1983–84 NHL season


The 1983–84 NHL season was the 67th season of the National Hockey League. The Edmonton Oilers de-throned the four-time defending Stanley Cup champion New York Islanders four games to one in the Cup finals.

League business

Ownership changes

Arthur M. Wirtz, long-time chairman and part-owner of the Chicago Black Hawks, died at the age of 82 on July 21, 1983. His son, Bill, took over ownership of the team.
St. Louis Blues owner Ralston Purina announced that it would sell the team to a group led by World Hockey Association and Edmonton Oilers founder Bill Hunter, with the intent on relocating the Blues to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. However, the NHL Board of Governors rejected the deal by a 15–3 vote on May 18, feeling that Saskatoon was not big enough to support an NHL team, and also wary of Hunter's involvement based on his roles in the WHA. Ralston then filed an anti-trust lawsuit in U.S. District Court, claiming that the NHL broke federal antitrust laws and breached the duty of good faith and fair dealing by voting to reject the sale and transfer of the Blues to Hunter's group. They also requested that the court allow them to give up the team and bar the NHL from interfering with the sale of the team. On June 3, Ralston announced that it had no interest in running the team anymore. Because they were not required to participate in the 1983 NHL entry draft, they did not send a representative, which led the Blues to forfeit their picks. The day after the draft, the NHL filed a counter-suit against Ralston, accusing Ralston of "damaging the league by willfully, wantonly and maliciously collapsing its St. Louis Blues hockey operation." The NHL also said that Ralston broke a league rule that an owner had to give two years' notice before dissolving a franchise. Ralston called the counter-suit "ridiculous" and gave the NHL an ultimatum: if the NHL would not accept Hunter's offer by June 14, Ralston would dissolve the team and sell its players and assets to other teams. The Board of Governors rejected the offer and "terminated" the team on June 13, one day before Ralston's supposed deadline. It then took control of the franchise and began searching for a new owner. On July 27, Harry Ornest purchased the Blues for US$3 million.

Entry draft

The 1983 NHL entry draft was held on June 8, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The St. Louis Blues did not participate in this draft due to the aforementioned dispute between the league and team owner Ralston Purina. Brian Lawton became the first American to be chosen first overall, by the Minnesota North Stars. Three Americans were chosen in the top five: Lawton, Pat Lafontaine and Tom Barrasso. Sylvain Turgeon was chosen second and Steve Yzerman was chosen fourth overall.

Rule changes

Not since World War II travel restrictions caused the NHL to drop regular season overtime games in 1942–43 had the NHL used overtime to decide regular season games. Starting this season, the NHL introduced a five-minute extra period of overtime following the third period in the event of a tied game. A team losing in overtime would get no points. This rule remained in effect until the 1999–2000 season, where a team losing in overtime was awarded 1 point. If the game remained tied after the five-minute extra period, it remained a tie with each team getting 1 point, until the NHL shootout arrived in the 2005–06 season. Overtime in the Stanley Cup playoffs remained unchanged.

Arena changes

Regular season

The Edmonton Oilers ran away with the best record in the league, and for the third straight year set a new record for most goals in a season, 446. The Oilers' new captain, Wayne Gretzky, was once again breaking records and rewriting his name into the record book. This season saw Gretzky score at least one point in the first 51 games of the season. During those 51 games, Gretzky had 61 goals and 92 assists for 153 points, which is equivalent to exactly three points per game. He also won his fifth straight Hart Trophy and his fourth straight Art Ross Trophy by scoring 87 goals and 118 assists for a total of 205 points. The season's second leading scorer was Gretzky's teammate Paul Coffey, who, with 126 points, became the third defenceman to score 100 points in a season.
The Calgary Flames played their inaugural season at the Olympic Saddledome.
Prior to the season, the St. Louis Blues were purchased by Harry Ornest, keeping the team from folding after a proposed move to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan was rejected by the NHL Board of Governors. The Blues remain in Missouri as of. In addition, the team's home venue, the Checkerdome, reverted to its original name, the Arena, after six seasons.

Final standings

''Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalties in minutes''

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.

Awards

All-Star teams

Source: NHL.

Player statistics

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points
PlayerTeamGPGAPtsPIM
Wayne GretzkyEdmonton Oilers748711820539
Paul CoffeyEdmonton Oilers804086126104
Michel GouletQuebec Nordiques75566512176
Peter StastnyQuebec Nordiques80467311973
Mike BossyNew York Islanders6751671188
Barry PedersonBoston Bruins80397711664
Jari KurriEdmonton Oilers64526111314
Bryan TrottierNew York Islanders68407111159
Bernie FederkoSt. Louis Blues79416610743
Rick MiddletonBoston Bruins80475810514

Source: NHL.

Leading goaltenders

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
PlayerTeamGPMINGAGAAWLTSOSV%
Pat RigginWashington Capitals4122991022.66211424.890
Tom BarrassoBuffalo Sabres4224751172.84261232.893
Al JensenWashington Capitals4324141172.91251334.882
Doug KeansBoston Bruins331779923.1019832.883
Bob FroesePhiladelphia Flyers4828631503.14281372.887
Pete PeetersBoston Bruins5028681513.16291620.876
Dan BouchardQuebec Nordiques5733731803.20291881.882
Roland MelansonN.Y. Islanders3720191103.27201120.903
Richard SevignyMontreal Canadiens4022031243.38161821.869
Murray BannermanChicago Black Hawks5633351883.38232942.887

Coaches

Patrick Division

Adams Division

Norris Division

Smythe Division

Milestones

Debuts

The following is a list of players of note who played their first NHL game in 1983–84 :

Last games

The following is a list of players of note that played their last game in the NHL in 1983–84 :

Broadcasting

Hockey Night in Canada on CBC Television televised Saturday night regular season games and Stanley Cup playoff games. This was the last season that the Molson-sponsored HNIC had sole Canadian national broadcast rights. During the next season, rival brewery Carling O'Keefe began airing games on CTV.
This was the second season of the league's U.S. national broadcast rights deal with USA, covering a slate of regular season games and selected playoff games.