1986-87
OFFSEASON
Garry Unger and Carol Vadnais get the call to the Hall of Fame. Unger had 1180 points including 549 goals over 18 seasons with Toronto, the Islanders and Washington. Vadnais played 1346 games on defense for Montreal, the Islanders and Toronto. He had 1148 points in his NHL career and was named the NHL's best defenseman in 1975-76.
A huge list of big name retirements including Bobby Clarke, Bernie Parent, Rogie Vachon, Borje Salming and Darryl Sittler. Clarke won 4 Hart Trophy's and had 1501 career points including 502 goals. Parent won 602 games, a pair of Vezina Trophy's and 2 Stanley Cups with Boston. Vachon played for 4 teams and over 1000 games in net. Salming had 632 points in 12 seasons with Toronto, Edmonton and Philadelphia. Sittler had 897 points in 990 career games with Toronto. I would expect that Clarke and Parent will both be added to the Hall of Fame next year.
Brian Leetch headlines the list of new players to the league. He will join the New York Rangers. Others include Jimmy Carson in Los Angeles, Craig Janney in Boston and Adam Graves with Detroit.
REGULAR SEASON
There were no ties this year as the game went to unlimited overtime for the regular season just as in the playoffs.
Wayne Gretzky dominated the league scoring, finishing with 171 points, 8 shy of the record he set in 1983-84. Mario Lemieux, meanwhile, was injured in late October and sidelined until March so he played in just 14 games but still managed to get 25 points and be healthy for the playoffs.
MILESTONES
Guy Lafleur of Montreal moved into third place all-time in career goals and points. The 35 year old finished the season with 51 goals, the 8th time in his career he reached the 50 goal plateau, giving him 735 for his career. Only Bobby Hull (884) and Jean Ratelle (856) have scored more goals than Lafleur. Lafleur's 103 points this season moved him to 1808 for his career trailing only Stan Mikita (2129) and Bobby Hull (2032).
Bryan Trottier of the NY Islanders earned his 750th career assist
Mike Bossy of the NY Islanders picked up his 900th career point and 500th assist
Brad Park of the NY Rangers scored his 500th career goal
Lanny McDonald of Toronto earned his 500th career assist
Thomas Gradin of Chicago earned his 500th career assist
Randy Carlyle of Toronto picked up his 500th career assist
Clark Gillies of the NY Islanders scored his 400th career goal
Brian Sutter of St Louis scored his 400th career goal
Kent Nilsson of Calgary scored his 400th career goal
Craig Ramsay of Boston scored his 400th career goal
Joe Mullen of St Louis scored his 300th career goal
Rick Vaive of Vancouver scored his 300th career goal
Serge Savard of Minnesota scored his 300th career goal
Mike Gartner of Washington scored his 300th career goal
Jari Kurri of Edmonton scored his 300th career goal
1000 GAMES
Blake Dunlop Montreal
Al MacAdam Washington
Tiger Williams Toronto
Lanny McDonald Toronto
Minnesota's Brian Bellows had a 6 goal game in the North Stars 9-2 win over Washington on November 11th. Bellows also picked up 1 assist in the game. Calgary's Brett Hull, Boston's Tom Fergus and Vancouver's Pat Verbeek each enjoyed a 5 goal game during the season.
Code:
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
ADAMS DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Montreal Canadiens 80 59 21 0 118
Boston Bruins 80 56 24 0 112
Buffalo Sabres 80 36 44 0 72
Quebec Nordiques 80 35 45 0 70
Hartford Whalers 80 29 51 0 58
PATRICK DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Pittsburgh Penguins 80 44 36 0 88
New York Islanders 80 40 40 0 80
New York Rangers 80 34 46 0 68
Philadelphia Flyers 80 29 51 0 58
New Jersey Devils 80 26 54 0 52
Washington Capitals 80 23 57 0 46
NORRIS DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Minnesota North Stars 80 50 30 0 100
St Louis Blues 80 46 34 0 92
Detroit Red Wings 80 34 46 0 68
Chicago Black Hawks 80 32 48 0 64
Toronto Maple Leafs 80 28 52 0 56
SMYTHE DIVISION GP W L T PTS
Edmonton Oilers 80 58 22 0 116
Calgary Flames 80 55 25 0 110
Winnipeg Jets 80 51 29 0 102
Los Angeles Kings 80 44 36 0 88
Vancouver Canucks 80 31 49 0 62
SCORING LEADERS TEAM GP G A PTS
Wayne Gretzky EDM 77 47 124 171
Dale Hawerchuk WPG 68 55 97 152
Jari Kurri EDM 78 55 72 127
Dino Ciccarelli MIN 80 56 64 120
Pat LaFontaine NYI 80 36 82 118
Mark Messier EDM 80 47 66 113
Tom Fergus BOS 78 54 55 109
Ray Bourque BOS 80 30 79 109
Andrew McBain WPG 76 52 55 107
Hakaan Loob CGY 79 53 53 106
Luc Robitaille LA 80 40 65 105
Neal Broten MIN 76 17 88 105
Ron Francis HAR 80 35 69 104
Guy Lafleur MON 80 51 52 103
Bernie Nicholls LA 80 53 49 102
Joe Mullen STL 72 41 61 102
Brian Bellows MIN 80 50 51 101
Paul Coffey EDM 80 24 75 99
Steve Larmer CHI 80 43 54 97
Steve Yzerman DET 79 39 56 95
Doug Gilmour STL 50 34 61 95
PLAYOFFS
One change this season saw the preliminary round expanded to a best of seven from the best of five it was in the past.
