded from Calgary to St. Louis for future considerations.
*March 8, 1982: Jim Korn traded from Detroit to Toronto for Toronto's 4th round choice in 1982 Entry Draft and Toronto's 5th round choice in 1983 Entry Draft.
*March 9, 1982: Todd Bidner traded from Washington to Edmonton for Doug Hicks.
*March 9, 1982: Ed Cooper traded from Colorado to Edmonton for Stan Weir.
*March 9, 1982: Tony Currie, Jim Nill, Rick Heinz and St. Louis' 4th round choice in 1982 Entry Draft traded from St. Louis to Vancouver for Glen Hanlon.
*March 9, 1982: Miroslav Frycer and Quebec's 7th round choice in 1982 Entry Draft traded from Quebec to Toronto for Wilf Paiement.
*March 9, 1982: Guy Lapointe traded from Montreal to St. Louis for St. Louis' 2nd round choice in 1983 Entry Draft.

See also

* List of Stanley Cup champions
* 1981 NHL Entry Draft
* 34th National Hockey League All-Star Game
* National Hockey League All-Star Game
* 1981 Canada Cup
* 1981 in sports
* 1982 in sports

References

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