Montreal emerged from the Adams Division as the Habs posted 8 straight victories to start the playoffs, sweeping first Quebec and then Boston in the quarterfinals. Guy Lafleur led the Habs with 14 points through the two series, while the goaltending chores were split between veteran Vladislav Tretiak and 21 year old rookie Patrick Roy.
Led by 11 goals and 28 points in 11 games from Mario Lemieux, the Pittsburgh Penguins emerged from the Patrick Division. Pittsburgh beat the Rangers in 5 games after eliminating Philadelphia in 6 in the opening round.
Wayne Gretzky tried to keep pace with Lemieux, scoring 9 times in 10 games and getting 24 points as the Oilers beat Vancouver and Calgary in 5 games each to advance out of the Smythe Division.
The Oilers will face Minnesota yet again, after losing to the Stars in the semi-finals each of the previous two years. Minnesota had a dominant offense in the first two rounds of the playoffs led by Dino Ciccarelli (10-11-21), Brian Bellows (5-16-21), Brian Lawton (10-8-18) and Neal Broten (5-13-18). The Stars beat Chicago in 6 games in the opening round and then rode a Lawton hat trick to victory in Game Seven of the quarterfinals against Detroit.
SEMI-FINALS
Mario Lemieux had 13 points in the series as Pittsburgh eliminated the defending Cup Champion Montreal Canadiens in 6 games to reach the finals for the first time in Pens history.
The Edmonton-Minnesota series was another tight one with the Oilers finally prevailing thanks to a 4 assist night from Gretzky in a 5-4 game seven victory. Gretzky had 5 goals and 17 points in the seven game series.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
A much anticipated match-up between the game's two best players as Gretzky's Oilers take on Lemieux's Penguins with the Stanley Cup on the line. In 17 games so far this playoff both Gretzky and Lemieux have 41 points. Lemieux has 16 goals compared to 14 for The Great One.
After a two year absence from the finals thanks to semi-final losses to Minnesota both times, the Oilers return to the finals looking for their 3rd Stanley Cup title.
Edmonton wins Game One at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena by a 3-2 score. Gretzky scores one of the Oilers goals but it is Mark Messier who gets the winner midway through the third period. Pittsburgh actually led 2-0 after twenty minutes on goals from Mike Bullard and Kevin Stevens- with an assist to Lemieux - but Edmonton tied the game in the second on goals from Gretzky and Arto Javanainen setting the stage for Messier's heroics.
Mario Lemieux and Craig Simpson each score twice in Game Two leading Pittsburgh to a 6-2 victory. Lemieux also had one assist and Kevin Stevens added 3 helpers for the Pens, who also got goals from Doug Bodger and Mike Bullard. Messier and Walt Poddubny scored for Edmonton.
Steve Smith gets what would prove to be the game winner midway through the second period to help Edmonton to a 3-2 victory in Game Three. Neither Lemieux or Gretzky scored but they each earned one assist. Poddubny and Paul Coffey had the other Edmonton goals. Kevin Stevens and Dave Hannan were the Pittsburgh scorers.
Edmonton takes a 3 games to one series lead with a 6-3 victory in Game Four at home. Messier and Gretzky each score once and add a pair of assists. Poddubny, Kurri, Steve Smith and Emanuel Viveiros also score for Edmonton. Pittsburgh got both of it's goals in the opening 5 minutes of the game as Hannan and Bob Errey scored, the later on a setup from Lemieux.
Esa Tikkanen scores the Cup winner in overtime as the Oilers take the series with a 3-2 victory in Game Five. British import Tony Hand assisted on 2 goals in the game for the Oilers. Mark Messier and Kevin Lowe scored the other Edmonton goals while Mario Lemieux had both of Pittsburgh goals. Wayne Gretzky earned one assist in the game giving him 48 points, inclduing 16 goals, in 22 playoff games. Gretzky finished second to Lemieux, who set a new playoff record with 50 points in the postseason, but Gretzky was the one chosen to carry the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.
Here are the all-time playoff single season point and goal leaders:
Code:
PLAYOFF POINTS
50 Mario Lemieux 20-30-50 in 22 games Pittsburgh 1986-87
48 Wayne Gretzky 16-32-48 in 22 games Edmonton 1986-87
46 Dino Ciccarelli 21-25-46 in 20 games Minnesota 1985-86
42 Wayne Gretzky 11-31-42 in 17 games Edmonton 1983-84
41 Jean Ratelle 19-22-41 in 21 games NY Rangers 1981-82
39 Clark Gillies 19-20-39 in 19 games NY Islanders 1978-79
37 Guy Lafleur 17-20-37 in 21 games Montreal 1979-80
37 Denis Potvin 13-24-37 in 19 games NY Islanders 1978-79
37 Wayne Gretzky 19-18-37 in 18 games Edmonton 1985-86
34 Mario Lemieux 21-13-34 in 12 games Pittsburgh 1985-86
33 Gilbert Perreault 11-22-33 in 17 games Buffalo 1978-79
33 Yvan Cournoyer 18-15-33 in 16 games Montreal 1968-69
33 Brian Bellows 21-12-33 in 20 games Minnesota 1985-86
33 Paul Reinhart 8-25-33 in 22 games Pittsburgh 1986-87
32 Craig Ramsay 13-19-32 in 17 games Buffalo 1978-79
32 Carol Vadnais 4-28-32 in 19 games NY Islanders 1978-79
32 Stan Mikita 11-21-32 in 16 games Chicago 1967-68
32 Lanny McDonald 14-18-32 in 22 games Toronto 1981-82
32 Neal Broten 5-27-32 in 20 games Minnesota 1985-86
31 Rich Kehoe 14-17-31 in 20 games Toronto 1976-77
31 Wayne Gretzky 12-19-31 in 18 games Edmonton 1982-83
31 Mark Messier 20-11-31 in 17 games Edmonton 1983-84
PLAYOFF GOALS
21 Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh 1985-86 12 games
21 Dino Ciccarelli Minnesota 1985-86 20 games
21 Brian Bellows Minnesota 1985-86 20 games
20 Mark Messier Edmonton 1983-84 17 games
20 Mario Lemieux Pittsburgh 1986-87 22 games
19 Jean Ratelle NY Rangers 1981-82 21 games
19 Clark Gillies NY Islanders 1978-79 19 games
19 Wayne Gretzky Edmonton 1985-86 18 games
18 Bob Bourne NY Rangers 1981-82 21 games
18 Yvan Cournoyer Montreal 1968-69 16 games
17 Guy Lafleur Montreal 1979-80 21 games
16 Wayne Gretzky Edmonton 1986-87 22 games
15 Dave Andreychuk Buffalo 1983-84 20 games
15 Tom Fergus Boston 1984-85 20 games
15 Mark Messier Edmonton 1986-87 22 games
14 Al Secord Boston 1979-80 20 games
14 Robbie Ftorek NY Islanders 1978-79 19 games
14 Rick Kehoe Toronto 1976-77 20 games
14 Bobby Hull Chicago 1967-68 16 games
14 Jean Ratelle NY Rangers 1974-75 19 games
14 Lanny McDonald Toronto 1981-82 22 games
14 Mark Messier Edmonton 1984-85 14 games
14 Kevin Stevens Pittsburgh 1986-87 22 games
14 Dino Ciccarelli Minnesota 1986-87 20 games
Other award winners are:
HART TROPHY: Wayne Gretzky Edmonton (77GP 47-124-171)
VEZINA TROPHY: Greg Stefan Calgary (46-15-0, 2.89)
NORRIS TROPHY: Brad McCrimmon Boston (80GP 20-50-70)
ART ROSS TROPHY: Wayne Gretzky Edmonton (77GP 47-124-171)
CALDER TROPHY: Patrick Roy Montreal (47-9-5, 2.60)
The game does not select the all-star team but I will start naming first and second team all-stars
Code:
POS FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM
G Patrick Roy Montreal Don Beaupre Minnesota
D Craig Hartsburg Minnesota Gary Suter Calgary
D Paul Coffey Edmonton Brad McCrimmon Boston
C Wayne Gretzky Edmonton Dale Hawerchuk Winnipeg
LW Mark Messier Edmonton Luc Robitaille Los Angeles
RW Jari Kurri Edmonton Dino Ciccarelli Minnesota
I came close to making Ray Bourque an all-star...at right wing. The Bruins moved Bourque to forward this year and he tied for the team scoring lead with Tom Fergus, each had 109 points.